Women Offending Notes

Women Offending

Prevalence and Trends

• Women constitute a minority of the offending population.

  • 22% of adult convictions.

  • 20% of youth convictions.

  • 6.2% of the prison population (across 3 prisons).

  • 19% of those on community sentences.

• Generally, there are more men in prison than women.

• Fluctuations in prison population are more significant for men than women.

• A high proportion of women in prison are on remand.

Drivers of Changes in Women's Prison Population

Increases:

• Increase in serious violence and drug offending has a proportionally greater impact on women.

• Changes to bail, sentencing, and parole practices have a greater impact on the women’s prison population.

• Women typically receive shorter sentences than men, impacting rehabilitation opportunities.

Decreases:

• Increased use of non-custodial sentences.

• Changes to sentencing for dealing in Class A drugs.

• Decrease in the use of custodial remand.

Types of Offending (Aotearoa NZ, 2022)

Women:

• Traffic offenses: 4429

• Theft: 1005

• Offenses against justice: 924

• Acts intended to cause injury: 804

• Dangerous or negligent acts endangering a person: 607

• Illicit drug offenses: 353

• Fraud/deception: 312

• Property damage/environmental pollution: 273

• Unlawful entry/burglary: 176

Men:

• Traffic offenses: 15,672

• Acts intended to cause injury: 5034

• Offenses against justice: 4757

• Dangerous/negligent acts: 2556

• Theft: 1996

• Illicit drug offenses: 1208

• Property damage/environmental pollution: 1137

• Unlawful entry/burglary: 1107

• Abduction/harassment: 1001

• Prohibited weapons: 866

• Men are more likely to commit physically violent offenses compared to women.

Female vs. Male Offending

• Women’s offending is more likely associated with their relationships than men’s.

• Motivations:

  • Economic need is a primary motivator for property crimes among females.

  • Adventure and status enhancement are primary motivators for property crimes among males.

  • Response to domestic violence is a significant motivator for serious violence among females.

  • Jealousy or control are significant motivators for serious violence among males.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

• Women are generally perceived as victims.

• Limited support for self-defensive explanations for female-perpetrated IPV.

• Evidence suggests women perpetrate similar levels of physical and psychological violence.

• Women are equally likely to initiate mutual aggression in intimate relationships.

Sexual Offending

• Meta-analysis:

  • 2.2% of sexual offenses reported to the police are female-perpetrated.

  • Victimization surveys indicate that 11.6% of perpetrators are female.

• Victims of female sexual offenders suffer the same traumatic effects as victims of male sexual offenders.

• Assumptions about male coercion exist, but pathways can vary; some involve extreme coercion.

Theories of Female Offending

• Historically, criminological literature has been seen as inherently sexist, underpinned by gender stereotypes, and either ignoring females or assuming they are similar to males.

• Hypotheses regarding motivations, circumstances, and context are important considerations.

Categories of Theories

• Gender-neutral: Developed for males and assumed to operate the same for females.

• Female-Specific: Developed specifically for females, assuming that females are different from males.

• Pro-feminist/Hybrid: Incorporate aspects from gender-neutral and female-specific theories, proposed for both males and females.

Gender-Neutral Theory: General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning (GPCSL)

• Integration of correlates and dimensions of crime:

  • Personal (e.g., cognition, personality, behavior, biology).

  • Interpersonal (e.g., associates, family).

  • Community (e.g., neighborhood).

  • Situational (e.g., opportunities, stressors, states).

• Social learning and self-control.

• Crime occurs when the rewards exceed costs: “definitions favorable to crime.”

• Suggestion of similar risk factors for males and females; gender as a distal factor influencing third variables.

• Criticisms:

  • Fails to recognize gendered pathways into offending for women (e.g., power imbalance, victimization, parenting and family obligations, economic marginalization, and substance abuse).

  • Fails to identify service areas important to women.

Female-Specific Theory: Feminist Pathways Theory

• Adverse family environments result in females leaving home/school (e.g., abuse, poor parental supervision, parental psychopathology, economic marginalization).

• Further victimization in the form of exploitation (e.g., prostitution) and poor coping strategies.

• Limitations: US samples, predominantly qualitative studies, lack of male comparison, unidimensional pathway (i.e., survivor).

• Emerging quantitative research indicates several different pathways.

