Predicting Prison Misconducts

A meta-analysis was conducted on 39 studies that generated 695 correlations with prison misconducts. Predictors of prison misconducts were grouped into 16 domains as follows: (a) personal characteristics (n = 9), (b) situational factors (n = 3), and (c) actuarial measures of antisocial personality and risk (n = 4). Personal and situational variables were similar in their ability to predict prison misconduct. Within these two categories, antisocial attitudes and behavior (e.g., companions, prison adjustment), criminal history, and institutional factors were the strongest predictors. Among actuarial measures, an interview-based risk protocol produced the highest correlations with prison misconducts. The prediction of violent misconducts was associated with greater effect sizes than nonviolent misconducts. Despite the limitations of the database, several recommendations for assessing prison misconducts appear warranted.

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