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This discussion chapter serves a number of purposes. First, it brings together the findings from the four data chapters and provides an overview of the key findings from this research. Second, this chapter contextualises the findings from this research within recent policy and practice developments relevant to women offenders, before going on to discuss the limitations of this research and future directions.

The literature review in chapter one outlined that while a number of factors currently measured by standard assessments in the criminal justice system are problematic for both men and women in prison, there remains a “relative lack of evidence about women’s offending-related needs” (Hedderman et al., 2011, p. 16). The literature review highlighted that aetiology and level of need is likely to differ for men and women. The literature review also highlighted the lack of data on the voice and experience of women in prison -

particularly of women in the UK - and the need for robust qualitative data to add depth of understanding to the existing quantitative data reported in the literature. For example,

Palmer et al., (2010) acknowledge that their own recent large-scale study of UK probationers does not allow us to understand the reasons underlying the needs of women who offend. The data presented in this research adds depth to such large-scale quantitative analyses of women’s needs (for example Palmer et al., 2010; Rettinger & Andrews, 2010), by providing detail of the aetiology of these needs.

This research did not aim to present a detailed account of all the factors known to be significant in the pathways that women take into crime. The literature review highlighted that there is a good deal of consensus on a number of factors that are known to directly impact upon women’s offending and as such there was little utility in replicating this through this current research. Instead, the interviews considered areas that were initially identified through the literature as requiring fuller understanding concerning their exact relationship to women’s offending behaviour. Through in-depth interviews with women in prison and detailed analysis of this and OASys data, the chapters present the experiences of these women in key areas relevant to their life experiences and offending behaviour. This has filled some of the gaps in our knowledge of women’s offending and pathways to crime. For

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instance, we know that significant numbers of women in prison have histories of abuse in childhood and in their adult lives, but what has been debated is the extent to which these histories directly impact upon offending behaviour. The data here captures the continued relevance of a history of abuse in the lives of women who have experienced this, particularly with reference to mental health and emotional well-being. This suggests such factors can at least be termed ‘mediating’ or ‘responsivity’ factors: if not directly impacting upon women’s risk of reoffending, these experiences directly impact upon established criminogenic needs and the ability of women to cope and make decisions about life. This and related findings are discussed further below.

The focus of this research has not been specifically on criminogenic or potentially criminogenic factors, but on the broader context of these women’s lives to provide a fuller understanding of their experiences and potential needs. This research has illuminated the voice and experiences of this sample of women in prison, telling their stories in their own words, but also telling a bigger story; bringing together the combined life experiences of these women in a way that they deem to be relevant to their own offending behaviour.

Information from all women interviewed for this research was presented throughout the data chapters. While data on all women is not presented in each chapter – as not all women had experiences relevant to each key theme – each chapter represents the women who had experiences in this area. An overview of this is presented below.

7.2 Overview of findings

The previous four chapters presented data from interviews with 41 women

incarcerated in English prisons. Information from a further two women for whom no interview transcript was available was included under discussion of OASys data in each chapter (see chapter two for an explanation of this). Each chapter presented findings under the key themes identified through a detailed thematic analysis of interview transcripts from each of the research participants. The data chapters focused on participants’ descriptions of their life experiences leading to their current imprisonment. The OASys report of one woman was unavailable, and so the data chapters also presented OASys data for a total of 42 women.

This overview of findings is presented in the order of the data chapters, discussing childhood experiences, adult experiences, alcohol and drug use, and mental health and

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emotional issues, whilst also highlighting links between these areas where appropriate. Notably, when the women interviewed for this research were asked, at the end of their interview, to consider and explain what they most felt was responsible for their offending behaviour, all responses fell clearly into the four over-arching themes covered by the previous data chapters.

For this group of women, the findings presented throughout chapters three to six illuminated their life experiences and how these experiences have related to other areas of their lives. Chapter three highlighted that while fewer women in this sample reported histories of childhood sexual abuse than has been found in other studies, experiences of abuse and neglect more broadly defined are a common feature of this group. Furthermore, this research has highlighted that the women themselves attribute much of their subsequent life experience and current situation as related to these childhood experiences. While the qualitative data presented in this study is not able to suggest that these early factors are predictive of later offending behaviour, what the data does show is the very real impact that early negative experiences have had upon women who subsequently become incarcerated. This research has reviewed the ways in which these histories have shaped the lives of many of these women, and documented the significant effect these histories continue to have on their thoughts and actions. Indeed, the data suggests that early negative experiences may have shaped a number of indirect pathways that led to the offending behaviour of a number of the women in this research. Specifically, a number of women link these early experiences directly to their offending behaviour, and the data presented in chapter three suggests some relationships between a history of abuse and later drug and alcohol issues. The data also tells us that women in prison with histories of traumatic childhood experiences are likely to have difficulty coping with these histories even decades later.