Pro-Feminist/Hybrid Theory: Gender Similarities Hypothesis

• Men and women are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables.

• Review of 46 meta-analyses (general population studies) shows 84% overlap.

• Some important differences exist in:

  • Aggression.

  • Sexuality.

• Limitations: Gender differences vary substantially in magnitude at different ages and in different contexts.

Risk Factors for Re-offending

• Features of persons/environments that statistically increase the probability of antisocial or offending behavior (e.g., higher rates of re-offending).

• Can be static (not amenable to change) or dynamic (changeable through intervention).

• Can be gender-neutral, gender-salient, or gender-specific.

Risk Factors: Gender Neutral

• Central Eight Risk Factors:

  • History of antisocial behavior.

  • Antisocial personality pattern.

  • Antisocial attitudes/cognition.

  • Antisocial associates.

  • Family and/or marital issues.

  • School and/or work issues.

  • Leisure and/or recreation issues.

  • Substance abuse.

Risk Factors: Gender Neutral Findings

• Central 8 Risk Factors had higher effects for women than men, supporting gender neutrality.

• Substance abuse and family/marital domain significantly higher accuracy for women.

• Important: the model does not establish how risk factors increase recidivism; underpinning mechanisms could differ.

Risk Factors: Gender Specific

• Central eight (gender-neutral factors) are predictive of re-offending.

• Gender-specific factors make a significant added contribution:

  • Parental stress.

  • Self-esteem and self-efficacy.

  • Family support.

  • Educational assets.

Risk Factors: Gender Specific (Big Four & Moderate Five)

• Gender-specific ‘Big Four’:

  • Substance abuse

  • Trauma/victimization

  • Poor mental health

  • Unhealthy relationships

• Gender-specific ‘Moderate Five’:

  • Low self-worth (including self-esteem, self-efficacy, empowerment)

  • Economic marginalization

  • Parental stress

  • Unsafe living conditions

  • Female-specific physical health needs

Factors Influencing Re-offending (NZ Study)

• Immediate precipitators:

  • Relationships – stress/trauma, antisocial influence

  • Drugs – funding, disinhibition, instability

  • Economic pressures – stress, desire, employment

  • Lack of support/services - financial/emotional stress

• Sense of self shaped by: history, social roles, prioritizing others and relationships

• Coping with challenges: giving up, loss of control, inability to cope, reverting to a crime script

Responsivity Factors: Mental Health and Trauma

Mental Health in Prisons (New Zealand)

Traumatic Life Experiences

• Estimated 90% of women in prison have a history of trauma.

• 52% have a lifetime experience of PTSD.

• 68% have been a victim of family violence.

• International Prevalence of PTSD: 21.1% women vs. 6.2% males.

Impact of Trauma

• Symptoms:

  • Nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and fearfulness.

  • Physical pain or illness symptomology.

  • Emotional numbing and freezing.

• Untreated PTSD reduces day-to-day functioning and adherence to treatment.

• Increases the risks of self-harm and suicide.

• Increased risk for violent behavior after exposure to any childhood trauma.

Gender Responsive Treatment

• Move towards principles such as:

  • Respect and dignity.

  • Supportive environment.

  • Shared responsibility.

  • Empowerment.

  • Meaningful and responsible choice.

  • Trauma-informed care.

Interventions Addressing Criminogenic Needs of Women

• Broad/holistic, targeting multiple criminogenic needs.

• CBT principles, skills-based methods.

• Advocacy for gender-responsive principles.

• Strengths-based approach.

• Social and cultural factors – pathway to offending.

• Trauma.

• Mental and physical health (including substance abuse).

• Parenting programs (including mother and baby units).

• Promotes self-efficacy/empowerment.

Treatment Effectiveness

• Meta-analysis:

  • Community success similar to men when gender-neutral treatment is applied.

  • Across all 38 outcomes, gender-informed and gender-neutral treatments are equally effective.
    *Result: When limited to high-quality studies, gender-informed interventions are significantly more effective.

Summary

• Females represent a minority of the offending population.

• Less is known about females than males in the context of offending.

• Risk factors and treatment targets appear similar to males, but there are some differences.

• Differences may be in the details/mechanisms rather than in general areas of “criminogenic need.”

• Gender-informed treatment and responsivity are important.