While it is widely known that most women convicted of crime or serving time in prison are mothers, little research has focused specifically on whether and how the daily activity of mothering affects women’s criminal behaviour. On the one hand, criminalized women often report that parenting is important to them. If mothering reduces the opportunities to engage in crime, strengthens informal controls, and increases the costs of crime, it should discourage offending. On the other hand, the challenges of mothering are particularly onerous for women who are economically disadvantaged, marginalized, and socially isolated – that is, the types of women who are most likely to engage in crime. If children create an imperative for resources that women cannot accommodate legally while simultaneously exacerbating psychological and emotional strains, women may turn to criminal behaviour. Using a sample of 259 criminalized women, I explore the mothering-crime relationship by examining whether the daily responsibilities and demands of living with children affect month-to-month changes in women’s involvement in offending. Controlling for criminalized women’s relationships, socio-economic contexts, living arrangements, and leisure pursuits, I provide quantitative evidence about the relationship between mothering and property crime, drug use, drug dealing, and women’s use of violence against their intimate partners. I supplement this analysis with qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with these women. Results indicate a non-uniform effect of mothering on criminalized women’s offending: living with children discourages women from engaging in property crime and using drugs, makes no difference to whether or not they deal drugs or engage in ‘mutual’ violence with intimate partners, and increases their use of ‘sole’ violence against intimate partners. I discuss why living with children is an important “local life circumstance” shaping variation in criminalized women’s commission of some, but not all, offences, and consider the policy implications of these findings.

While it is widely known that most women convicted of crime or serving time in prison are mothers, little research has focused specifically on whether and how the daily activity of mothering affects women’s criminal behaviour. On the one hand, criminalized women often report that parenting is important to them. If mothering reduces the opportunities to engage in crime, strengthens informal controls, and increases the costs of crime, it should discourage offending. On the other hand, the challenges of mothering are particularly onerous for women who are economically disadvantaged, marginalized, and socially isolated – that is, the types of women who are most likely to engage in crime. If children create an imperative for resources that women cannot accommodate legally while simultaneously exacerbating psychological and emotional strains, women may turn to criminal behaviour. Using a sample of 259 criminalized women, I explore the mothering-crime relationship by examining whether the daily responsibilities and demands of living with children affect month-to-month changes in women’s involvement in offending. Controlling for criminalized women’s relationships, socio-economic contexts, living arrangements, and leisure pursuits, I provide quantitative evidence about the relationship between mothering and property crime, drug use, drug dealing, and women’s use of violence against their intimate partners. I supplement this analysis with qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with these women. Results indicate a non-uniform effect of mothering on criminalized women’s offending: living with children discourages women from engaging in property crime and using drugs, makes no difference to whether or not they deal drugs or engage in ‘mutual’ violence with intimate partners, and increases their use of ‘sole’ violence against intimate partners. I discuss why living with children is an important “local life circumstance” shaping variation in criminalized women’s commission of some, but not all, offences, and consider the policy implications of these findings.

The aim of this study was to compare online child pornography offenders and contact offenders along the predictive items of the Static-2002 actuarial risk assessment tool, as well as, several other items and scales predictive of recidivism. In addition, the study wished to determine if the Static-2002 was a well-equipped to assess online offenders. 120 subjects were assessed in this study, 53 online child pornography offenders, 53 child molesters, and 7 offenders who committed both a contact and online offense. The research identified a number of similarities between the two groups of offenders, including a finding that the two groups did not significantly differ in age. The most pronounced differences were found on the several measures of criminality used in the study where contact offenders scored significantly higher. The Static-2002 was found to not be well suited for use with online offenders as the tool had difficulty assessing their sexual deviancy.

The aim of this study was to compare online child pornography offenders and contact offenders along the predictive items of the Static-2002 actuarial risk assessment tool, as well as, several other items and scales predictive of recidivism. In addition, the study wished to determine if the Static-2002 was a well-equipped to assess online offenders. 120 subjects were assessed in this study, 53 online child pornography offenders, 53 child molesters, and 7 offenders who committed both a contact and online offense. The research identified a number of similarities between the two groups of offenders, including a finding that the two groups did not significantly differ in age. The most pronounced differences were found on the several measures of criminality used in the study where contact offenders scored significantly higher. The Static-2002 was found to not be well suited for use with online offenders as the tool had difficulty assessing their sexual deviancy.

