David Henderson had an admirably empirical response to Bryan Caplan’s proposal that prisoners be segregated by weight. I figured there should be data for this and set about googling. I found Prison Victimization: High-Risk Characteristics and Prevention by Leslie A. Swales of Kent State which says the following on page 27:
The average weight of a sexual assault victim in prison is 141 pounds. This is lighter than the average offender. The offender also stands one inch taller than his target (Man & Cronan, 2001).
UPDATE:
Bryan linked to an older post of his which referenced a study supporting his assertion about the size of victims in prison. In the comments Levi gave a bunch of stats about the rate of sexual assault at Ivy League schools:
Brown University, 8,020 students, 3 forcible sex offenses
Columbia University, 24,820, 9 forcible sex offenses
Cornell University, 19,800 students, 3 forcible sex offenses
Dartmouth College, 4,147 students, 6 forcible sex offenses
Harvard University, 19,140 students, ~17 forcible sex offenses
Princeton University, 4,918 students. ~12 forcible sex offenses
University of Pennsylvania, 19,816 students, 12 forcible sex offenses
Yale University, [11,593] students, 9 forcible sex offenses
Levi gave just 11 students at Yale, I replaced it with the total fall 2009 enrollment from here.
UPDATE 2: Henderson asked to know how large the weight-difference was between victims and offenders. The paper linked above cites Man & Cronan Forecasting Sexual Abuse in Prison: The Prison Subculture of Masculinity as a Backdrop for” Deliberate Indifference”. That paper in turn cites Alan J. Davis’ “Sexual Assaults in the Philadelphia Prison System and Sheriff’s Vans” as saying the average weight of the rapist was 157 pounds, compared to 141 for victims. Man & Cronan also cite Daniel Lockwood’s “Prison Sexual Violence” as saying victims average 15 pounds fewer than their aggressors.
May 13, 2010 at 8:08 pm
That paper in turn cites Alan J. Davis’ “Sexual Assaults in the Philadelphia Prison System and Sheriff’s Vans” as saying the average weight of the rapist was 157 pounds, compared to 141 for victims.
Those weights are suspiciously low. What might make sense is if they include juvenile facilities, and the attackers are generally older than the victims. I just don’t think you’d see too many adult inmates who weigh that little.
Peter
May 31, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Slightly off topic: why is it considered acceptable for “straight” men in prison to fuck other guys in the ass? Why aren’t these guys put down as homosexuals?
In the broader society, you are queer as a three dollar bill even if you play the top role.
May 31, 2010 at 10:10 pm
I gather that if you were in prison with them and put them down as homosexual they would retaliate by fucking you in the ass.
I think in some cases it is acceptable for a “straight” man to be a “top”. I believe among the ancient Greeks one might insult a man by referring to him as a submissive homosexual, but being dominant was compatible with masculinity.
June 2, 2010 at 11:22 am
I think we all learned from Grand Theft Auto that in jail, being on top ain’t gay.
June 2, 2010 at 8:33 pm
I don’t remember that from GTA. But the only one I played all the way through was GTA 2 years back on the Dreamcast.
June 3, 2010 at 2:52 am
What about fat out-of-shape prisoners whose weight is all fat and no muscle. If they were left with the other heavy-weights they would be heavily victimized.
June 3, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Nobody wants to have sex with fatties.