Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-129). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-134). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (LL. M.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Law. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-199). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Most studies in South Africa focus on male offenders as they make up the majority of the offending population. With female offenders being in the minority, they receive less of the research attention. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the subjective experience of finding employment with a criminal record from the perspectives of six female former offenders who participated in the study. Participants were asked to share their accounts during semi-structured interviews. The transcripts were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. A total of nine themes were identified, namely; confronting the labour market; it affected my life not my chances; experiences of vocational skills and labour in corrections; current financial status versus previous financial status; those left behind: the impact of incarceration on the family. I am Human too, entering and adjusting in the correctional system, finding God and oneself, and rehabilitation and reintegration programmes. The findings showed that the experience of incarceration cannot be separated from the experience of adjusting back into society and finding employment. Employment and unemployment had an effect on participants’ financial status but also affected self-esteem and the relationship with family. The findings illustrated how participants used different coping methods to deal with not being able to find employment, dealing with the stigma attached to being a former offender as well as adjusting back into the community. The analyses from the interviews were compared to existing literature, thus creating a rich discussion. An overview of the discussion and some recommendations were provided and the limitations of the study were also taken into account. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Mentoring has become increasingly popular in recent years in the criminal justice system, and has been recommended by the Scottish Government as a service that can address the specific ‘needs’ of women who offend. Despite the popularity of mentoring, there has been limited evidence to suggest that it reduces reoffending of women, or facilitates significant changes in their lives. In addition, there has been a lack of clarity around the definition of mentoring, including role definition, the extent of intensive support offered and the key aims of the service. This thesis (in collaboration with Sacro and the University of Stirling), explores the experiences of women who have accessed the Sacro Women’s Mentoring Service and accounts from mentors and staff to establish what the key aims and processes of mentoring are, alongside a critique of whether this offers an approach that can address key issues related to the marginalisation of these women. Findings from the data revealed that mentoring consisted of practical support, helping women to respond to difficulties related to poverty and their disadvantaged circumstances generally. The most common outcomes for women were: engagement with agencies; increases in confidence and self-esteem and improvements in emotional well-being. The rhetoric of mentoring offered by mentors and staff suggested that mentoring was based on an individualistic approach that contained responsibilising strategies, aimed at helping women to make improved choices and become responsible citizens. In practice, however, mentors were helping women to resolve issues related to the welfare system and other services outwith the criminal justice system. Many mentors and staff viewed mentoring as role modelling, however, women who accessed the service were more likely to view their mentor as a friend and ‘someone to talk to’ suggesting that the relationship was not an opportunity for women to model the behaviours of their mentor, but as emotional support and a release from their social isolation. This disconnect was also reflected in ‘imaginary penalities’ which were observed, such as staff completing paperwork they did not view as relevant to the service they delivered or staff being sent on training that they could not apply to the work they delivered on a day to day basis. This may be a result of the increasing marketisation of mentoring within the criminal justice system. Those services labelled as ‘mentoring’ may be more likely to gain funding as it is a service that is currently favoured by statutory funders in Scotland. If positive outcomes of mentoring are viewed by policy makers to be the result of an individualistic approach, and not mentors addressing problems outwith the criminal justice system, as best as they can, then this takes responsibility away from the state to make changes to policy. It also places unrealistic expectations on mentors to make significant changes to the lives of women in an environment of continuing funding cuts to welfare and services.

