Gang affiliation and prison violence: a comparison of matching analyses

ObjectivesThe current study examines the influence of gang affiliation and specific gangs on prison misconduct, particularly serious and assaultive behavior.MethodsDifferent matching procedures were employed with a large sample of gang and nongang inmates to minimize confounding factors likely to impact the effect of gang affiliation on outcome measures. A wide array of demographic variables associated with gang affiliation is included in multivariate analyses in predicting general, serious, and assaultive acts.ResultsPropensity Score Matching (PSM) and Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) generally yielded similar results. Consistent with prior research, gang-affiliated inmates committed significantly higher rates of general and serious violations.ConclusionsResearchers may prefer PSM over CEM when analyzing serious and rare behaviors. Prison gang affiliation is a significant contributing factor to various prison disciplinary outcomes, and specific gang affiliation significantly influences disciplinary outcomes.