Previous research concerning violent offending has been fragmented considering different elements of violent offending separately. The aim of this thesis is to consolidate the different areas of previous research into one cohesive model of assault offenders and offences. This model will consider the developmental, cognitive, behavioural and environmental constituents of assault offenders and offences in a temporal framework. Interviews were conducted with 35 male and 13 female offenders who had a conviction for assault. Grounded Theory analysis was used to categorise the data and construct a model of assault including developmental factors, the time preceding the offence, the offence and the time after the offence producing the Pathways Model of Assault (PMA). Initial construction of the PMA was conducted using 25 of the male participant interview transcripts. The PMA was then validated across gender through inclusion of the 13 female participant transcripts. The PMA was also subject to an inter-rater reliability test, which provided high consistency between the coding of two researchers using the final 10 male participant transcripts and 10 randomly chosen female participant transcripts. The PMA consisted of 10 stages where the individual differences of the participants could be mapped, thus providing “pathways” through the model. Five major pathways were found. Further exploration of the PMA through quantitative analyses provided validation of four of the pathways, with significant associations found between two of the offender types and two of the offence types. The offender types reported were under-controlled, representing persistent repeat violent offenders and over-controlled, representing onetime violent offenders. (For complete abstract open document)

abstract: Most criminological theories are tested using samples of adolescents. Consequently, there is ample evidence regarding the correlates of criminal behavior committed by teenagers. The problem, however, is that there is relatively little information regarding the correlates of criminal offending committed during late life. This limits the ability to assess the generalizability of some of the leading theories in criminology. To fill this void in the literature the present study used a sample of 2,000 elderly people (i.e., 60 years of age and older) from Arizona and Florida to examine three issues: (1) the role of general and specific routine activity measures in the explanation of criminal activity in late life, (2) the invariance of low self-control across various subgroups of the elderly sample, and (3) the generality of self-control theory and routine activity theory. The analyses revealed several important findings. First, general routine activity measures are better predictors of general criminal offending than specific indicators. However, specific routine activity measures still matter in the explanation of specific types of crimes. Another important finding of this study was that low self-control has an invariant effect on criminal offending across gender, race/ethnicity, and age. Finally, self-control theory and routine activity theory are general frameworks that explain criminal behavior committed by older people in much the same manner as among teenagers. Routine activity does not mediate the link between low self-control and offending. Rather, both low self-control and routine activity exert independent effects on late life criminal activity, net of statistical controls. The present study concludes with a discussion of the findings situated in the literature and provides policy implications that stem from the results. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2012

abstract: Criminologists have directed significant theoretical and empirical attention toward the institution of marriage over the past two decades. Importantly, the momentum guiding this line of research has increased despite the fact that people are getting married far less often and much later in the life course than in any point in American history. The aim of this dissertation is to address this disconnect by focusing attention to nonmarital romantic relationships and their instability during emerging adulthood. To do so, it uses data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a longitudinal study of 1,354 at-risk males and females who were adjudicated from the juvenile and adult systems in Phoenix and Philadelphia between 2000 and 2003. The project focuses attention to the following issues: (1) the effect of romantic dissolution on aggressive and income-based offenses; (2) the extent to which strain/negative emotionality and peer influence/exposure account for the effect of romantic dissolution on crime; and (3) the extent to which certain relationship and individual circumstances moderate the effect of romantic dissolution. The models reveal a few key findings. First, romantic dissolution is strongly related to an increase in both aggressive and income-based crime, but is more strongly related to income-based crime. Second, the effect of romantic dissolution is reduced when measures of strain/negative emotionality and peer influence/exposure measures are added to models, but the peer influence/exposure measures account for the strongest reduction. Finally, romantic dissolution does not serve as a positive life event among these at-risk youth, but its effect is exacerbated under a number of contexts (e.g. when an individual is unemployed). This study closes with a summary of these findings as well as its key limitations, and offers insight into potential policy implications and avenues of future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2013

The aim of this study was to compare online child pornography offenders and contact offenders along the predictive items of the Static-2002 actuarial risk assessment tool, as well as, several other items and scales predictive of recidivism. In addition, the study wished to determine if the Static-2002 was a well-equipped to assess online offenders. 120 subjects were assessed in this study, 53 online child pornography offenders, 53 child molesters, and 7 offenders who committed both a contact and online offense. The research identified a number of similarities between the two groups of offenders, including a finding that the two groups did not significantly differ in age. The most pronounced differences were found on the several measures of criminality used in the study where contact offenders scored significantly higher. The Static-2002 was found to not be well suited for use with online offenders as the tool had difficulty assessing their sexual deviancy.

