Previous Offending in Young Female Prisoners is Associated with Drug Problems, Drug Offenses and Low Social-Emotional Restraint

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring possible systematic differences between first-time and previously convicted young female prisoners. A study sample consisting of 99 consecutively incarcerated females below the age of 30 was collected from three Norwegian prisons. Only females with sentences shorter than 2 years were included. The attrition rate was low at 6%. Information on social circumstances and drug/alcohol problems was collected in semi-structured interviews. All informants completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) and the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI). Detailed criminal records were collected from the National Crime Registry. Unadjusted analyses demonstrated that previously convicted offenders reported more drug/alcohol problems (p < .001), their index offense was more often a drug offense (p < .001), they had less often been in permanent employment (p = .001), they had completed fewer years of education (p = .006), they had younger age at first court conviction (p = .007), and they obtained lower scores on the WAI Restraint dimension (p < .001). In the adjusted analyses (hierarchical logistic regression, 'enter' procedure) the following variables were associated with repeat offending: self-reported drug/alcohol problems (OR = 4.5), drug offenses (OR = 7.5), and a low WAI Restraint dimension score (OR = 5.0). The importance of drug/alcohol problems in repeat offending in women is well known and was confirmed by the present study. In addition, the WAI Restraint dimension score was associated with repeat offending. This finding could be of value in the development of more individualized prevention strategies intended to reduce re-offending in female offenders.

Crime and substance misuse in adjudicated delinquent youth: The worst of both worlds.

“…Several of the attitudinal/personality measures included in the Pathways study have been used to study offending and/or substance misuse in both Pathways and non-Pathways participants. These include the short-form version of the NEO (Ruiz et al, 2008), the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (Kimonis, Tartar, & Cauffman, 2012), the moral disengagement scale (Shulman, Cauffman, Piquero, & Fagan, 2011), the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (Kjelsberg & Rustad, 2009), and the Future Outlook Inventory (Chassin et al, 2010). Each of these measures was accordingly included in the current investigation on the relationship between offending, substance misuse, and antisocial cognition and personality.…”

Prevalence of illicit drug use before imprisonment in Europe: results from a comprehensive literature review

“…In England and Wales, 57% of drug-abusing offenders reoffended within a year of their release, compared to 27% among other types of offenders (The Centre for Social Justice, 2015). Strong associations between drug use and reoffending have been found as well in Norway (Kjelsberg & Rustad, 2009), Sweden (Hakansson & Berglund, 2012) and Switzerland (Pflueger et al, 2015).…”

Rates of Self-reported Delinquency among Western Australian Male and Female High School Students: The male–female gender gap

“…Consequently, Kjelsberg and Rustad (2009) called for researchers and policy-makers throughout the western world to focus attention on females, because they constitute a growing proportion within the justice (and juvenile) system. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (2010), from 1996/97 to 2008/09 juvenile offender rates declined by 13% for males, but increased by 46% for females.…”