| This study examines the conduct rule enforcement process in a Midwestern maximum-security prison. This facility's monthly reports of conduct rule violations reveals that the majority of less serious rule violations, or "order-maintenance reports," are consistently filed against AfricanAmerican offenders. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of race discrimination in the filing of reports for minor conduct rule violations. The data consist of incident reports of all guilty findings on staff-reported conduct rule violations finalized between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 1998 (N=3,500). Offender variables in the data include race, age, most serious criminal sentence, class level of the conduct rule violation, number of prior conduct rule violations, date of arrival into the Department of Correction, and length of time to be served at the time of the conduct rule violation (reported in months). Correctional staff variables cover race, gender, age, rank or position held, and time employed with the Department of Correction. Hypotheses concerning the effects of offender's race and the interaction between offender's and staff member's race on the probability of the report being for an order maintenance violation are tested, controlling for other offender and staff variables.
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Updated 05/20/2006