Background
Prison misconduct is a problem that is bedevilling the criminal justice system not only in the US but also a lot of world nations. Many systematic researches and studies have been conducted to ascertain the causes of the occurrence. However different studies agree that that are some factors that can be associated with prison misconduct such as mental health issues and psychic disabilities. This research proposal addresses the problem of prison misconduct within the context of quantitatively defining the factors that have been found to cause inmates to offend while in incarceration. Among the factors that this research proposal aims to investigate their effects on prison misconduct include, depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In simple terms, this research proposal aims to investigate whether those inmates who have depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to engage in alcohol abuse and verbal abuse on prison members. Determining this relationship is important because it would enhance the correctional department’s efforts to reduce recidivism in all corrections facilities within the US.
Literature Review
As aforementioned, different researchers have done their studies on a myriad of factors that influence prison misconduct. For instance, Felson et al., (2012) conducted a scientific study in which they utilized some specific diagnoses and signs of mental disorders to predict whether inmates offend while in sentence. The researchers’ evidences suggested that psychosis and major depression had major impacts on transgressions involving aggression, while the anxiety disorders’ effects were feeble and inconsistent (Felson et al., 2012). Without doubt, the study revealed that both cognitive and psychic aspects of mental disorders offenses were the causes of prison misconduct. Another researcher, Kuo (2020) did a research to investigate the relative effects of mental illness, substance abuse or dependence on male inmates who incarcerated in the Taiwan’s nine correctional facilities. The results of his finding was that those inmates with greatest dependence on drugs, say alcohol, had a greater risk of prison misconduct than those who were not using any drug (Kuo, 2020). Based on the findings from the two studies one would propose integrated treatments for inmates with mental and drug dependency issues rather than the separate treatment for the inmates with the said problems.
From the extant literatures, various research questions and hypotheses can be formulated, more so, in relation to this research problem. Examples of research questions to help in investigating whether the inmates who have mental disorders are more likely or not to engage in alcohol abuse and verbal aggression towards prison staff are given. Firstly, from the inmates who have been found to abuse alcohol, how often have experienced mental depression before? Secondly, what has been the immediate reaction of those inmates whenever they experience signs of depression? Thirdly, is there any relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and verbal attack on prison officials by an inmate? Fourthly, can there be established relationship between post-traumatic stress and alcohol abuse for an inmate? Indeed, from the research questions it is easy to construct hypotheses for this research. Two related hypotheses can be derived from the research questions. The first hypothesis is that, those inmates who have experienced psychiatric problems are more likely to engage in prison misconduct than those who have never. The negation of the said hypothesis definitely forms the second hypothesis.
Proposal Sample
As this proposal seeks to investigate certain social aspects in criminal justice system, the correctional facilities will provide a good setting for the data source. More specifically, inmates from some of the US correctional services would be participants of the study. However, not all information will be required from the inmates as some of it will be irrelevant. To get the results needed, the following specific information shall be of critical use. Data related to their health conditions such as their past medical history in relation to diagnosis of depressive disorder would be of much significance. Information regarding their past experience with post-traumatic stress disorder will also be recorded. As well, data on personal relationships is important as that will enable the researcher to determine how many times the inmate had meted verbal abuse on correctional facilities staff. Moreover, details about how many times the participants have been found to be in possession, sale or use of alcohol will be recorded. Clearly, the information collected from the participants will help in making proper judgement about based on the research hypothesis.
The sample of prisoners to be used in this survey is to be obtained from two different universe files that can be accessed by the public. But it should be noted that, to obtain the sample, the research will utilize stratified sampling technique. The first file in which stratified sampling is applied is the data from Bureau of Justice (BJS) 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional facilities conducted on June 30, 2000 containing 1,549 State facilities. The correctional facilities are to be grouped in strata defined by geographical locations. The strata in which samples of correctional facilities will be collected include, North-East US except New York, New York, Midwest US, Southern US except Florida and Texas, Florida, Texas, Western US except California, and California. The second stage of sampling will then proceed to the samples taken from the selected correctional facilities. The aim of stage one sampling will be selecting 301 correctional facilities. Out of the 301 penal institutions, a sample of 16152 is to be obtained for the interview. Nevertheless, not all the selected penitentiaries will approve of the interviews, more so the maximum security prisons.
Method
Information obtained from the inmates will basically create a link between the participants and the formulated hypothesis to be statistically analyzed. It is therefore important to establish appropriate variables which will be used to show any relationship if it exists. The independent variables that will be chosen for this particular research are depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In the proposed analysis, occurrence of depressive disorder shall be represented by X1 while that of post-traumatic stress disorder shall be denoted by X2. On the other hand, the two dependent variables, prevalence of verbally assaulting prison staff and frequency of engaging in alcohol abuse by inmates will be indicated using Y1 and Y2 respectively. A two-by-two table of results is produced which is then used for statistical analysis. X1 and X2 are as the column variables while Y1 and Y2 are used as row variables. The data recorded in the table for instance, X1 and Y1 intersection cell, indicates the number of inmates who have experienced depressive order before and are charged with assaulting prison staff. The same analogy is used till four values are obtained for the contingency table.
With the contingency table obtained, data will be analysed to determine whether there exist significant differences between the variables. In this case, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is, used to analyse the data. Firstly, the two-by-two contingency table is imported to SPSS, or alternatively the spread sheet results from which the contingency table was made, is imported to SPSS (Pallant, 2020). The aim of the analysis will be to determine whether there is a relationship between the X-variables and Y-variables as hypothesised. Therefore the Chi-Square test will suffice to help in establishing the relationship (Pallant, 2020). Using SPSS, independence between two specific variables is determined by clicking on them and placing one on the horizontal column and the other on the vertical column. Once the selected variables are placed in their respective column and row, statistics button is clicked and the Chi-Square option selected (Pallant, 2020). After obtaining the Chi-Square cross-table values, interpretation then ensues.
Challenges to Statistical Analysis
There are many challenges that will be encountered during statistical analysis for this specific study. Firstly, interpretation of the results may be problematic especially for individuals who have social sciences background as I am. Secondly, data manipulation would be a great challenge for me as an individual, being that SPSS requires thorough knowledge for proper and efficient usage. Apart from the problems that may arise from using the software, other challenges may arise from the program itself. A good example is the situation in which I am required to update the software so as to access some packages of the software. This might be a big challenge as the SPSS software requires licence which is paid for by the user (Pallant, 2020). With the possible challenges outlined, statistical analysis can be less stressful as other data analysis software are currently available.
References
Felson, R.B., Silver, E., & Remster, B. (2012). Mental disorder and offending in prison.Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(2), 125-143.
Kuo, S. Y. (2020). The effects of mental health and substance abuse/dependence disorders on prison misconduct among male inmates in Taiwan.International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 64(9), 953-976.
Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS (7th ed.). Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education.