U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

Research Forum

Research on Women

and Girls in the

Justice System
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

810 Seventh Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20531

Janet Reno

Attorney General

Daniel Marcus

Acting Associate Attorney General

Mary Lou Leary

Acting Assistant Attorney General

Julie E. Samuels

Acting Director, National Institute of Justice

Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice

World Wide Web Site World Wide Web Site

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij
National Institute of Justice

Sponsored by

OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS BUREAUS

National Institute of Justice

Bureau of Justice Assistance

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Office for Victims of Crime

OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS OFFICES

Corrections Program Office

Drug Courts Program Office

Executive Office for Weed and Seed

Violence Against Women Office

September 2000

NCJ 180973

Research on Women and Girls

in the Justice System: Plenary

Papers of the 1999 Conference

on Criminal Justice Research

and Evaluation—Enhancing

Policy and Practice Through

Research, Volume 3

Beth E. Richie

Kay Tsenin

Cathy Spatz Widom
Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the

authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of

the U.S. Department of Justice.

Julie E. Samuels

Acting Director

John Thomas

Program Monitor

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice

Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the

Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

The Professional Conference Series of the National Institute of Justice supports

a variety of live researcher-practitioner exchanges, such as conferences, workshops, planning and development meetings, and similar support to the criminal

justice field. Foremost among these forums is the Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation. The Research Forum publication series was

designed to share information from this and other forums with a larger audience.
iii

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➤

Foreword

There is a common perception that the criminal behavior of women and

the delinquent behavior of girls are not serious problems. Women are

more likely to commit minor offenses and have historically constituted

a very small proportion of the offender population. But these facts

mask a trend that is beginning to attract attention. The dramatic rise in

the number of prison and jail inmates is fairly well known; less so is

that the ranks of women inmates are increasing much faster than those

of their male counterparts. The pace at which women are being convicted of serious offenses is picking up faster than the pace at which

men are convicted.

These dynamics make the papers on women and girls in the justice

system, presented here, especially timely. What animates the studies

is not so much numbers of offenders but the particular circumstances of

the women and girls “behind” the numbers. The authors call for “redefining justice,” the theme of the plenary session at which their papers

were presented, to take these circumstances into account.

Whether justice should promote unalloyed equity, be blind to the circumstances in which crime is committed, and consider only gravity

of offense and prior record, is still a matter of debate. In the current

sentencing environment, the view of those who favor equity above all

other considerations has won the day. There is another perspective—the

belief that sanctions ought to be tailored to the specific characteristics

and circumstances of individual offenders. Implicit in the three papers

is the suggestion that gender is a special consideration warranting differential treatment. The writers amply demonstrate that women and

girls who are caught up in the justice system enter it as a result of circumstances distinctly different from those of men, and so find themselves at a distinct disadvantage.

Sociologist Beth Richie argues that a key to understanding and responding to women as offenders is understanding their status as crime

victims. Moreover, race and socioeconomic status, which also intervene at the intersection of criminality and victimization, need to be

more fully explored. Psychologist Cathy Spatz Widom also examines

the intersection—or cycle—of victimization and criminality, examining

whether abuse and neglect in childhood promote criminality later in life
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iv

by derailing young girls’ normal development. She suggests that research

could uncover ways to intervene effectively by examining aspects

of juvenile offending that seem to be precursors of adult criminality.

Judge Kay Tsenin sees the women sex workers who appear daily before her bench as “victims as well as defendants.” For these women,

she writes, justice needs to be defined beyond mere enforcement if the

sex trade is to be dismantled altogether. She believes the judicial officer

can play a role in directing these women toward programs that break

the cycle of victimization and offending.

Research as a tool to enhance policy and practice was the theme of the

1999 Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation, from

which these papers were drawn. The papers reveal the real-life implications of research for a situation of growing urgency. They show that

studies have uncovered a link between the victimization of women and

their criminal behavior and they propose that justice system practice

can be enhanced if policymakers and the practitioners who operationalize their decisions redefine justice to take this special condition into

account.

Those who wish to read more about the conference can find abstracts

of the 1999 sessions on the Web at http://nijpcs.org/pastconf.htm.

Julie E. Samuels

Acting Director

National Institute of Justice
v

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➤

Contents

Foreword ..................................................................................... iii

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and

Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

Beth E. Richie ........................................................................... 1

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

Kay Tsenin .............................................................................. 15

Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and

Women to the Criminal Justice System

Cathy Spatz Widom ................................................................ 27
1

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➤

Exploring the Link Between

Violence Against Women

and Women’s Involvement

in Illegal Activity

Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

The understanding of violence against women can be broadened and

deepened by focusing on the link between gender abuse and women’s

involvement in illegal activity—two of the most compelling problems

facing contemporary criminologists. The groups of women who are

most marginalized in society are vulnerable to both problems. A comprehensive response through public policy and programming can make

a difference in reducing both violence against women and their growing involvement in criminal activity.

