Abuse, Murder, and Manslaughter:
Interviews with Women Prisoners on
Social Factors Contributing to Their
Crime Sentence
By Nicole Novak
Introduction
• Women’s Prisons vs. Men’s Prisons
– Indiana Women’s Prison
• First Offense
• Stereotype
• Juvenile Offenses
Purpose and Thesis
•Limited qualitative research on women in
prison
•Social factors
•Demographic characteristics linked to
social factors
Literature Review
• Increase of women in prison
– Richards and Tittle (1981)
– Banks (2003)
• Indiana Women’s Prison
– Banks (2003)
– Indiana Department of Correction (2007)
Literature Review
• Demographic characteristics
– Education and Occupation
• Fletcher, Shaver, and Moon (1993)
• Daly (1994)
– Substance abuse
• Daly (1994)
• Fletcher, Shaver, and Moon (1993)
• Flowers (1995)
– Physical and sexual abuse
• Owen (1998)
• Fletcher, Shaver, and Moon (1993)
• Daly (1994)
– Criminal activity
• Daly (1994)
• Flowers (1995)
Theory
• Structural Strain Theory
– Goals and means
– Anomie
– Five types of adaptation
• Steffensmeier and Allan
– Gendered theories for committing crimes
Theory
Table 1: Merton’s Types of Adaptation
Modes of
Adaptation
I. Conformity
Cultural Goals
+
Institutionalized
Means
+
II. Innovation
+
-
III. Ritualism
-
+
IV. Retreatism
-
-
V. Rebellion
+and-
+and-
Methodology
• Participants
– Four women
– Ages 19+
– Gatekeeper’s list of ten
women
• Random Sample
– Three participants were
white
– One participant was African
American
– Education
– Offense
– Pseudo-name given
• Procedures and Materials
– Interview schedule
• Questions included:
– Personal and family
history
– Tape-recorded
– Length of interviews
– Transcribed
Methodology
• Strengths
–
–
–
–
Rich data
Rapport
Response rate
Accessibility and
contribution
• Limitations
– Difficult to relate to
women in prison
– List of women
provided to me
Findings
• Family Background
– Biological parents
– Foster care
– Prominence of parents in formative years
Findings
• Religion
– Sarah
• Was Presbyterian, now Mennonite
– Mary
• No preference
– Connie
• Was the Eastern Star Masonic Church, now no preference
– Jenny
• Was Islamic, now Christian
• Referring to the Nation of Islam:
– “I don’t care what anybody says, it’s a cult. …So that kind of led
to the isolation that allowed the drinking, my son to pass, and
the process of that, they [the Nation of Islam] didn’t allow any of
my friends to interject.”
Abuse
Table 2: Abuse Interviewees Endured From Their
Parents During Their Childhood
Interviewee’s
Name
Type of Abuse
(Mental,
Physical,
Sexual)
Age at Which
Abuse Took
Abuser
Sarah
Physical, Mental
5-16 years old
Father
Mary
Sexual
7-11 years old
Father
Jenny
Physical, Mental
Physical = 11-13
years old
Mental = all her
life
Mother
Connie
Physical, Sexual
10-12 years old
Father
Place
Abuse
• Sarah
– “I don’t remember anything but because of my
psychological tests, there is – it shows that I
have been, so I don’t really know for sure
because I don’t have a memory.”
• Mary
– Psychiatrists
– Family history
Drug and Alcohol Usage
Table 3: Interviewee’s Drug and Alcohol Usage
Prior to Imprisonment
Name of
Interviewee
Name of Drug or Alcohol
Year(s) of
Usage
Heavy,
Moderate, or
Social Usage
Sarah
Marijuana
Alcohol
1970-1974
1973-1992
Social and Moderate
Social
Mary
Alcohol
1982-1994
Social
Jenny
Alcohol
Prescription Medication (Prozac,
Ativan, and Deseril)
Marijuana
1990-1993
1992-1996
Heavy
Heavy
1990-1993
Social
Alcohol
1994-1996
Social
Connie
Drug and Alcohol Usage
• Jenny
– “I came into the county jail with my
prescription medication in my purse.”
Previous Offenses
•
•
•
•
First time imprisoned
Juvenile crime
Parole or probation
Sarah
– Childhood history
– Abuse
Discussion
• Attributed to deviant acts
– Family (biological) background
– Abuse
– Varied drug and alcohol abuse
• Abuse
– Implementation of programs
• Education
– Gatekeeper
• Drug and alcohol usage
Further Research
• More information on a population that is
understudied
– Identifying social factors that contribute to
women’s criminal behavior