L9 - Female Offending

Question 1

Describe the trend of prison sentences for female offenders.

Answer 1

Disproportional rise in female prison sentences in the last few decades

Question 2

Compare the recidivism rates between men and women.

Answer 2

• Non violent crimes = approximately the same rates of men (Blanchette & Brown, 2006)
• Violent crimes = approximately half that of men (7% vs. 14%; Bontaet al. (2003). 
• Sexual crimes = much lower than men (1.5% vs. 13.5%; Cortoni et al., 2010).

Question 3

What are the 3 most common crime types for female offenders according to the FBI (2010)?

Answer 3

• Theft
• Driving under the influence
• Drug abuse violations

Question 4

What are the only offences committed more by women than men according to the Home Office, (2006)?

Answer 4

• Education act offences (not sending kids to school)
• Non payment of TV license
• Prostitution

Question 5

Female offenders are under-represented in what, according to the Home Office, (2006)?

Answer 5

Professional and organised crime

Question 6

According to Campbell (2002), what are the main differences between the reasons that men and women offend?

Answer 6

Women:

• are more responsive to their/their families needs (rather than hedonistic pleasures)
• offenders view it as a form of work
• tend to commit more frequent offences with smaller returns
• attempt to conceal their offending, whereas men are likely to advertise it in order to gain status and respect.

Question 7

According to Crick & Grotpeter, (1995), women are more likely than men to use which aggression methods?

Answer 7

Covert aggression (online bullying, verbal/non verbal aggression)

Question 8

Blanchette and Brown (2006) found what significant difference in the people that men and women are aggressive towards?

Answer 8

Women are significantly more likely to act aggressively to someone that they know/have an existing relationship with, rather than a stranger.

(relational violence vs stranger violence)

Question 9

What are two reasons for the perceived rise in female offending rates?

Answer 9

• Female crime reporting and convicting may have changed in recent years (Carrington, 2006; Worrall 2008)
• Decrease in tolerance for female violence (Chesney‐Lind & Pasko, 2013; Zahn et al., 2010).

Question 10

What did Brinkworth (1994) suggest about a particular type of cocky, feminist aggressive female offenders?

Answer 10

They ‘know’ the CJS, so try to play it by dressing smart and acting innocent.

Question 11

According to Alder (1975), what lead to an increase in ‘masculine’ crimes committed by women?

Answer 11

The women’s liberation movement, which led to more confidence, higher levels of self-esteem and self-sufficiency.

Question 12

What did Lombroso suggest about the traits of females that increases their propensity for criminality?

Answer 12

They are immature, sharing traits with children, including vengefulness, jealousy, and cruelty. Every woman naturally has a moral deficiency; she is a semi-criminal

Question 13

What did Lombroso suggest might stop females from offending?

Answer 13

Their criminal characteristics can be subdued by religion, maternity, sexual frigidity, or lesser intelligence.

Question 14

What does Hirschi’s (1969, 2002) Social Control Theory suggest?

Answer 14

That external factors, namely the strength of our bonds to society, mediate our suppression of criminal urges, which we all have.

Question 15

What are the 5 factors that Hirschi’s (1969, 2002) Social Control Theory suggests mediates offending?

Answer 15

• Attachment (emotional bond to family/friends/teachers etc…)
• Commitment (aspirations for employment/education)
• Involvement (conventional activities/voluntary employment etc…)
• Belief (rationalizing criminal conduct)
• Conformity (to societal norms)

Question 16

What did Alarid, Burton and Cullen (2000) find about gender differences in the social control theory?

Answer 16

Largely supported the notion of a lack of gender differences in social control theory, with two exceptions:

• Marital attachment was uncorrelated with crime for men but correlated for women (married women more likely to self-report that they commit crime – drugs/property offences)
• Lack of parental attachment was particularly strongly correlated with violent crime for women

Question 17

What are 3 aspects of Social Learning Theory in relation to crime?

Answer 17

• Crime is learned (punishment and reward shape behaviour, i.e. Conditioning)
• We learn through imitation/modelling
• More likely to commit crime if exposed to/associates with criminal others

Question 18

How did Burgess and Akers (1966) explain the lack of female offending, using Social Learning Theory?

Answer 18

There are very few female role models who are offenders.

Question 19

What did Benda (2005) find about female offending and criminal partners?

Answer 19

Having a criminal partner is related to offending more in females than males.

Question 20

What is Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory?

Answer 20

Everyday stress can cause negative emotions such as anger

Question 21

How does Agnew (1997) try to explain the gender gap in crime using her General Strain Theory?

Answer 21

Emotional responses to everyday strain results in aggression in males and depression in females.

Question 22

Hay’s (2003) test of General Strain Theory revealed what differences between genders, that helps explain why males react aggressively to general strain and why females become more depressive?

Answer 22

• Males were more likely to report physical punishment from parents for rule-breaking
  (may explain further delinquent behaviour)
• Females experience significantly higher levels of guilt when confronted with family strain,
• Family strain and anger had more profound effects on males than on females

Question 23

Name 7 risk factors that are significantly more prevalent in violent female offenders than violent male offenders.

