Janet I Warren, DSW, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Shelly Jackson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, and Ann Loper, PhD, Professor of Clinical and School Psychology, have recently had their final report accepted after peer review by the National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC. The study has examined the nature of consensual, bartered and coerced sex in the prison environment for both male and female inmates with a particular emphasis on developing risk models for different types of predation and victimization across genders.
Using Chi-square interactions detection (CHAID) software, the research team was able to develop robust models for each behavior that demonstrated high levels of accuracy. The variables that were found to predict sexual predation perpetrated by male inmates were found to be different from those that predict physical violence, a difference that was also observed for the models predicting the violence perpetrated by the female inmates. Similarly the variables that predicted sexual victimization were different from those that predicted physical victimization and again varied across genders. The variables that were retained in the various models included a full array of behavioral, physical, sexual, psychological, and relational variables, an assortment that suggests that violent behavior in prison is multi-determined and that the contributing factors are variable and interactional in nature.
The three co-principal investigators over-saw the data collection efforts of twelve graduate students in both Ohio and Texas using a data collection protocol that included structured diagnostic interviews, extensive self-report instrumentation, major risk assessment assessments, and confirmatory file review. In commenting on the experience, Dr Warren observed, “We encountered far more diverse kinds of sexual experiences and types of relationship than we had ever expected -- but also came to appreciate the profound wish of human beings to attach to each other and to find intimacy in the most restrictive of human environments.’” The researchers observe that this is a very different perspective from that which motivated the federal government to pass the Prison Rape Elimination Act and invest over 50 million dollars in understanding and eradicating its occurrence.
The researchers have begun the process of revising the 500 page report into a book and hope to have it in press by the end of the current fiscal year.
Publications
Loper, A, Mahmoodzadegan, N. and Warren JI. Childhood Maltreatment and Cluster B personality pathology in female serious offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 20, 139-160.
Presentations: June 25, 2008 - Warren , JI Clinical Violence Risk and Threat Assessment, Behavioral Analyses and Forensic Investigation Course, The Academy Group, Inc. , Manassas, Virginia
Research consultation: May 28-29, 2008 The FBI Center for the Analyses of Violent Crime National Research Advisory Board Meeting, FBI Behavioral Analyses Unit, Stafford, Virginia