Prison Homicides: A Multidimensional Comparison of Perpetrators and Victims

ABSTRACT

Homicide in prison is rare, and undermines institutional security. Only three studies have addressed characteristics of perpetrators or victims, their motives, and circumstances of the crime. This study expanded the literature by exploring features of the homicide, and characteristics of 18 perpetrators and 14 victims of homicide during a 30-year period. Findings revealed the prison killer is an older, gang-affiliated inmate or career criminal serving a lengthy sentence for a previous murder and other violent crimes. Homicide victims, despite older age, could generally not be characterized as weak or vulnerable. Implications for theory, prison management, and future research are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Future dangerousness
• inmate victimization
• prison homicide
• prison violence

Notes

¹ Northwest Department of Corrections is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of individual offenders and victims. Prior to 1986, a homicide had not occurred in NWDC since 1972.

² NWDC has not recognized street gangs or security threat groups since 2003 in an effort not to lend credence to their status. However, internal reports related to the homicides indicate that some of the inmates involved belonged to White supremacist groups, Sureños, and Crips.

³ Murder is the term used herein because none of the current or prior convictions among prison homicide perpetrators or victims were for the lesser offense of manslaughter. Most were first-degree murders resulting in life sentences, along with a smaller number of second-degree murders.

⁴ The assault category also include attempted murders to maintain consistency with the larger NWDC database, but additional details on conviction offenses of perpetrators are discussed in the text.

⁵ Assaults range from level 1 to level 3 (level 4 in previous years): level 1 includes physical injury to staff, bodily fluid toss at staff, serious injury to inmate, injury by weapon, attack threat to institution, refuse to halt attack, sex while HIV positive; level 2 includes bodily fluid toss at inmate, attack with injury to inmates, fight that is a threat to institutional security; and level 3 (and previously 4) include attack on an inmate resulting in no injury, mutual fights with injury, and mutual fights without injury.

⁶ Inmates were only counted once in this comparative database during their initial period of confinement.