The study, featured in the latest issue of the academic journal Intelligence<\/em>, is a rare examinination of the relationship between intelligence and violent misconduct in prison. Previous research has shown the link between IQ and crime in society. UT Dallas doctoral student, Brie Diamond, led the study, which is co-authored by UT Dallas criminologists Dr. Robert Morris and Dr. J.C. Barnes, who teach in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.<\/p>\n Using a multi-level modeling approach, the researchers analyzed three years of incarceration from a random sample of 2,500 male inmates across 30 prison units who entered prison between August 2004 and June 2006. The researchers looked at whether an inmate was reported for violent behavior against another inmate or against a prison staff member, resulting in at least a minor injury.<\/p>\n The findings show that inmates with above average IQs were at a reduced risk of being involved in a violent incident<\/strong> and individuals assigned to units with a higher average IQ score were significantly less likely to commit violent behavior<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Diamond, who is earning a Ph.D. in criminology, said an individual\u2019s IQ captures the ability to navigate a social environment<\/strong> in addition to assessing academic capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not too surprising then that people who are deficient in these regards would be more prone to respond physically and lack an advanced repertoire for handling situations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Diamond said the findings could help prison officials better understand how the average IQ of a prison unit has an effect on prison violence. It is a factor that officials could take into account when classifying inmates.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s important about these findings from a research perspective is that we\u2019ve isolated yet another piece of the puzzle as far as what leads to misconduct. So in the future, researchers looking into violence should control for cognitive ability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Morris said the findings regarding the collective IQ of a prison unit was perhaps the most interesting part of the study.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely don\u2019t understand the entire package as far as how IQ explains the process leading to an inmate engaging in misbehavior,\u201d Morris said. \u201cIt\u2019s more about IQ playing a role, and that it\u2019s not only about a particular person\u2019s IQ, but it\u2019s about collective IQ in an environment of confinement<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Morris said it\u2019s a tremendous accomplishment for a graduate student such as Diamond to get her work published in a prestigious journal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is rare,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty exciting for a criminologist to get a publication in Intelligence<\/em>. It\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Diamond said she was shocked and excited when she learned that Intelligence<\/em> had accepted the paper.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly danced around my kitchen,\u201d she said. \u201cThe impact factor for the journal is high compared to similar journals.\u201d<\/p>\n Diamond earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from UT Dallas, as well her master\u2019s degree in criminology. She plans to work as a professor following the completion of her doctoral degree in May 2013.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the UT Dallas press release: A prison inmate\u2019s IQ, as well as the average IQ of a prison unit, can play a role in predicting violent prison misconduct, according… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[289,146,291,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2721,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions\/2721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Antisocial.jpg\" "\\"violent?\\"")
A prison inmate\u2019s IQ, as well as the average IQ of a prison unit, can play a role in predicting violent prison misconduct<\/strong>, according to a recently published UT Dallas study.<\/p>\n