Answer 23

• Abuse and witnessing violence
• Parental factors
• Broken family
• Lack of commitment to schooling and lower levels of academic achievement.
• Depression/self-harm
• Lower levels of emotional/affective empathy.
• Lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of guilt

Question 24

Name 4 frequent female pathways to offending as suggested by Brennan et al., (2012)?

Answer 24

• The “normal functioning” drug/property pathway
• The battered women/victimization pathway
• The poor marginalized antisocial pathway:
• The antisocial aggressive pathway

Question 25

What is the “normal functioning” drug/property pathway for female offenders?

Answer 25

Appear to be adolescent-limited offenders who got dragged into ongoing criminality during adult years due to drug use and parental stresses.

Question 26

What is the battered women/victimization pathway for female offenders?

Answer 26

Involves women with severe child and adult histories of physical and sexual victimization, chronic drug problems, unsafe housing, and chaotic lives.

Question 27

What is the poor marginalized antisocial pathway for female offenders?

Answer 27

Characterized by women who have educational or vocational deficits and poor employment skills.

Their main criminogenic needs relate to their links to an antisocial subculture, antisocial peers, higher family crime, residence in higher crime areas, and frequent drug trafficking.

Question 28

What is the antisocial aggressive pathway for female offenders?

Answer 28

Women in this pathway are characterized by lifelong histories of sexual and physical victimization, high rates of placement in foster care during childhood, antisocial
significant others, hostile antisocial personality, mental health issues, and homelessness.

Question 29

What is adolescent-delayed onset of offending?

Answer 29

• Similar risk factors to early-onset/life-course males but onset of antisocial behaviour in adolescence which continues to adulthood.
• Additional general adjustment problems in adulthood

Question 30

Why might the development of offending behaviours differ between genders?

Answer 30

• Socialisation processes that discourage girls from adopting externalising behaviours (i.e., depression rather than aggression).
• Protective factors more prevalent in females than in males (i.e., better school achievement and higher levels of parental supervision.

Question 31

According to Plugge et al., (2006) which statistic refers to the increased likelihood of mental health concern in female prisoners?

Answer 31

Female prisoners are 5 times more likely to have a mental health concern than women in the general population.

Question 32

Which stat enforces the claim that women account for a disproportionate prevalence of self harm in prison?

Answer 32

28% of all self harm incidents are accounted for by female prisoners, who only make up 5% of the prison population.

Question 33

According to the Prison Reform Trust (2013), of all the women sent to prison, what are the rates of the main mental disorders suffered?

Answer 33

• 37% say they have attempted suicide at some time in their life.
• 51% have severe and enduring mental illness.
• 47% a major depressive disorder.
• 6% psychosis
• 3% schizophrenia

Question 34

The majority of treatment programmes for female prisoners have been what?

Answer 34

Adapted from treatment programmes for male prisoners, and is based on literature on male prisoners.

Question 35

Name 3 responsivity issues in relation to female offenders after they have been released.

Answer 35

• Women tend to have greater needs for healthy
  connections to significant others (e.g. children and
  family) and the broader community.
• Their ability to deal with stress is greatly improved when supportive social networks are available.
• They typically require much more extensive support
  than men to improve their general functioning and
  manage stress (Rumgay, 2004).

Question 36

What does CARE stand for (Ministry of Justice, 2012)?

Answer 36

Choices, Actions, Relationships and Emotions

Question 37

What is CARE (Ministry of Justice, 2012)?

Answer 37

The only accredited (2010/11) women-specific behaviour programme for medium or high risk violent female prisoners who have difficulties with emotional regulation and have needs such as:

• a history of substance misuse
• a history of self-harming or suicidal behaviours
• a personality disorder diagnosis
• past difficulties in accessing or benefiting from help or treatment `

Question 38

What are WSOs?

Answer 38

Women sexual offenders

Question 39

What percentage of young women in prison are mothers?

Answer 39

Estimated as 40%

Question 40

Why might the children of female prisoners live very far away?

Answer 40

There are very few female prisons, so it is often the case that the closest one to their child is still very far away.

Question 41

What are the 4Ps?

Answer 41

• Predisposing factors
• Precipitating factors
• Perpetuating factors
• Protective factors

Question 42

Predisposing factors are said to mediate the _____ of an individual?

Answer 42

Vulnerability

Question 43

Precipitating factors are said to be what?

Answer 43

Triggers

Question 44

Perpetuating factors are said to _______ offending?

Answer 44

Maintain

Question 45

Protective factors are said to act as an offender’s what?

Answer 45

Strengths

Question 46

What might predispose an individual to psychopathy or predatory violence?

Answer 46

A lack of attachment or bonding

Question 47

What might accentuate psychopathy and predatory aggression and why?

Answer 47

Media attention, and public fascination, because societal fear of the individual will result, leading to conceptualisation that he or she is larger than life’