Race, sex, and juvenile inmate roles

Abstract

The issue of inmate roles in the socialization of adult offenders confined in correctional institutions has had lengthy analysis and deliberation. The way inmate roles are used by juvenile offenders as a method of coping with and adjusting to confinement in a training school parallels many of the socialization functions of inmate roles found in adult institutions. This study examines seven adjustment patterns of confined offenders in a juvenile correctional system located in a southeastern state. Significant differences occur between various combinations of sex and race categories in terms of participation in different types of aggressive roles, manipulative roles, and passive roles. White males and black males appear at opposite ends of a dominance‐exploitation spectrum. Black males, American Indian males, and black females tend to use aggressive inmate roles and thereby dominate life within the inmate social system. White males and Indian females employ passive and manipulative roles in order to cope wi...