Lecture 6B: Women Offenders Flashcards
What trend have we been seeing with women offenders since 2017-18?
- The numbers are low compared to men, however there is an interesting increase
- Were seeing a trend of more women being incarcerated federally
Why should we focus on women offenders?
-Low prevalence (females account for 2-9% of prison population worldwide), masks any potential uniqueness; eclipsed by the male majority -Increasing numbers within prison system worldwide. Since 2000, 50% increase for women vs. 18% increase for men
What are the two requirements we have to study women offenders?
- Ethical requirement: “Women shall not automatically be excluded from research solely on the basis of sex or reproductive capacity” (Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans)
- Legal Requirement: The Corrections and Conditional Release Act says “The Service shall…provide programs designed particularly to address the needs of female offenders”
What is the Gender similarity hypothesis vs. Gender differences Hypothesis?
- Gender Similarities hypothesis: posits that men and women are similar on most, but not all psychological variables
- Gender Differences Hypothesis: States that men and women are vastly different psychologically speaking
What was the method of Hyde (2005) study on gender differences?
- Reviewed 46 different meta-analyses
-128 individual effect sizes
Domains examined:
-Cognitive abilities
-Social/personality variables
-Psychological well-being
-Motor behaviour
-Other
What did Hyde (2005) find in terms of Where are the gender differences and when do they emerge?
- Personality: Women more agreeable; men more assertive
- Sexuality: Men have more casual attitudes about sex
- Physical aggression: Men are more physically aggressive
What were the main conclusions of Hyde (2005)?
- Gender differences have been vastly over-stated
- The evidence strongly favours the gender similarities hypothesis
- However, gender differences to exist (e.g., aggression, different contexts)
- Results replicated recently (Zell et al., 2015, 386 meta-analyses!)
What is a typical women offender?
- Has committed fraud, theft, common assault, and administration of justice offences
- Violence is usually emotions-driven (anger, jealousy, revenge) occurring in the context of relationships
- Violence is less likely to be instrumentally motivated (e.g. pure greed)
What is the gender gap in crime?
-The gender gap in crime – males account for the vast majority of crime, particular violent crime
-Gender gap is widest for violent crimes: Homicide, robbery, rape, weapons-offences (9/10 are male offenders); 85% of serial killers are male
-Gender gap is most narrow for non-violent crimes:
Shoplifting, writing bad checks (1 in 2 are female); welfare fraud (3 in 4 are female)
What are the Big differences between male and female offenders?
- Lower risk & less serious offences
- More mental health problems
- More extensive histories of childhood abuse
- Relationship and attachment deficits are more prevalent
What was the only domain that men scored higher than women on in the dynamic factors identification and analysis revised (DFIA-R)?
- attitude is the only domain where men are higher than women
- look to see which offenders have elevated needs which will then inform correctional programming
What is the comparison between men and women mental health disorders?
Men ~ 70% met criteria for at least one mental disorder 17% mood disorder 3.3% psychotic 50% substance use 30% anxiety 16% borderline personality 44% antisocial personality
Women ~ 80% met criteria for at least one mental disorder 22% mood disorder 5% psychotic 76% substance use 54% anxiety 33% borderline personality 49% antisocial personality
What does the report on self harm in women’s prisons illustrate?
- Self harm is poorly understood (don’t know how to treat this problem)
- Incidents of self harm has tripled
- There have been improvements in how CSC manages offenders with mental health concerns
- Upon admission to custody, offenders are screened by CSC’s computerized mental health screening system
- In FY16/17, CSC invested $80 million to support the treatment and management of federal offenders with mental health needs
- As of August 1, 2017, offenders with a serious mental illness with significant impairment cannot be admitted to administrative segregation.
- Continued efforts are necessary!
What is the one universal truth or fact about crime?
There is one universal truth about crime – boys/men commit more crime, particularly more violent and serious crime than girls/women regardless of the research methodology or disciplinary orientation of the researcher
What are the theories of female offending? why do they commit crime?
- Gender neutral: general criminological theories that explicitly or implicitly assume that what works for men works equally well for women.
- Female centered: posit that we need entirely different explanations of female offending.
