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 Cultural Goals Institutionalized
Adaptation Means
I. Conformity + +
II. Innovation + -
III. Ritualism - +
IV. Retreatism - -
V. Rebellion +and- +and-
 Methodology
• Participants • Procedures and Materials
– Four women – Interview schedule
– Ages 19+ • Questions included:
– Gatekeeper’s list of ten – Personal and family
history
women
– Tape-recorded
• Random Sample
– Three participants were – Length of interviews
white – Transcribed
– One participant was African
American
– Education
– Offense
– Pseudo-name given
 Methodology
• Strengths • Limitations
– Rich data – Difficult to relate to
– Rapport women in prison
– Response rate – List of women
– Accessibility and provided to me
contribution
 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 Type of Abuse Age at Which Abuser
Name (Mental, Abuse Took
Physical, Place
Sexual)
Sarah Physical, Mental 5-16 years old Father

Mary Sexual 7-11 years old Father

Jenny Physical, Mental Physical = 11-13 Mother

years old
Mental = all her
life
Connie Physical, Sexual 10-12 years old Father
 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 Name of Drug or Alcohol Year(s) of Heavy,
Interviewee Usage Moderate, or
Social Usage
Sarah Marijuana 1970-1974 Social and Moderate
Alcohol 1973-1992 Social

Mary Alcohol 1982-1994 Social

Jenny Alcohol 1990-1993 Heavy

Prescription Medication (Prozac, 1992-1996 Heavy
Ativan, and Deseril)
Marijuana 1990-1993 Social
Connie Alcohol 1994-1996 Social
 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