Background: Ex-armed forces personnel constitute 3.5% of the prison population in England and Wales but we know little about why some former service personnel end up in prison. Furthermore, understanding what the mental health needs of this group are and how to meet them will inform service delivery and offending prevention strategies. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the mental health needs, and explore the pathways to offending, of ex-armed forces personnel in prison. Methods: A mixed methods design was used. A researcher administered questionnaire collected demographic information; details of pre-service; military experience; circumstances post-armed forces; and a detailed assessment of mental health of 105 male ex-armed forces personnel in prison. Their healthcare and offending records were accessed to record any formal mental health diagnoses and details of previous offending. Two studies made up the qualitative arm of the study: study 1 used semi-structured interviews (n = 20) to explore the pathways to offending of ex-armed forces personnel in prison from their perspective and study 2 employed semi-structured interviews with prisoners (n = 10) and a focus group with professionals (n = 5) to explore the service needs and treatment barriers of former service personnel in prison. Results: Of 105 participants, 40 (38%) screened positively for a current common mental health (CCMH) problem (i.e. depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) and a high prevalence of alcohol misuse was assessed (n = 59, 56%). Over half of the sample were serving their first custodial sentence (n = 58, 55%). Violent offences were the most common index offence (n = 34, 32%) and the majority of the sample had previous convictions recorded (n = 70, 71%). Participants considered their pathways to offending as complex and incorporating pre-service, military service and post-service factors. Perceived influences on offending included mental health and substance misuse problems, impulsivity and problem solving difficulties. Prison was considered an opportunity to access help and staff having military awareness was thought to encourage help-seeking. However, stigma and previous negative experiences were perceived to make asking for help difficult and the variability in support across the prison estate was considered a barrier to support by all. Discussion: The findings of this study add to the literature and our knowledge of ex-armed forces personnel in prison. The study found that the mental health needs of the group are largely similar to the general prison population but that potential nuances exist regarding alcohol misuse and PTSD. The pathways to offending of the group are complex and are influenced by a number of factors in veterans' lives. Based on the findings of the study implications and directions for future work are discussed.

abstract: General theories of crime have frequently been used to explain a variety of offending and victimization experiences for a wide range of samples. However, feminist criminologists question whether the same causal mechanisms exert similar effects for males and females—a criticism that points to the need for sex-specific analyses. Toward that end, this dissertation examines variables derived from several different general theories of crime in three separate studies. Each of the studies uses split-sample analyses to investigate potential sex-based differences. The first study uses three-level meta-analytic methods to determine if predictor variables derived from general theories explain victimization for both adolescent males (n = 138,848) and adolescent females (n = 176,611). Additionally, it examines both within-dataset and between-dataset differences. The second study uses a sample of high school students in Arizona (n = 2,738 males, n = 2,932 females). It examines the role of parental social ties in explaining the overlap of adolescent dating violence (ADV) offending and victimization. The third study uses two waves of a longitudinal dataset of high-risk adolescents (n = 182 males, n = 203 females). It focuses on the relationship between negative emotions and delinquency, and the role of avoidant coping. In each of the studies, both gender-neutral and gender-specific explanations of offending and victimization were found. In the first study, while predictor variables derived from criminological theory explained victimization for both males and females, larger effect sizes were found for risky lifestyle variables. In the second study, an overlap between ADV offending and victimization was found for both males and females, and social ties explained some of the overlap. However, paternal attachment was only significant for females, and involvement was only significant for males. In the third study, avoidant coping was associated with an increase in substance abuse, and anger was associated with an increase in violent behavior for both males and females. Avoidant coping partially mediated the relationship between anger and substance use, but only for males. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020