Like mother, like child? Sex differences in the maternal transmission of offending among a Scottish cohort of pre-adolescent children

That parental offending acts as a strong risk factor for offending in children is well-established within criminology. Yet, research on maternal offending is relatively limited, even though many women take on a significantly higher share of childcare responsibilities, and as such, might reasonably be expected to exert an especially strong influence on their children. In part, this lacuna might be attributed to a male-centric lens within criminology, which has tended to overlook female offending. Aimed in part at redressing this imbalance, this article investigates the maternal transmission of offending among a cohort of 12-year-olds, using self-report data from the longitudinal Growing Up in Scotland study. The analysis shows that intragenerational maternal offending acts as a significant predictor of offending among daughters, but that intergenerational offending does not. We found no significant relationship between mothers’ offending and sons’, who appear more vulnerable to a range of wider risk factors.

Gender Equality and Female Offending: Evidence From International Data Sources

This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative indicator (the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results show that countries with a narrower gender gap in the Global Gender Gap indexes of political empowerment were likely to have a higher female prosecution rate, and that political empowerment was also significantly associated with female conviction rates as well as rates of property offending. The pattern of results generally supports the liberation thesis. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future study are addressed.

Developmental Offending Patterns: Female Offending Beyond the Reference Category

Compared with young men, justice-involved young women are often characterized by a greater array of risk factors, yet show a more limited pattern of offending. This paradox may be related to risk factors functioning differently not only for male versus female adolescents but also among female adolescents involved in offending. Data were used on 284 girls from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study to address whether risk factors varied across different offending trajectories modeled between ages 12 and 23. Risk factors measured from self-report interviews were compared across the three trajectories identified. Individual, family, and school risk factors varied across trajectory groups, but not always in ways anticipated. Female offending does not appear to fit neatly within existing developmental criminology theory. Theoretical models should be adapted, or new models developed, to account for the complexities of female offending patterns.

Female-Perpetrated Sexual Violence: A Survey of Survivors of Female-Perpetrated Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Assault

Individuals who experience female-perpetrated sexual assault (FPSA) are underrepresented in the sexual victimization literature. Much of the existing research on FPSA centers on child welfare-involved families and convicted or incarcerated female sexual offenders, with limited research devoted to victims of FPSA. The current study included a diverse sample of 138 community adults who experienced one or more incident of FPSA, and sought to (a) describe individuals who experienced FPSA, including their overall trauma exposure, (b) describe perpetrator age and relationship to the respondent, (c) explore whether respondents labeled FPSA as sexual assault and disclosed it to others, and (d) examine the prevalence of depressive and posttraumatic symptoms in this population. Of the respondents, 61.6% experienced childhood FPSA, 18.8% experienced adulthood FPSA, and 19.6% experienced both childhood and adulthood FPSA. Survivors of FPSA were highly trauma exposed; 71.7% reported a male-perpetrated victimization, over 90% reported any childhood sexual abuse, over 60% reported any adulthood victimization, 55.1% reported victimizations in both childhood and adulthood, and 78.3% endorsed any revictimization. Perpetrators of FPSA were often known individuals, including friends, family members, babysitters, and romantic partners. Incidents of female perpetrators co-offending with males accounted for only 5.5%–8.5% of FPSA events, contrary to myths about female offending. Incidents of FPSA were often labeled as sexual assault in retrospect, but only 54.3% of respondents ever disclosed an incident of FPSA. Depressive and posttraumatic symptoms were common. Results indicate FPSA is typically perpetrated by individuals acting alone who are known to and close to the victim. Incidents of FPSA may not be labeled as sexual abuse or assault at the time of the event, are not frequently disclosed, and may carry long-term mental health consequences for survivors. Significant research efforts are needed to better identify and help these underrecognized, highly trauma burdened survivors of violence.

Pathways and penalties: Exploring experiences of agency among incarcerated women in South Africa

Despite the documented rise in the population of incarcerated women over recent decades, female offenders only represent about 5% of the total global incarcerated population. South Africa is no different – female offenders total less than 3% of the country’s incarcerated population, a populace that was previously counted as one of the ten largest correctional systems in the world. This small representation of women in the correctional system leads to interpretations of their pathways to offending and experiences of incarceration to be the same as those of male offenders, delegitimising any role that gender may play in offending behaviour. By utilising a feminist pathways research approach, the narratives of 17 women incarcerated in the Johannesburg Female Correctional Centre are contextualised in this study, to reveal conduits to women’s incarceration that primarily involve victimisation and socially constructed gendered vulnerabilities that are interconnected with poverty and oppression. As seen through excerpts of their life history interviews, this confluence of factors, coupled with pathways of narrowing options, contribute to female offending. Ultimately the research allows for a holistic understanding of the unique choices and challenges incarcerated women in South Africa face, and the role agency and patriarchy has played in the pathways taken.