Violence against women: Extent of

the problem

Violence against women—including domestic or intimate violence,

sexual assault, and other crimes (for example, sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual exploitation)—has finally been recognized as a significant and persistent problem with severe consequences for the victims,

their families, and society and has attracted considerable attention from

researchers. The extent of the problem has been well documented.1

Domestic or intimate violence

An estimated 1 million women in the United States are the victims

of violence committed by an intimate (current or former spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriend) each year, according to the Bureau of Justice

Statistics (BJS).2

 Other studies estimate the rate of violence against

women in intimate relationships to be much higher. The National

Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, for example, revealed that

more than 1.5 million women had been raped and/or physically assaulted
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2

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

in the year before the survey.3 Another study estimated that between 7

percent and 22 percent of all adult women have experienced a domestic

assault; and a recently conducted survey revealed that one in every three

women reported having been physically attacked by an intimate partner

at some time in her life.4

 Moreover, 56 percent of all Americans report

that someone close to them has been involved in an abusive relationship.5

Morbidity and mortality data on the most extreme physical consequences of violence against women indicate that 37 percent of all

women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms in 1994 were

victims of domestic violence; of these, 28 percent required admission

and another 13 percent required major medical treatment.6

 According

to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), females are more likely to

be killed by a spouse or partner than are males: 28.3 percent of women

died at the hands of a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend compared with

3.6 percent of men.7

Previous studies suggested that women are abused by their intimate

partners irrespective of their races or ethnic backgrounds. Although the

overall rates may be similar, emerging research suggests that variables

such as socioeconomic status, cultural background, and age may influence the impact of domestic violence.8

 Factors that include the limited

availability of crisis intervention programs, the extent to which weapons are used differentially during an assault, and lack of trust in law

enforcement agencies may heighten some women’s vulnerability to

intimate violence.9

There is also solid (although not as much) evidence suggesting that

the incidence and types of domestic violence in same-sex relationships

are comparable to those in heterosexual relationships.10 Studies indicate

that from 25 percent to 30 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgendered people are abused by their intimate partners and that

social discrimination and marginalization may complicate their attempts to seek help, thus increasing the risk of serious abuse.11

The consequences of domestic violence extend beyond the victims

themselves. A national survey revealed that half the men who frequently battered their wives also frequently assaulted their children.12

Other research has corroborated this finding, pointing to persistent

intergenerational effects (for example, men who, as children, witnessed

violence against their mothers were twice as likely to exhibit violent

behavior as adults).13
3

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➤

Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

While most of the research focuses on physical abuse, evidence suggests that emotional abuse also has profound psychological consequences for female victims of domestic violence.14 Battered women

are four to five times more likely to require psychiatric treatment and

five times more likely to attempt suicide than nonbattered women.15

Sexual assault

Research on sexual assault reveals a problem of similar proportions.

Between 1995 and 1996, more than 670,000 women were raped or

sexually assaulted.16 A report of the NVAW Survey revealed that 18

percent of all surveyed women age 18 years and older had been the

victims of rape or attempted rape.17 Younger women seem to be at

heightened risk: Adolescents ages 16 to 19 were 3.5 times more likely

than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or

sexual assault.18

As with other forms of violence against women, rape is highly

underreported. With the police notified in only about one in six such

cases, rape is among the country’s most underreported violent crimes.

Fully 84 percent of rape victims, according to one study, had not reported the rape to the police.19

The psychological consequences of this form of sexual assault can be

as serious as those resulting from domestic violence. Thirty-one percent of all rape victims develop rape-related posttraumatic stress disorder,20 and rape victims are three times more likely than nonvictims to

experience a major depressive episode in their lives. The rate of suicide

attempts by rape victims is 13 times higher than among nonvictims,

and women who have been raped are 10 times more likely to use illegal

substances or alcohol.21

While even less well documented, sexual harassment, stalking, and

exploitative involvement in the sex industry are also understood to

be serious, common, and threatening problems that have significant

physical, emotional, and social consequences for women.22

Patterns of violence

While the various forms of violence against women are often studied

separately, evidence suggests a strong relationship among them. For

example, 78 percent of rapes are committed by someone known to the

victim.23 The extent to which being in an intimate relationship affects
➤

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4

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

the nature of abuse was confirmed in a study that indicated 82 percent

of women raped or sexually assaulted by a lone offender were victimized by a spouse, ex-spouse, partner, friend, acquaintance, or relative,

