NCJ Number
145092
Date Published
1993
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Data were collected through interviews with 89 female inmates in Oregon prisons regarding their teenage experiences in their families, schools, and other areas, as well as any experience of physical or sexual abuse.
Abstract
The participants generally had low educational levels and a background of family and other problems during adolescence; two-thirds had run away from home at least once and half were arrested at least once as juveniles. Two-thirds of these women had close family members who had been arrested. Nearly half the women had suffered physical abuse, most often at the hands of a parent, and two-thirds had been sexually abused as children. Their teenage behavior, in terms of running away, delinquency, and substance abuse, correlated with sexual or physical abuse, household instability, and family violence. While abuse and delinquency were associated with earlier adult criminality, they were not related to the intensity or severity of adult criminality. The incidence of physical and sexual abuse among the population of female inmates in Oregon was higher than among the general population, but childhood abuse did not statistically stand alone as a determining factor in later criminal behavior. 2 figures and 2 appendixes