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Criminogenic Need and Women Offenders: A Critique of the Literature

NCJ Number
215563
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 179-195
Author(s)
Clive R. Hollin; Emma J. Palmer
Date Published
September 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Through a review of the literature, this paper considers the criminogenic needs of women offenders, raising the question of whether there may be women-specific criminogenic needs.
Abstract
Through an overview of the literature, several conclusions are drawn. There is at least some overlap in the criminogenic need of men and women offenders. Evidence suggests that factors such as finance, accommodation, education, employment, and substance use may be criminogenic needs for both men and women. However, it remains unclear whether these factors have the same aetiology and level of importance for men and women. It is argued that some criminogenic needs are women-specific or male-specific. The evidence shows that some adverse life events are more characteristic of female than male offenders. It is plausible that there are gender-specific pathways to offending in which adverse life events, such as abuse, become antecedents to a range of personal problems. The risk-needs model of offending has become increasingly influential in both research and practice. The risk-needs model holds that some aspects of an individual’s functioning are risk factors for offending. This paper conducted an overview of the literature to examine the typical criminogenic needs, as assessed by the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) for male and female offenders, specifically women offenders. References