and 26 percent of all rapes and sexual assaults against women were

committed by an intimate partner.24 Several studies have shown that

marital rape is often more violent and repetitive than other forms of this

crime and is less commonly reported.25 Taken together, the aggregate

picture of violence against women presents a compelling call to action

for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.26

Data limitations

Many researchers concur that because violence against women is seriously underreported and because most quantitative studies focus on

only one dimension of the issue, new research is needed.27 First, few

studies have explored the aggregate picture or intersection of the various forms of abuse, even though evidence shows there may be “overlap.”

Second, because most quantitative research is bound by predetermined

or researcher-driven categories, it cannot capture the nuanced pattern

of experiences or the types of violence to which different groups of

women are subjected.28 Finally, the need for empirical research on violence against women is particularly acute with regard to women whose

experiences with violence fall outside the dominant paradigms that

have framed the studies cited here.29 While ample evidence suggests

that violence against women is a problem for all segments of society,

the experiences of certain groups of women are virtually unrepresented

in the current body of research.

Women involved in illegal activity:

An understudied group

One group that has not been adequately studied consists of women involved in illegal activity. When they have been victimized by violence,

they may be reluctant to call the police, report abuse to other agencies,

or use mainstream social services because of their marginalized social

position and precarious legal status.30 Research on workplace violence,

for example, does not include such places of illegal employment as the

sites of drug trafficking. Similarly, women involved in prostitution or

otherwise working in the sex industry are less likely to report having

been raped by a customer or stalked by a pimp. Young women who are

truant do not appear in data on victimization gathered in schools, and if

a woman is hurt by her partner in crime during a robbery or is sexually
5

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➤

Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

harassed in a place where stolen goods are taken, there is little likelihood that her experience with violence will appear in official reports

or research findings.

The need documented

Until recently, very little research had been conducted on violence

against this group of women. What data had been collected, largely

by advocacy groups, suggested that violence is a major factor in the

lives of women who are currently in correctional facilities. For example, a 1996 survey of incarcerated women found that at least half

of all female prisoners had experienced some form of sexual abuse

before their imprisonment.31

Recently, BJS studied violence committed against women involved in

illegal activity.32 The study, which confirmed the need for further research, indicates a similar figure—almost half of all women in jails and

prisons had been physically or sexually abused before their imprisonment—a much higher rate than reported for the overall population.

Also, the study reports significant rates of drug and alcohol use among

abused women in State prisons. Nearly 70 percent of the abused women

serving time in correctional facilities said they used illegal drugs during

the month before their current offense compared with 54 percent of the

women who had not been abused. The National Clearinghouse for the

Defense of Battered Women, one of the few national organizations that

collect data on the relationship between violence against women and

women’s involvement in illegal activity, reports that more than half

of all women in detention had been battered or raped before being

incarcerated.33

Previously, the most comprehensive documentation of violence against

women involved in illegal activity was reports of hearings conducted in

1985 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York State. The

Bedford Hills study established that many incarcerated women shared

the experience of previous domestic and sexual violence and that the

abuse they suffered was serious.34 Findings of a comprehensive followup

study indicate that more than 80 percent of the women incarcerated in

that same facility 10 years later had a much higher rate of past abuse

and that the abuse was much more significant and traumatic.35

A study that served as the empirical basis for this paper reported that

40 percent of women in a large urban jail had experienced violence

at the hands of an intimate partner, and 35 percent reported sexual
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6

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

abuse.36 The researcher followed up the study with a qualitative research project that revealed a complex relationship between previous

intimate victimization, women’s involvement in illegal activity, and the

experiences of violence within this understudied group.37

In and of itself, documentation of the higher rates of physical and sexual

abuse of incarcerated women is important. However, this discussion

attempts to transcend the well-known rate differentials to focus on the

nature, impact, and relationships among various forms of violence in

the lives of women in precarious legal circumstances. Furthermore, it

argues that violence in some women’s lives may actually contribute

to their involvement in illegal activity and that domestic violence or

sexual victimization may be related to women’s abuse while in custody.

Although research has found a relatively high rate of previous domestic

or sexual violence in the histories of women involved in illegal activity,

only a few discussions have explored a possible causal relationship or

covariance between abuse in the private sphere, victimization in the

criminal arena, and illegal activity. Perhaps this is more than simply a

gap in the research; it is a significant theoretical and conceptual oversight that may seriously limit the understanding of and response to the

problem of violence against women in this country, especially against

women who are most marginalized and most at risk.

