Citation

Greene S, Haney C, Hurtado A. Prison J. 2000; 80(1): 3-23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0032885500080001001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study extends the risk factors model of background or social history analysis to the lives of incarcerated mothers. Interviews were conducted with a sample of incarcerated mothers. The presence of a number of criminogenic influences such as poverty, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing violence in the lives of women incarcerated for primarily nonviolent—largely drug-related—offenses and in the lives of their children were identified. The implications of these findings for understanding female criminality and breaking the so-called cycle of crime are discussed.