Abstract
This paper analyzes the causes that led to the federal indictment of thirteen female guards, and eventual conviction of forty guards and inmates, at the Baltimore City Detention Center in 2013. The analysis is based on information presented in extensive newspaper coverage during and after the discovery of the events and the behavior at the jail. While popular opinion in the press blamed the guards’ gender or their personal morals for their actions, the incident can best be explained through the use of organizational heuristic tools. Application of Diane Vaughan’s matrix of routine nonconformity reveals that the guards’ actions involved multiple layers of misconduct within an organizational setting and that the failures were not individual but structural.
Recommended Citation
Vallin, Jaz
(2018)
"Organizational Deviance: The Case of the Baltimore City Detention Center,"
Augsburg Honors Review: Vol. 11, Article 3.
Available at:
https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review/vol11/iss1/3