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Module 3

Module 3. Characteristics and Pathways of Women Offenders. :. Who Are the Women Offenders in the Community?. :. Why profile women offenders? Two big stories: Growth Drug offenses Characteristics of women offenders. Pathways to imprisonment The connection: abuse – drugs – crime

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Module 3

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  1. Module 3 Characteristics and Pathways of Women Offenders :

  2. Who Are the Women Offendersin the Community? :

  3. Why profile women offenders? Two big stories: Growth Drug offenses Characteristics of women offenders Pathways to imprisonment The connection: abuse – drugs – crime Implications for correctional practices. Overview

  4. Why Profile Women Offenders? • Women’s pathways to the criminal justice system & women’s needs are different from men’s • Women offenders represent different challenges to supervision compared with men • Good correctional practice acknowledges these differences

  5. Offense Patterns .

  6. Trends in Women’s Crime • Arrests in 1998 totaled ~14.4 million: 11.2 million for men and 3.2 million for women • Women accounted for only 17% of all arrests for violent crime. • About 69% of all arrests of women were for larceny-theft or drug/alcohol crimes.

  7. Trends in Offense Patterns • Nearly 3/4 of women prisoners are serving a sentence for a non-violent offense. • More than 1/3 have no prior history of criminal convictions. Women are: • Much more likely than men to be serving time for a drug offense • Less likely to have been sentenced for a violent crime

  8. Differences in Female & Male Offense Patterns (1998) FemalesMales Violent 27% 48% Property 26% 21% Drug 35% 19% Public Order 10% 9% Other 2% 3%

  9. Offenses of Women in Jail or Prison

  10. Offense Characteristics • Drug Offenses account for half of the rise in number of women in prison compared to one third for the number for men • In the past 10 years, the arrest rate for women has increased by about 32% while the imprisonment rate has increased by 159% • In 1979, violent female offenders were half of the population, in 1997 they were just over a quarterof the population.

  11. Differences in Female & Male Criminal History • Men more likely to have higher number of prior convictions • Women more likely to be on probation prior to imprisonment • Past convictions: • Priors: 65% of women; 77% of men • Both adult & juvenile: 16% of women; 31% of men

  12. Questions…. • How is your population distributed across the basic (violent, property, drug, other) categories? • What implications do these profiles have for correctional supervision in your system?

  13. Pathways to the Criminal Justice System .

  14. Characteristics of Women Under Correctional Supervision

  15. Women Offenders: Typical Life History • Nearly 6 in 10 women grew up in a household with at least one parent absent. • About half report that an immediate family member had also served time. • More than 40% reported prior physical or sexual abuse. • Of those, 69% said it happened before age 18.

  16. Socioeconomic Status • Economically disadvantaged as compared to men • Are typically undereducated, unskilled, & underemployed • Employment in entry level, low skill & low pay jobs

  17. Education & Employment • An estimated 55% of women in jail, 56% in state prisons & 73% in federal prisons have a high school degree • Approximately 40% of women in state prisons were employed at the time of arrest compared to 60% of males • 37% of women compared to 28% of men had incomes of less than $600 per month prior to arrest

  18. Family Background • Almost 17% lived in foster care or in a group home • More likely than men to have at least one family member that has been incarcerated

  19. Race & Ethnicity Make a Difference • African-American women comprise only 13% of all women in this country, yet they comprise nearly half of the women in prison. • Black, non-Hispanic women were 3 times more likely than Hispanic women & 6 times more likely than white women to be incarcerated in 2000.

  20. Women Offenders and Their Children • 70% of all women under correctional sanction have at least one child younger than 18. • Based on 1998 data, more than 1.3 million children have mothers under correctional sanction. • 233,600 minor children have an incarcerated mother. • In all, 1,941,796 minor children have a parent in jail or prison ...

  21. When a parent is incarcerated, it matters which parent it is. For Federal prisoners: • if it is the father, 92% of the children continue in their mother’s care • if it is the mother, only 26% stay in the father’s care. • More than half of the children of women prisoners never visit their mothers during incarceration

  22. Substance Abuse • Approximately 80% in state prisons have substance abuse problems • About half had been using alcohol, drugs, or both at the time of their offense • Nearly 1 in 3 women in state prisons report committing the offense to support a drug habit • Women offenders in state prisons report higher drug usage than their male counterparts

  23. Violence Against Women and Children • Witnessing domestic violence as a childmay cause increased vulnerability to victimization in adulthood • Women in the CJ system have extensive histories of physical & sexual abuse & they are three times more likely to have a history of abuse than their male counterparts • One-third of women in state prison & one-quarter of those in jails report being raped at some time in their lives

  24. Physical & Sexual Abuse • Physically or sexually abused at some time in their lives • Women offenders are 3 times more likely than men to have a history of abuse • Women’s substance abuse is highly correlated with physical & sexual abuse

  25. Women Offenders & Abuse History • Women with an abuse history are more likely than women with no prior abuse to be incarcerated for a violent offense (42% versus 25%). • Nearly 1/3 of women in prison serving sentences for murder were convicted of killing a husband or ex-husband.

  26. Look at It This Way...

  27. Angela Browne’s Study • Of 150 women interviewed in a women’s prison, 70% reported severe physical violence from caretaker • Almost 60% reported sexual abuse • 75% reported violence from adult intimate • Only 6% said they had experienced no violence or sexual abuse “Prevalence & Severity of Lifetime Physical & Sexual Victimization Among Incarcerated Women” International J. of Law & Psychiatry vol. 22, no. 3-4: pages 301-322 (1999)

  28. Characteristics of Women Offenders • Disproportionately women of color • In their early to mid-thirties • Most likely to have been convicted of drug or drug-related offense • Fragmented family histories with other family members in the CJ system • Survivors of physical and/or sexual abuse

  29. . Adapted from the work of Barbara Owen, Ph.D. California State University – Fresno (2005)

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