I began my inquiry into women's lawbreaking from a disquiet between what I "knew" from academic feminist accounts and what I "saw" as a worker. My understanding of women's lawbreaking came from a distorted representation of women lawbreakers as victims produced by academic feminist scholarship. This distorted representation came from a feminist practice of emphasizing women's victimhood as an explanatory framework. As a result, women have been rendered 'victims' - a representation that relies on women's object, rather than subject, status. Further, this distorted 'victim' representation fails to examine the way women can, and do, negotiate 'structures' to shape their own lives. As a result of my disquiet, I began to ask what is it about victimization that contributes to women's lawbreaking? I adapted Dorothy Smith's method of inquiry to develop a method which includes women's agency and yet retains feminist insights into economic and cultural gender inequities. This method allows one to understand agency in the context of victimization and its entanglement with lawbreaking by understanding the dialectic nature of social interaction. This dialectic understanding of action is important because we can examine not only what things come into view as structural or institutional processes, but also see more clearly the undercurrent of resistance and survival so relevant to feminism. Further, this method looks at women's lawbreaking differently - it captures women's agency as a counter-discourse to existing feminist discourses of victimization. A small research study was conducted for this thesis. Nine women were interviewed about their lives growing up and their experiences with lawbreaking. From this data, three areas were explored: "invalidation", "addiction" and "negotiation". The analysis of these themes explores, and then maps out, courses of women's lawbreaking action and how those courses are coordinated by the ruling relations. This project aims to contribute to feminist scholarship on women's courses of lawbreaking action by offering Smith's method of inquiry as a way to capture both women's agency and how that is coordinated by the organizational and social relations of ruling. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

Many women in prison are likely to have children, but for various reasons may not be playing the role of primary caregiver prior to incarceration, and may be unable to fulfill this role when released. This research was designed to investigate the interpersonal difficulties that may contribute to the parenting problems of this unique population. Female offenders have an increased likelihood of personality pathology and history of abuse, creating a set of circumstances that affect these women's ability to have satisfactory relationships. This may be manifested in an orientation towards relationships that could be classified as an insecure attachment style, although it is not the relationship per se that is classified as an insecure attachment style; rather, the insecure attachment style (or pattern) refers to the individual's view of themselves and others, and their attachment style may then influence their responses to others in intimate relationships (e.g., their warmth, caregiving, jealousy, ability to trust, etc). The female offender population provides a distinctive opportunity for investigating the relationships between attachment styles and incarcerated women's personality pathology, experiences with their primary caregivers, as well as their own experiences as mothers. The attachment styles of one hundred eleven incarcerated female inmates were assessed using the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and the Experience in Close Relationships Inventory (ECRI; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998), and a sub-sample of these women were interviewed using the Peer Attachment Interview (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). Offenders were also assessed for quality of relationships with parents using the Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran (EMBU; Perris, Jacobsson, Lindstrom, von Knorring, & Perris, 1980), as well as with children using the Parental Stress Scale (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995) and a Parental Bonding Interview (created specifically for this research to gather information about parent-child relationships, the level of caregiving provided to the child, and the mother's subjective account of her parenting experiences). The SCID-Il Clinical Interview (First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, & Benjamin, 1997) was used to assess for personality disorder characteristics, which have been found in previous research to be prevalent in female offender populations. It was found that three-quarters of the women in the sample had given birth to children, however, 88.4% were no longer playing the role of primary caregiver upon incarceration. Nearly 61% of respondents claimed that social services had taken at least one child away, and 38.2% claimed that they had voluntarily given their children away. Reasons for no longer having custody varied, but the majority of women (70%) reported that drug and alcohol abuse was a major factor. Further, it was found that women in the sample were characterized by insecure attachment styles. Characteristics of personality disorders were present in over 73% of the sample. Results showed a high rate of abuse in childhood by primary caregivers, high levels of parental rejection, and low levels of parental warmth. In addition, participants reported unstable relationships with the fathers of their children. Further, the presence of an insecure attachment style was related to higher mean number of personality disorder characteristics, higher reported means of maternal and paternal rejection, and higher reported means of emotional and physical abuse by fathers. Impression management was found to be an issue with the respect to the majority of the measured utilized in the research. The goal of this research was to attain a greater understanding of the interpersonal difficulties of the female offender population, and how family, romantic, and peer relationships are related to parenting difficulties for these women. These issues, as well as limitations surrounding the use of current attachment measures, are discussed herein. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) for use with a female population. Seventy-five women who were either incarcerated or on probation were assessed using interview and file information. In addition, all subjects completed a battery of self-report inventories that were theoretically relevant to the PCL-R. The results strongly supported the appropriateness of the PCL-R for use with female offenders. The psychometric properties were excellent indicating a homogeneous and unidimensional scale. The factor analysis confirmed a two factor structure representing two distinct aspects of psychopathy; the personological and behavioural dimensions. The pattern of correlations obtained from the self—report inventories was highly similar to that obtained with male samples, further suggesting that the same construct is being measured in both sexes. The implications of these findings in terms of the construct of psychopathy and explanations of women’s criminality are discussed as well as future research and practical implications. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This research paper addressed the following question: Do select case studies conform to Dr. Freda Adler's theory regarding socio-economic influences on female criminal behavior or dispute her theory? My research involved three female criminals: Karla Faye Tucker, Andrea Yates, and Susan Smith. I addressed Adler's theory in detail, other theories, the makeup of the female criminal and various female crimes. This study provided evidence that all three case studies conform to Adler's theory. nIn accordance with Adler's theory, each of these three females committed crimes of accessibility. None of the three individuals sought to commit a premeditated act or to murder unknown victims. They were motivated by emotions arising at a point in time when access/opportunity presented itself.