![handle is hein.journals/asjrcrm17 and id is 1 raw text is: Asian Journal of Criminology (2022) 17:1-17
https://doi.org/1 0.1007/si 1417-021-09350-7
I Just Need to Send This Message: Rationality Underlying
Inmate-on-Inmate Violence
Jing-ying Guo' *Yi Kong'
Received: 9 September2020 /Accepted: 12 April2021 / Published online: 28 April 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
Despite immediate and unavoidable punishment, some inmates under incarceration still
choose to commit violence, which raises doubts over whether these inmates have the abil-
ity to think and act in a rational manner. This paper, based on semi-structured interviews
with inmates who have committed inmate-on-inmate violent acts, examines violence as a
process and explores which factors are weighed before and during the commission of vio-
lence in the context of China's prisons. Unlike quantitative research on the correlates of
prison violence, inmates' accounts of their violent experiences are the focus of analysis. By
identifying the inmates' understanding and interpretation of violence, the implications for
interventions aimed at reducing prison violence are also discussed.
Keywords Rationality - Accounts - Prison violence - Grounded theory
Introduction
Prisons have been described as dangerous places, where assaults, threats, and verbal abuse
are pervasive and violence is regarded as a means of resolving conflicts (Edgar et al.,
2002). However, despite the five pains of imprisonment, identified by Sykes (1958), and
the fact that prison officials are greatly outnumbered by the inmates, the wonder is there
is not more violence (Homel & Thomson, 2005, p. 101). This is also true in the case of
China's prisons. There are now about 1.6 million people incarcerated in 681 prisons in
China and the number of violent incidents does not pose a serious problem. The major-
ity of inmates have never committed violence during the course of their prison sentence.
Taking prison A in China as an example, a total of more than 7400 inmates are housed in
7 cell blocks. There was a total of 58 reported cases of violence in 2017. The reason why
so few inmates committed violence might be because they have learned their lesson after
being arrested and punished or that, compared to individuals living in the wider society,
filY A'[i4 #lZirI lk dnF1$]tm 310018
E Jing-ying Guo
guojingying@zjjy.com.cn
Department of Criminal Justice, Zhejiang Police Vocational Academy, Xiasha Higher Education
Zone, Hangzhou City 310018, Zhejiang Province, China
Springer](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/asjrcrm17&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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