Female Offenders and Childhood Maltreatment: Understanding the Connections (From Female Offenders: Critical Perspectives and Effective Interventions, P 227-244, 1998, Ruth T. Zaplin, ed., -- See NCJ-204080)

• NCJ Number: 204084
• Author(s): Joyce Dougherty
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Aspen Publishers, Inc.
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines child maltreatment and its link to female criminality.

Abstract

Although an empirical causal link between childhood maltreatment and female crime and delinquency has yet to established, practitioners who work with female offenders typically see women who have experienced some form of abuse in their lives. As such, it is imperative that female offenders and the treatment providers working with them find an effective way of dealing with issues of abuse and violence in order to avoid re-offending behavior. The first section of the chapter provides an overview of the most common types of childhood maltreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The prevalence of each type of abuse against children, particularly females, in the United States is examined. Despite the vast quantity of child abuse taking place in the United States, a large percentage of all types of child abuse go unreported. Next, prior research on the link between childhood maltreatment and female criminality is critiqued. Suggestions are offered for discerning the child maltreatment hidden in official reports of female offenders and for understanding why female offenders may remain silent about the abuse they have suffered. It is often necessary for caseworkers and practitioners to read between the lines of official reports for hints of past abuse because in many cases, there will be no official report of child abuse. The author contends that practitioners must be sensitive to covert hints about child maltreatment because for most women offenders, the abuse they have experienced in their lives becomes normal for them and, as such, they may believe they have nothing of significance to report in terms of abuse and maltreatment. The successful community reentry of female offenders hinges on the ability of treatment providers to break down the emotional walls of childhood maltreatment so that female offenders can begin to form healthy relationships with others based on mutual respect and empathy. References