Women Offenders’ Criminal Narrative Experience

Abstract

Purpose Although there is a vast array of theories on crime, one area that is largely under-represented is that of the actual experience of the offender engaged in criminal acts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the individual and phenomenological experiences of crime amongst women offenders. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 128 women who had committed a criminal offence, with an average age of 36.40 years (SD=11.12). Participants were recruited to take part in the study by answering a questionnaire exploring the emotions and narrative roles they experienced during commission of a crime. From this, participants’ Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) was determined. Findings Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) analyses revealed that emotional experiences and narrative roles were thematically associated, and when both were subjected to SSA analysis, two main themes of CNE were identified: Avenging Angel and Choiceless Victim. The Choiceless Victim experience was the most representative of women’s experiences in this study. Practical implications The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Future directions for research are also outlined. Originality/value The findings offer an alternative perspective and theoretical framework for examining women offenders’ criminal experiences.

Urgent issues and prospects in correctional rehabilitation practice and research

“…Speaking directly with people who have offended can give researchers a unique perspective on many aspects of correctional rehabilitation and facilitate a rich and nuanced understanding of issues in this complex field. Already, the small literature on the offender perspective has begun to shed light on a range of poorly understood topics and processes, such as the phenomenological experiences of women who offend (Ciesla et al, 2019); youth offenders’ perceptions of the challenges transitioning from a correctional institution to the community (Abrams, 2006); the reasons why some offenders do not complete treatment (McMurran & McCulloch, 2007); and the processes behind sex offenders maintaining and coming out of denial (Blagden et al, 2011), to mention but a few. Studies such as these provide insights that can have direct implications for professional practice and programme design and underscore the value of placing more emphasis on individuals’ accounts of their offending and rehabilitation in future research.…”

Mapping the lie: A smallest space analysis of truthful and deceptive mock-informant accounts

“…Points that appear closer on the map indicate variables that are more closely associated, they co-occur more frequently in the data set and are therefore ‘similar’. Alternatively, points that are further apart indicate variables that are less associated to each other (Ciesla et al, 2019; Ioannou et al, 2018). Consequently, interpretation of the SSA output is inductive, with the mapped space being partitioned into regions based upon the relationships between the content components (Shye, 2014).…”

Examining the narrative roles in suicide notes

“…Criminal Narratives have been used over the years to explore different subjects such as control methods of victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation (Ioannou & Oostinga, ), young offenders (Ioannou, Synnott, Lowe, & Tzani‐Pepelasi, ), offenders with Psychopathic and Personality Disordered Offenders (Goodlad, Ioannou, & Hunter, ) and women offenders (Ciesla, Ioannou, & Hammond, ). Canter's () criminal narratives and Durkheim's () four model of “Ideal” suicide have some similarities in their categories.…”