In addition to the findings relating to women’s life-course development, from the data presented in chapter three it is possible to suggest that there is a need to broaden the definitions of childhood trauma and victimisation used when discussing women offenders, in order to more fully reflect the lived experiences of women who offend. The research

literature has typically focused on the most extreme and severe forms of childhood trauma and victimisation, such as sexual and physical abuse, with little or no reference to a range of other factors. The research presented here suggests that factors such as parental death, being a young carer, neglect, parental desertion, and trauma, should be included in a broader definition of childhood trauma and victimisation. This would not only more fully

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represent the life experiences of many women in prison, but would allow for better

identification, and therefore treatment focus, when aiming to provide support in learning to cope with these experiences.

However, while it may be important to incorporate broader definitions of childhood trauma in the vocabulary we use when discussing women and crime, it is still important to note that there are a number of women in this research whose childhoods were significantly traumatic in many different ways. For example, all of the women who had experienced sexual abuse had also been looked after in local authority care and typically reported

negative experiences of this. The link between victimisation, bullying, and offending was also discussed in chapter three, demonstrating a potential link between significant victimisation in childhood and convictions for violent offences in adulthood. While the data was not sufficient in terms of numbers to state a firm causal link between history of sexual and violent abuse and later offending, this research has highlighted the multiple needs of women with severe histories of abuse, and the very difficult histories and multiple needs of those women classed as high-risk within the prison system.

Overall, this research is able to suggest that many women are placed on traumatic and destructive pathways from a young age, that eventually result in criminal conviction. These early problems are likely to be related to later maladaptive coping and poor decision making and thus potentially criminal behaviour. Evidence surrounding this can be found in chapter three where almost all women who had experienced parental abandonment, illness, or death, or physical or sexual abuse either directly discussed their failure to cope with this or how they used drugs and alcohol in an attempt to cope with psychological damage. Also related to poor coping skills, relatively large numbers of women in this sample had

consistently made poor decisions about relationships and presented an inability to cope with past assault and violence, as discussed in chapter four. Additionally, chapter five reported evidence of an inability for many women in this sample to cope with feelings of guilt and thoughts about past experiences without substance use. As opposed to viewing criminal behaviour as the focal point around which to understand other experiences, criminal behaviour appears to form only one piece in a jigsaw, where it can be viewed as just one part of the broad picture of the traumatic and destructive lives of some of these women.

Not all of the women in this research have been ‘victims’ in the traditional sense. Nor have they presented themselves as behaving as victims. Many of the women reported feeling that they had no opportunity to choose a path other than their offending, and for a

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number of them they had made a conscious choice that offending was the best choice for them at the time. Typically these women had financial concerns – be it to pay off debt, pay for drugs, or provide more for their family. Much research discusses women’s histories of abuse or mental health issues, but fails to place this in the context of the rest of their lives. Furthermore, this literature often ignores the routes that women with no abuse history take into offending.

Chapter three allowed us to conclude that there is no doubt many women in prison have very troubled childhoods. While this research cannot say that specific elements of these histories are criminogenic – and it does not aim to do so – it clearly identifies that many women in prison are still struggling to come to terms with events in their childhood and growing up, that they themselves directly attribute to their subsequent problems with mental wellbeing, substance misuse, and other issues. This research suggests that for many women in prison these experiences are specific responsivity factors that, while perhaps not criminogenic, require focused input in order to tackle the reasons underlying their

criminogenic needs.

Leading on from experiences of childhood, chapter four presented a discussion of the adult lives of the women in this research. Traumatic experiences and victimisation were characteristics of almost half of the sample, many of these experiences being specific to their being female. For example: infertility, miscarriage, and terminating pregnancies; the impact of having children taken from them; the impact of sexual victimisation; the huge toll on a minority of women of childcare and family-care. Many of these experiences have been previously neglected in the literature. Women described the impact of these experiences, in particular discussing the emotional toll these experiences had taken. Despite this, it is clear that these experiences form a fundamental part of who these women are and the lives that they lead. While it is not possible, or indeed appropriate given the data presented in this research, to suggest these experiences are a direct cause of offending for these women, this experiences are fundamental to the context of their lives, their poor and maladaptive coping, and their poor decision making. It is these poor coping and poor decision making skills that form a fundamental part of their troubled and destructive lives, of which offending behaviour forms a part.