The context: Women in the criminal

justice system

The overall context of this broader understanding of the problem of

violence against women is established through data on women in the

criminal justice system. Currently, about 138,000 women are in jails

or prisons in the United States. This figure represents a tripling of the

number of incarcerated women between 1985 and 1997.38 While their

absolute numbers are much smaller than those of their male counterparts, the annual rate of increase is significantly higher for women:

On average, the female prison population grew more than 11 percent

annually since 1985, while the male prison population grew 8 percent

at the same time.39 This precipitous increase is tentatively attributed to

a change in both arrest policies and crime patterns.40 Most criminologists take these changes seriously and are interested in exploring their

underlying causes.41
7

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➤

Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

Gender and race

Related issues for criminologists include the patterns of women’s illegal behavior. Overwhelmingly, women are incarcerated for nonviolent

offenses, primarily for violating laws that prohibit the sale and possession of specific drugs.42 Some investigators have argued that this pattern of illegal behavior is decidedly gender related—that drug sales and

other nonviolent crimes are “survival crimes” that women commit to

earn money, feed a drug-dependent habit, or escape terrifying intimate

relationships and brutal social conditions.43 Incarcerated women typically have a history of unmet social, educational, health, and economic

needs, in addition to a history of victimization.44 Taken together, these

factors indicate the population of incarcerated women to be of heightened significance to family and sexual violence researchers interested

in expanding knowledge about violence against women.

Incarcerated women are disproportionately women of color (particularly black and Hispanic/Latina) from low-income communities who

have been subjected to a disproportionately high rate of violence.45

This overrepresentation creates an additional opportunity for researchers. Until now, violence against women of color and against women in

low-income communities and their involvement in illegal activity have

been considered independently, and few researchers have attempted a

more focused exploration of the covariance of these variables. Further,

as previously noted, studies that use quantitative methods to determine

rates of violence against women have not included illegal behavior as

one of the items explored.46 While violence against women has been

established as a serious problem, and although the rapidly increasing

rate of incarceration of women in this country is a grave concern, virtually no scholarly work has attempted to link the two. The following

public policy and programmatic recommendations seek to respond to

this gap.

Public policy and programmatic

recommendations

Criminologists and others who study violence against women have

been calling for analyses of difficult-to-reach populations and studies

of the relationships between various forms of violence against women.47

An example of such a population is the women who are most

marginalized (such as women involved in crime, who are typically
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8

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

women of color from low-income communities, many of whom have

substance abuse problems) who are vulnerable to both abuse and crime.

Important considerations challenge the work of several communities

of practitioners. Domestic violence advocates and sexual assault service providers need new information about the effects of abuse against

women and the ways in which abuse influences women’s participation

in illegal activity. Practitioners also need a revised analytical framework upon which to base a new set of intervention strategies for reducing violence against women.

Those who design programs to address the needs of incarcerated women

or women at risk of arrest would do well to consider the correlation

between violence against women and their involvement in crime.

Prison-based programming, which is in dire need of gender-specific

approaches, would benefit in particular. Such emphasis is consistent

with the current interest in addressing the concrete needs of women

while they are incarcerated, preparing them to make life changes once

they are released.48

The National Institute of Justice, other Federal agencies, criminologists, and advocates for incarcerated women and female ex-prisoners

are looking for ways to improve the reentry process and decrease recidivism.49 Considerable attention is being paid to minimizing the factors that contribute to rearrest and to strengthening opportunities for

women’s empowerment and reintegration into society upon release

from prison.50 The development of policy would benefit from the wider,

deeper understanding called for in this paper.

Conceptual and methodological advances in violence research would

benefit from avoiding dichotomous categorization and turning instead

to undertaking research that is free of predetermined categories. Research on previously understudied groups that uses qualitative methods

should enhance policy development and intervention strategies by

building the knowledge base. Applying the results of this new research

may possibly reduce both the rates of violence against women and

women’s participation in crime.
9

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➤

Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

Notes

1. Dobash, R.E., and R.P. Dobash, Women, Violence and Social Change, New

York: Routledge, 1992; and National Research Council, Understanding Violence Against Women, ed. N.A. Crowell and A.W. Burgess, Washington, DC:

National Academy Press, 1996.

2. Greenfeld, Lawrence A., et al., Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on

Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, Factbook,

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,

March 1998 (revised May 1998): 3, NCJ 167237. This figure, which reflects

data on women age 12 or older, is based on an average for the period 1992

to 1996. The violent victimizations included murder as well as rape, sexual

assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault.

