NCJ Number
176694
Date Published
1998
Length
206 pages
Annotation
This book analyzes women who commit violent crime.
Abstract
The book examines how processes of urban structural and economic decay have combined to create new and invigorate old criminogenic factors. Some factors cut across gender categories (peers, general drug abuse, victimization, criminal opportunities) and others apply primarily to women (decline in family and neighborhood supervision, earlier termination of education, crack addiction), but all have resulted in alarming changes in women's participation in violent street crime. The book also explores how personal decisions related to such participation are mediated by women's experiences and understanding of their present environment. Finally, it describes a framework for understanding how the interaction between personal history, social processes, and a changing inner city structures women's participation in violent crime. More specifically, it links early socialization experiences (child abuse and neglect; family, peer and community networks), substance abuse and criminal careers, and the movement in and out of conventional activities (education, legitimate employment, marriage) to broader social, economic and situational processes. Tables, figure, notes, appendix, references, index