Of particular note is that almost half the sample discussed how their adult lives had, in part, been characterised by negative experiences, yet this was often separate, and

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additional to, the 47 percent of this sample who spoke about their experiences of violent and controlling relationships. For many women their histories of negative intimate relationships began at a young age, with poor relationship choices continuing as a factor of their adult lives. The data presented in chapter four also began to answer questions raised in previous research about how far women’s relationship problems relate to past or current relationships, with some women showing signs that poor relationship choices had continued even within prison. These poor relationship choices relate to broader patterns of poor decision making for many of these women.

However, it is important to note that not all of the violence and controlling behaviours within relationships presented in chapter four were one-sided. Interviews and OASys reports revealed that some women were also violent to their partners, although this was a minority.

The findings from chapter four highlighted that while there is a clear need to support women in breaking away from abusive relationships and learning how to make positive relationship choices, there has been no significant or sustained government discussion around this. These histories of traumatic experiences and victimisation, both within and outside of intimate relationships, are fundamental to the context of women’s lives, forming a core part of their poor decision making and poor coping skills. Furthermore, chapter four highlighted that particularly in closed and semi-closed prisons, there is still some way to go in supporting the maintenance of women’s ties with their children and families.

Key themes have emerged from the women discussed in this chapter and, while not all women had experiences in these areas, the data has highlighted the poor decision making and poor coping skills of many of these women. This also links to data presented in chapter five, which discussed the interaction between these factors, relationships, and drug misuse. With respect to the importance of family ties, there may be a need to focus future research, policy, and practice on the role of positive relationship experiences in reducing recidivism – and also the benefits to women’s emotional and mental health problems, which in turn are a criminogenic need.

Chapter five challenged some of the recent literature around the drug and alcohol use of offenders, proposing that women’s drug and alcohol use are often interlinked, both in the reasons behind these behaviours and the patterns of behaviour involved in the use of these substances. This was primarily related to women using drug and/or alcohol as a form

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of self-medication. The findings suggest that it is not the form of addiction that is the primary issue for the women in this sample, but the reasons behind this addiction, and that

assessment and intervention should consider both addictions in a combined approach. For the majority of women with drug and/or alcohol problems discussed in chapter five, this behaviour was linked to their inability to cope with feelings of guilt and thoughts about past negative experiences. Emotional reactions to past experiences formed part of the lives of many of the women in this sample, and were something that they would be likely to continue to face. Their drug and alcohol use formed part of their poor decision making and maladaptive coping, using drugs and alcohol where they were not able to cope positively. Chapter five suggested that many of these women would benefit from learning positive and robust coping strategies, this avoiding these negative patterns of thoughts and behaviours.

In bringing together the chapters of this research, the findings supported previous research that has demonstrated links between female offenders’ substance misuse and histories of trauma and victimisation. In highlighting the destructive cycles that are

characteristic in the lives of many of this group of women, through drug and alcohol abuse, the research also discussed the links between these factors and the women’s relationships. For a number of women, when reviewing their life stories, it became apparent that poor relationships exacerbated their issues with drug and alcohol use. Indeed, for some women in prison the links between these negative choices and poor decision making have been a key part of every aspect of their lives.

The data presented in chapter six provided insight into the mechanisms by which women’s life experiences have impacted upon their mental health. Perhaps more

significantly, the data highlighted that there is a good deal of consistency in the type of mental health problems experienced by women in this sample and the underlying causes of these problems. A large proportion of the sample had experienced significant depression over their lives, with frequent reoccurrences. Chapter six highlighted a strong relationship between past experiences, the inability to cope with these experiences, and mental health problems. For many, these emotional and mental health issues were long-term and reoccurring, often re-triggered by stressful situations. The women discussed in chapter six highlighted the impact of experiences from childhood and adulthood on their later well-being and life experiences.

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The concept of coping was discussed in chapter five, and is also relevant here as many women highlighted an inability to cope with negative experiences, resulting in poor mental health. However, some women in this sample clearly described the ability to

recognise when they are not coping and seek appropriate help and support. While this was a minority of women in this sample, they were the women who had successful experiences of engaging with treatment for their mental health and emotional problems. It therefore seems important to help other women successfully engage with treatment engagement so that they can seek appropriate help in the future when they feel themselves failing to cope. This would then reduce the risk of poor coping strategies, such as substance misuse. While this will not remove their risk of future offending, as mental health problems are an area of criminogenic

In document Life histories of women who offend: a study of women in English prisons (Page 181-200)