3. Tjaden, P., and N. Thoennes, Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences

of Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against

Women Survey, Research in Brief, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 1998: 7, NCJ 172837. The survey, conducted between 1995

and 1996, includes women age 18 and older.

4.Commonwealth Fund, The Commonwealth Fund Commission on Women’s

Health: Addressing Domestic Violence and Its Consequences, New York:

Commonwealth Fund, 1998; and Wilt, S., and S. Olson, “Prevalence of

Domestic Violence in the United States,” Journal of the American Medical

Women’s Association 53 (2) (1996).

5. Straus, M., Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and

Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction

Publishers, 1990.

6.Browne, A., “Violence Against Women: Relevance for Medical Practitioners,” Journal of the American Medical Association 267 (23) (1992): 3184–

3189; and Rand, M.R., and K. Strom, Violence-Related Injuries Treated in

Hospital Emergency Departments, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997.

7. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, Washington,

DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1995.

8. Tjaden, P., and N. Thoennes, Stalking in America: Findings From the

National Violence Against Women Survey, Research in Brief, Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, and Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, April 1998: 4–5, NCJ 169592; Hampton,

R.L., and R.J. Gelles, “Violence Towards Black Women in a Nationally
➤

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10

Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

Representative Sample of Black Families,” Journal of Comparative Family

Studies 25 (1) (1994): 105–119; and Salomon, A., “Patterns of Welfare Use

Among Poor and Homeless Women,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

66 (1996): 510–525.

9. Hutchinson, I.W., J.D. Hirschel, and D.E. Pesackis, “Family Violence and

Police Utilization,” Violence and Victims 9 (4) (1994): 299–313; Richie, B.,

Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Black Battered Women, New

York: Routledge, 1996; and Sullivan, C.M., and M.H. Rumptz, “Adjustment

and Needs of African American Women Who Utilized a Domestic Violence

Shelter,” Violence and Victims 9 (3) (1994): 275–286.

10.Anti-Violence Project/National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs,

Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Domestic Violence,

New York: Anti-Violence Project/National Coalition of Anti-Violence

Programs, 1998.

11.Renzetti, C., and C. Miley, Violence in Gay and Lesbian Domestic

Partnerships, New York: Hayworth Press, 1996.

12. Straus, Physical Violence in American Families.

13. Doumas, D., G. Margolin, and R.S. John, “The Intergenerational Transmission of Aggression Across Three Generations,” Journal of Family Violence

9 (1994):157–175.

14. Gelles, R.J., and J.W. Harrop, “Violence, Battering and Psychological

Distress Among Women,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 4 (4) (1989):

400–420.

15. Stark, E., and A. Flitcraft, Women at Risk: Domestic Violence and

Women’s Health, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996.

16.Ringel, Cheryl, Criminal Victimization 1996: Changes 1995–96 With

Trends 1993–96, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of

Justice Statistics, November 1997: 3, NCJ 165812.

17. Tjaden and Thoennes, Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of

Violence Against Women, 3.

18.Ringel, Criminal Victimization 1996: Changes 1995–96 With Trends

1993–96, 4.

19. Medical University of South Carolina, Rape in America: Report to the

Nation, Arlington, VA: National Center for Victims of Crime, 1992.

20. Ibid.
11

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Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

21.Ibid.

22. Miller, J.L., “Prostitution in Contemporary American Society,” in Sexual

Coercion: A Sourcebook on Its Nature, Causes, and Prevention, ed. E.

Grauerholz and M.A. Koralewski, New York: Lexington Books, 1991;

and Tjaden and Thoennes, Stalking in America.

23. Medical University of South Carolina, Rape in America.

24.Bachman, R., and L.E. Saltzman, Violence Against Women: Estimates

From the Redesigned Survey, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice,

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995, NCJ 154348.

25. Bergen, R.K., “Surviving Wife Rape: How Women Define and Cope With

Violence,” Violence Against Women 1 (2) (1995): 117–138; and Hampton and

Gelles, “Violence Towards Black Women,” 105–119.

26. Graham, D.L.R., E.I. Rawlings, and R.K. Rigsby, Loving to Survive:

Sexual Terror, Men’s Violence, and Women’s Lives, New York: New York

University Press, 1994.

27. Hall, P., I. Tessero, and J. Earp, “Women’s Experiences With Battering:

A Conceptualization From Qualitative Research, Women’s Health Issues 5 (4)

(1995): 173–192; and Reid, P.T., and R. Kelly, “Research on Women of Color:

From Ignorance to Awareness,” Psychology of Women Quarterly 18 (1994):

477–486.

