Date Approved

2026

Degree Type

Open Access Senior Honors Thesis

Department or School

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology

First Advisor

Brian G. Sellers, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Julian Murchison, Ph.D

Third Advisor

Ann R. Eisenberg, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper will examine prison rape by exploring sexual abuse rates, the causes of underreporting, the gender-based prison and rape cultures, reasons why victims are targeted, and the impact The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) has had on the issue. It draws on both qualitative research and national surveys. Findings have shown that sexual victimization is much more widespread than indicated by official reports due to high rates of underreporting, fears of retaliation, and flawed implementation and enforcement of PREA’s policies. Culture in male prisons are shaped by hypermasculine hierarchies that discourage reporting, while female prisons experience disproportionately high rates of staff-on-inmate abuse and ineffective responses to reporting. Finally, this paper evaluates the Prison Rape Elimination Act’s (PREA) mixed impact, arguing that although it improved documentation, it has failed to eliminate the structural and social conditions that allow sexual abuse to exist within correctional facilities.

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