Women convicted for violent offenses: Adverse childhood experiences, low level of education and poor mental health

Abstract

BackgroundIn past years, the female offender population has grown, leading to an increased interest in the characteristics of female offenders. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of female violent offending in a Swiss offender population and to compare possible socio-demographic and offense-related gender differences.MethodsDescriptive and bivariate logistic regression analyses were performed for a representative sample of N = 203 violent offenders convicted in Zurich, Switzerland.Results7.9% (N = 16) of the sample were female. Significant gender differences were found: Female offenders were more likely to be married, less educated, to have suffered from adverse childhood experiences and to be in poor mental health. Female violent offending was less heterogeneous than male violent offending, in fact there were only three types of violent offenses females were convicted for in our sample: One third were convicted of murder, one third for arson and only one woman was convicted of a sex offense.ConclusionsThe results of our study point toward a gender-specific theory of female offending, as well as toward the importance of developing models for explaining female criminal behavior, which need to be implemented in treatment plans and intervention strategies regarding female offenders.

Changes in the prevalence and nature of violent crime by youth in Victoria, Australia

“…Although the absolute numbers of females offending remains much lower than that for males (Holmes, 2010) these findings add further credence to what we know clinically about the much higher threshold for progressing violent offences for females through the criminal justice system. They also reflect the more recent offending profiles of females found in incarcerated populations (ABS, 2011b; Pollock & Davis, 2005), and provide further exploratory hypotheses in support of current international interest exploring the pathways into crime for females (Rossegger et al, 2009).…”

“…For example, the belief that girls' criminal violence is rising and the gender gap narrowing is widely endorsed by both the popular and scientific press (Egan, 2009;Goodkind, Wallace, Shook, Bachman, & O'Malley, 2009;Ness, 2004). Further, there have been a number of concerns regarding the apparently decreasing age of young people committing violent crimes in Australia, claiming that rates of violence for children between the ages of 10 and 14 has grown at a much faster than for the rest of the community (Roberts, 2008), and that "rampant teen boozing has fuelled the dramatic surge" (Mazerolle, 2007). Additionally, public statements given by credible "experts" regarding the seemingly escalating trend in youth gang and group violence have featured prominently in the mass media (Butcher, 2009;Thompson & Stolz, 2008;White, 2004).…”

Violent Female Offending: An Exploration of Repeat and One-Time Offending

“…The apparent rise in violent female offending has increased the focus on risk factors that may initiate and maintain this type of offending (Lewis, 2010;Rossegger et al, 2009;Thornton, Graham-Kevan, & Archer, 2010). This is of particular importance for those custodial institutions and professionals responsible for delivering offender treatment and risk management programmes (Covington & Bloom, 2003;Van Voorhis et al, 2008;Welfare & Hollin, 2012).…”

Intelligent Diagnosing of Intellectual Disabilities in Offenders: Food for Thought

“…For example, one interesting research path would be to study whether offenders are particularly impaired in Gf or Gc. Taking into consideration that offenders are often disadvantaged with regard to education (Richter et al, 1996;Rossegger et al, 2009), it can be hypothesized that they primarily exhibit problems on Gc. However, if the problem would mainly regard Gf, schooling programs offered in prisons for instance might not be the (sole) answer to this problem.…”