28. Crenshaw, K.W., “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics

and Violence Against Women of Color,” in The Public Nature of Private

Violence, ed. M.A. Fineman and B. Mykiturk, New York: Routledge, 1994;

and Rasche, C.E., “Minority Women and Domestic Violence: The Unique

Dilemmas of Battered Women of Color,” in The Criminal Justice System and

Women: Offenders, Victims and Workers, ed. N. Sokoloff and B. Rafel Price,

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

29. Kanuha, V., “Domestic Violence, Racism and the Battered Women’s

Movement in the U.S.,” in Future Interventions With Battered Women and

Their Families, ed. J. Edelson and Z. Eisikovitz, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications, 1997.

30. Richie, Compelled to Crime.

31. Human Rights Watch, All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S.

State Prisons, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

32. Harlow, C.W., Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999,

NCJ 172879.
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Exploring the Link Between Violence Against Women and Women’s Involvement in Illegal Activity

33. Osthoff, S., National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women,

personal communication with author, 1999.

34. New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “Domestic Violence

Hearings Held at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility,” New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence Newsletter, April 1985.

35.Browne, A., Harvard University, personal communication with author,

1999.

36.Richie, B., and C. Johnson, “Gender Violence, Incarceration and Women’s

Health: The Prevalence of Abuse History Among Newly Incarcerated Women

in a New York City Jail,” Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 53 (2) (1996): 89–93.

37.Richie, Compelled to Crime.

38.Correctional Populations in the United States, 1995, Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 1996: 7, NCJ

163916; and Gilliard, Darrel K., and Allen J. Beck, Prison and Jail Inmates at

Midyear 1997, Bulletin, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau

of Justice Statistics, January 1998: 4, NCJ 167247.

39. Mumola, C.J., and Beck, A.J., Prisoners in 1996, Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 1997: 5, NCJ

164619. In Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 1997, Gilliard and Beck note

the average annual increase in the jail population was 10 percent for women

and 6 percent for men (page 6).

40.Bush-Baskette, S., “The War on Drugs as a War Against Black Women,” in

Crime Control and Women: Feminist Implications of Criminal Justice Policy,

ed. S.L. Miller, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998.

41. Belknap, J., The Invisible Women: Gender, Crime and Justice, Belmont,

CA: Wadsworth, 1996; and Chesney-Lind, M., The Female Offender,

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997.

42. Mumola and Beck, Prisoners in 1996.

43.Richie, Compelled to Crime; and Owen, B., In the Mix: Struggle and

Survival in a Women’s Prison, Albany: SUNY Press, 1998.

44. Freudenberg, N., I. Wilets, and M. Greene, “Linking Women in Jail to

Community Services: Factors Associated With Rearrest and Retention of

Drug-Using Women Following Release From Jail,” Journal of the American

Medical Women’s Association 53 (2) (1998): 89–93.
13

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Beth E. Richie, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

45. Mumola and Beck, Prisoners in 1996.

46. Frisch, L.A., “Research That Succeeds, Policies That Fail,” Journal of

Criminal Law and Criminology 83 (1992): 209–216.

47. National Research Council, Understanding Violence Against Women.

48. Morash, M., T.S. Bynum, and B.A. Koons, Women Offenders: Programming Needs and Promising Approaches, Research in Brief, Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 1998, NCJ 171668;

and Illinois Department of Corrections, Five Year Plan for Female Inmates,

Springfield, IL: Illinois Department of Corrections, Planning and Research

Unit, 1995.

49. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Re-entry Courts:

Managing the Transition From Prisons to Community, Call for Concept

Papers, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of

Justice, 1999.

50.Richie, Compelled to Crime.
15

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One Judicial Perspective on

the Sex Trade

Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

A woman appears before me on her eighth bench warrant for failure

to appear. She has worn orange jail uniforms for all her court appearances. I greet her by name, and she flashes a grin from ear to ear. I say,

“Sunny! You’re in custody again—after you promised me last time you

would voluntarily come back to court if I released you.” She leans forward on the podium and, with a wide grin, says, “I know, Judge. I’m

sorry. I lied.” I say to her, “Well, you know, Sunny, this time I will have

to keep you in custody.” She replies, “Sure, Judge, I know.” I hope she

will remain in custody long enough to agree to participate in a program

offering an alternative to incarceration1

—but not too long, or she will

be able to plea, receive credit for time served, and thereby avoid intervention by the justice system to deal with her needs and the causes of

her behavior.

