Procedural justice, legal orientations, and gang membership: Testing an alternative explanation to understand the gang-misconduct link

Abstract

A top priority of prison authorities is maintaining a safe and orderly institutional environment. Gangs are believed to impede this objective, warranting bespoke policies and practices. Drawing on the process-based model of regulation, we depart from orthodox explanations for the gang–misconduct link and argue that gang affiliates are treated less fairly than nongang affiliates owing to suppression-oriented administrative policies and harsher day-to-day interactions with officers, which, in turn, impact compliance.

Jennifer Tostlebe

Assistant Professor

My research focuses on criminological theory and empirical tests of it within institutional corrections and prisoner reentry, system responses to incarcerated and previously incarcerated individuals, and the intersection between individual differences and social influences.