CJC4410 Final Exam Study Guide CH 14 TREATING WOMEN OFFENDERS Women Offenders There has been a staggering increase in the number of women offenders who enter the U S criminal justice system in the last 30 years The female incarceration rate increased by 757 from 1977 2004 almost double the male incarceration rate of 388 during the same time period Rate of women under probation rose 30 between 1995 and 2010 only 8 4 for men Despite these dramatic influxes women are not committing more crimes and have not become more violent than in years past A variety of public policies during the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the likelihood of women particularly poor women of color being under some form of correctional supervision War on Drugs Welfare reform policies during the Clinton administration Mandatory arrest strategies for domestic violence Mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines Zero tolerance policies in schools Women offenders when broadly comparing them to their men offender counterparts reflect a relatively low risk but high need population The likelihood of dangerous and violent behavior committed by women is far less than what we see with men Criminogenic needs often develop and manifest differently across gender Because men and women are socialized differently gender trajectories to crime and ongoing recidivism exist Therefore supervision treatment for women must reflect these distinctions Women s Unique Criminogenic Pathways and Needs Staff must have an understanding of challenges women faced prior to entry and how surviving them manifests behaviors in custody and treatment settings Women offenders often experience Extreme poverty multiple forms of child abuse and ongoing adult victimization low educational achievement mental illness self medicating behavior with alcohol or other drugs unhealthy intimate relationships parental stress low levels of self esteem and self efficacy Research statistically supports these self report stories from women many of these needs intersect in ways that significantly increase the likelihood of recidivism for women offenders Common pathways Child abuse pathway incarceration Self reported abuse during childhood facilitated their subsequent revocation and Child abuse not related to future incarceration but its related to histories of mental illness and substance abuse which led to depression anxiety and substance abuse and then probation failures Relational pathway Some women s path to revocation begin with problems surrounding a dysfunctional intimate relationship Social and human capital pathway Path to incarceration began with a lack of social support from families dysfunctional intimate relationships and low educational attainment These problems created reductions in self efficacy difficulty maintaining employment and financial independence leading to supervision failure and incarceration In response to the growing evidence revealing that girls and women are less dangerous and have distinct needs there has been a significant paradigm shift toward supervision and treatment programs that are gender responsive Theoretical Foundations to the Gender Responsive Perspective Relational Theory core theory in explaining female criminality A woman s growth is manifested through the type of relationships she has and her self worth is defined by interconnections with others Healthy relationships are mutual empathic and empowering for all individuals involved Mutuality ability of each person to create own feelings and thoughts Empathy ability to engage in another s thoughts and feelings without losing sight of his her own Produce 5 psychological effects increased zest and vitality empowerment to act knowledge of self and others self worth and desire for more connection Although females are socialized to be more empathic female offenders have suffered repeatedly from non empathic relationships This may be one route through which mental illness and substance abuse are fostered Condemned isolation a woman feels isolated in her primary relationships because significant other fails to validate and respond to her attempts at connecting Women who were disconnected from others or had difficulty forming healthy relationships experienced major depressive characteristics This often leads to substance abuse Holistic Addiction Theory Recognizes that addicted women differ from males in significant ways and women s substance abusing behavior is a complex problem for which a multi faceted treatment model should be implemented Patterns of drug abuse onset of abuse psychosocial characteristics and physiological effects are unique across gender Women substance abusing behaviors are tied with intimate relationships Women often introduced to drugs by dominant male figure Female onset of drug abuse is more sudden and intense rather than gradual like men Males initiate drug use for pleasure seeking purposes while females use to numb physical or psychological pain often due to physical or sexual abuse Women addicted to multiple substances with greater regularity Also they re more likely to use drugs in isolation Drug abusing women are more likely to have a history of sexual abuse co occurring mental disorder lower self esteem and more acute drug abusing histories Severity of drug abuse addiction is a stronger predictor of criminal behavior for women Theory of Trauma Has become a critical perspective in understanding and treating women offenders Useful in directing treatment providers toward appropriate and effective treatment modalities for coping with trauma 1 5 women in the U S has experience rape or attempted rape 77 90 of incarcerated women have been trauma victims Trauma can result from many different events doesn t have to be violent Can result from witnessing violence being the victim of stigmatization because of race gender poverty etc Trauma is defined by an overwhelming event and an individual s reaction to that event must involve fear helplessness or horror Trauma can alter a female s relational experiences and significantly hinder her psychological development Effects of trauma occur over a lifetime particularly for women of color Survivors have a significant disconnection from themselves and others Translating the Gender Responsive Perspective into Practice Because the vast majority of policies in the correctional system were originally designed for men and applied to women under the false assumption that both groups behave similarly there are significant