Another woman appears, dressed in street clothes. She had been referred to an alternative program but did not show up for the initial interview. The district attorney is arguing vehemently against further

such referrals. After all, she has pending cases. I feel she deserves one

more chance and, to support my position, point out that at least in the

past 6 months she has not picked up any new charges. I tell the defendant we are referring her to pretrial diversion, one of the alternative

programs, and she must arrive by 8:30 a.m. In front of the district attorney, and with the court reporter taking down every word, she replies

that it will be difficult to wake up so early because she works on the

street all night. But, still, she assures me, she will make it there next

week.

Another woman appears, dressed in orange; wounds on her face are

still crusted with blood. Yet another woman seems to be emaciated

and has dark circles under her eyes. Another convulses in front of my

bench, and the bailiff looks at me and says, “It’s OK, Judge, she’s just

detoxing.” An inmate far more attractive than anyone who has appeared

earlier exits the men’s holding tank. I look up the prisoner’s name in

the calendar: Steve Smith. Steve, a transsexual sex worker, beams when
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16

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

I refer to him as “she.” Then a non-English-speaking “john” (or

prostitute’s customer) stands before me. According to his financial

declaration, he has a minimum-wage job. He appears to be dazed and

confused about why he is even in court.

My assignment is the misdemeanor criminal calendar, and the women

and men I see are charged with violation of section 647(b) of the California Penal Code: “solicitation.” Sometimes the women are charged

with being public nuisances. Almost always, a charge in their history is

related to drug use, often petty theft. It is a virtual certainty that, without intervention, there soon will be a felony charge involving drugs.

The sex workers who stand before me every day are victims as well

as defendants. The johns simply do not understand why they are in

a criminal court when, in their eyes, they are merely exercising their

male prerogative of sex on demand. These men seem to be unaware

of their role in promoting the sex industry.

Judicial officers are sworn to uphold and enforce the law. Most also

feel a moral obligation to somehow make the city a better place. We

would like to believe that we are agents of change for the better, not

simply automatons applying rules and laws to the case patterns that

appear before us. This area of the law—dealing with the sex trade—

affords a great opportunity to bring about change and to be creative

in dealing with people whose conduct is defined by the legislature as

criminal but who are victims themselves—and often victimized over

and over again.

Judicial approaches

Two judicial approaches are used to handle issues of the so-called oldest profession—that is, solicitation, prostitution, and sex trade street

workers, or “B” cases.2

 The first, and more traditional, approach is

simply to enforce the law and sentence offenders to county jail or the

sheriff’s work program. That is easy and simple—virtually a “no-brainer.”

The message is clear: You commit the crime, you do the time. This

approach, however, fails to address the core issues, virtually guarantees

recidivism, and does little to change or eliminate prostitution. In addition, a conviction is often difficult, if not impossible, to obtain because

juries think such cases waste time and society’s judicial resources.
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Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

The second approach is for the court to become involved in devising

solutions on a case-by-case basis. To accomplish this, one must understand the dynamics. The victim-perpetrator status of the defendant is

only one of numerous contradictions. Everyone touched by the problem—homeowners, merchants, law enforcement officers, judicial staff,

and even the sex worker—operates in an environment of conflicting

attitudes. Consider the homeowner who wants the street worker off his

or her block but will rarely vote to convict when serving on a jury. Or

the street worker, both victim and defendant, who wants to “get out of

the life” and, at the same time, finds that she not only is lured back by

the promise of love, security, and happiness but also is dependent on it

for survival. All too often, she returns to the street because it is simply

the only means of survival available to her.

The sex worker: Victim and survivor

Sex trade workers come in all ages, sizes, and races. One can only

wonder why people “choose” this life. What did they look like in their

first-grade school pictures? What happened to their dreams and hopes?

Most women enter the sex trade as a survival strategy. At some point in

their lives, most sex workers have faced a crisis, either social or economic, that compelled them to leave their “conventional” lives behind.

Sex workers are victims and also survivors, often of childhood sexual

abuse or abuse by husbands, boyfriends, or pimps. Numerous studies

have shown that approximately 90 percent of women in the sex trade

have been battered by a member of their family, and more than 70 percent have been sexually abused between the ages of 3 and 14.3

 A young

woman running away from abuse will market the one commodity she

knows sells: sex. On average, a woman is 14 years of age when she

turns to prostitution.

