Citation

Smith VC. Vict. Offender 2017; 12(1): 113-137.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15564886.2015.1017131

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study assesses the entrance of substance-abusing female offenders (N = 1,209) into the criminal justice system through temporal patterns (using age of first victimization, drug use, and arrest). Nine pathways were identified. Unexpectedly, the leading path was a sequence where drug use preceded arrest in absence of childhood victimization. However, women under a path inclusive of victimization possessed more risk factors.

FINDINGS support feminist pathway research, which states that childhood victimization is generally present in female offenders' lives. Nevertheless, results also revealed that a drug pathway without childhood abuse proved to be as important and even more dominant among criminal justice-involved women.

Language: en

Keywords

theory; women; substance abuse; victimization; child abuse; female criminality