African American Women on the Possibilities of a Relationship with an Ex-Offender

• NCJ Number: 228050
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2009 Pages: 328-332
• Author(s): Camille Gibson; Dominique Roberson; Angela Daniel
• Date Published: August 2009
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study surveyed 487 African-American university women in order to determine their willingness to remain committed to an incarcerated person as well as their willingness to enter a committed romantic relationship with an ex-offender.

Abstract

The findings indicate that although a significant percentage of the women were inclined to remain faithful to an incarcerated husband, they were not as inclined to remain committed to incarcerated boyfriends. The women were asked, "Are you the kind of woman who might stay faithful to a boyfriend or husband while he is incarcerated - say for about 5 years? Why or why not?" Fifty-four percent indicated they would consider remaining faithful, but a qualitative analysis of these responses showed that many qualified their answer by indicating they would remain faithful to husbands but not to boyfriends. The women were also asked, "Would you consider marrying someone with a criminal record? Why or why not?" Of the 500 women surveyed, 63.4 reported that they would consider marrying an ex-offender. Most indicative of a positive attitude toward the possibility of marriage to an ex-offender was having a family member who had been incarcerated. There were some qualifications on this answer, however, depending on the ex-offender's past offense and/or whether there were clear signs that the ex-offender had changed his criminal ways. Although these findings cannot be generalized to a larger population of African-American women, this study suggests an encouraging possibility for African-American men with a criminal record to experience romantic relationships that facilitate a noncriminal lifestyle. The survey was administered in 2004 to a nonrandom convenience sample of 500 university African-American women, primarily undergraduates on a historically Black university campus. The survey instrument consisted of 79 questions, some closed-ended and others open-ended. Only the first 18 addressed a willingness to be in a relationship with an ex-offender. 3 tables and 30 references