Gender Differences in the Effects of Exposure to Violence on Prison Inmate Maladjustment

• In Event: Crime, Victimization, and the Responses to Inmate Crime in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

Both male and female offenders are exposed to violence at higher rates than the general population. A handful of studies have discovered that exposure to violence impacts inmate adjustment to prison, but it remains unclear whether these effects differ for male versus female inmates. Using nationally representative samples of men and women housed in state prisons, we examine to effects of exposure to different types of violence prior to incarceration on inmate maladjustment. We also compare the observed effects across the male and female samples.

Authors

• Calli M. Cain, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Benjamin Steiner, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Emily Wright, University of Nebraska

• Benjamin Meade, James Madison University