The Relationships between criminal history, mental disorder, and recidivism among federally sentenced female offenders.

Women’s Risk Factors and Their Contributions to Existing Risk/Needs Assessment

“…Although support continues to grow for the link between child abuse and juvenile delinquency among girls (Hubbard & Pratt, 2002;Siegel & Williams, 2003;Widom, 1989), the connection between child and adult abuse and criminal activity among adult female offenders has not been as clear. Some studies have reported no relationship between victimization and recidivism (Bonta, Pang, & Wallace-Capretta, 1995;Loucks, 1995;Lowenkamp, Holsinger, & Latessa, 2001;Rettinger, 1998); others have found abused women less likely to offend (Blanchette, 1996;Bonta et al, 1995); and still others (Makarios, 2007;Siegel & Williams, 2003;Widom, 1989) have reported that abuse increases the likelihood of future offending among women. Mixed findings are likely to be due to measurement issues, particularly underreporting (Browne, Miller, & Maguin, 1999), and distinctions between types of correctional populations (Law et al, in press).…”

Merging theoretical frameworks to inform risk assessment for the young female offender

“…With respect to antisocial attitudes specifically, evidence from the present study and from the extant literature does suggest an empirical link between this global construct and criminal recidivism across gender (Blanchette 1996;Brown & Motiuk, 2005;Dowden & Andrews, 1999;Green & Campbell, 2006;Hubbard & Pratt, 2002;Rettinger 1998;Simourd & Andrews, 1994). However, current conceptualizations of the construct as defined in the gender-neutral literature may be neglecting attitudinal elements surrounding criminal conduct that are potentially unique to females.…”

“…There is evidence to support the contention that substance abuse, particularly drug use, is a robust predictor of criminality in women (Dowden & Brown, 2002;Peugh & Belenko, 1999;Rettinger, 1998), especially when consumed immediately preceding the commission of a crime (Blanchette, 1996). Sommers and Baskin (1993) also found that the majority of young female offenders in their sample recounted a history of substance abuse and were reportedly under the influence of illegal substances while committing criminal acts.…”

“…Considered an integral domain in the prediction of recidivism, the antisocial/criminal attitudes variable is among the Big Four articulated in the gender-neutral literature (Andrews & Bonta, 2010). There is evidence to suggest that criminal attitudes are also a vital consideration in the assessment and treatment of female offenders (Blanchette, 1996;Dowden & Andrews, 1999;Rettinger, 1998;Simourd & Andrews, 1994). For example, in their longitudinal investigation of women released from federal institutions, Brown and Motiuk (2005) found that antisocial attitudes (i.e., negative attitudes towards the law) significantly predicted re-conviction after a 3-year follow-up period.…”

“…The empirical evidence generally supports the lesser bearing of criminal history on a woman's risk to reoffend (Blanchette, 1996;Bonta, Pang, & Wallace-Capretta, 1995). For example, measures of this domain were considered in a recent investigation by Wright and colleagues (2007).…”