In San Francisco, a recent study by Melissa Farley of 130 prostitutes

showed that 68 percent had been repeatedly raped.4

 These individuals

are survivors of a society that teaches women from the time they are

very young that their sexuality is a commodity—and they may use it to

convince someone to do them a favor, avoid a speeding ticket, or get a

date to the junior prom. The media and popular culture continually display images of women as sexual commodities and use sex to sell products from shoe polish to CDs, cars, and cigarettes. Then why not sell

sex, these women conclude, if that is all you have to support yourself,

your children, your boyfriend, and, all too often, your drug habit.
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18

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

Many women in the sex trade are also survivors of poverty, which

affects men and women differently. More than one-third of all households in the United States are headed by women. Even today, women

often lack access to the training, jobs, and pay men receive.5

 Even

more important, girls who are sexually abused—and 75 percent to 95

percent of 14- to 18-year-old girls in the justice system have been

victims of abuse—suffer from a traumatic and profound lack of selfesteem. These girls engage in disempowering and self-defeating behaviors, which propel them into a cycle of prostitution, addiction, drug

dealing, and violence. Typically having never received the valuable

life-skills training that a healthful family environment provides, these

girls see violence and sexual exploitation as the norm. They have never

known responsible, respectful, and caring adults and peers; they have

never learned how to form durable relationships based on mutual support and affection. Without trust and healthy self-esteem, neither the

girls nor the women they become can even use the support systems

that are available. That is where the courts come in—and that is where

judicial officers can provide the impetus and monitoring necessary for

interventions to take place.

More than “quality of life”

In decades past, solicitation was considered a victimless crime. In the

1990s, it was transformed into a quality-of-life crime (that is, a crime

that is not wrong in itself but that interferes with the quality of life of

other people—merchants, tourists, and neighbors). In reality, no matter

how supportive people may be of sex workers, they do not want to witness solicitation in front of their homes, on their street corners, or in

front of their neighborhood restaurants.

Prostitution is not a victimless crime—the primary victim is the prostitute. And prostitution is much more serious than quality-of-life crimes.

Bench officers have the choice of revictimizing the victim or providing

that individual with the motivation, incentive, and, sometimes, the

courage to change.

Alternative programs, such as Standing Against Global Exploitation

(SAGE), a counseling and outreach organization launched in San Francisco in 1995; and Promise, a peer counseling group (described at the

conclusion of this paper), offer some first steps in the right direction.

The special value of these programs is that survivors of the sex trade

run them. It is a well-documented fact that the priorities economically
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Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

disadvantaged people set for themselves often are not the same priorities set by policymakers, and the same is true for sex workers. Therefore, alternative programs run by peer counselors who know and

understand prostitutes’ priorities are most effective. These programs

offer the experiential perspective, support, and tools needed for participants to succeed, and court officials can provide the impetus. It must

be understood, however, that women do not become prostitutes in a few

days, weeks, or months. Therefore, getting out of prostitution—like

quitting drugs or alcohol—does not happen in a single session, week,

or month, and often does not occur without relapse.

Courts and the communities they serve:

Contradictions and ambivalence

Courts do not and cannot function in a vacuum. Whether or not they

want to, they often mirror community values. Laws prohibiting solicitation—the exchange of money for sex—are enacted and enforced in a

sea of contradictions and ambivalence. Judicial officers, whose role is

not only to enforce the law but also to ensure that justice is served and

to reduce or prevent the likelihood of recidivism, need to be aware of

these contextual issues.

Solicitation versus “charity” sex

On one hand, laws on the books proscribe the exchange of sex for

money; on the other hand, every day some women have sex because

men are nice to them, take them out to dinner, give them gifts, or provide shelter or status. Sex after receipt of a benefit is not a crime as

long as it is given without a prior bargain. The key is to not solicit the

sex, at least overtly. So charity sex, as it is sometimes called, is very

much part of our society. However, to solicit sex for a reward before

the reward is given is a crime.

The sex trade is glamorized in songs: “Fancy” escapes poverty and

death and attains riches because she follows her mother’s advice to be

“nice to the men” and, as her mother predicted, the men are “nice to

her.” Is Fancy a whore or is she participating in charity sex? Is it that

women can be grateful but cannot be demanding? Does legality depend

on whether the bargain is struck before sex, or does it depend on

whether the woman pretends she is doing it for free? Irma La Douce,

Sweet Charity, Pretty Woman—we romanticize the sweet, vulnerable,

poignant sex worker who finds the right man and moves to the house
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20

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

with the white picket fence. These stories are no truer than Jack and the

Beanstalk or Hansel and Gretel, and no more likely than Ed McMahon

sending you $1 million in the mail.

Two classes of sex workers, two classes of customers

The enforcement of prostitution laws is also ambivalent. There are two

classes of sex workers: the street worker and the call girl. There are

also two classes of customers: the street john and the john who can

afford high-priced call girls. And, of course, there is the pimp or the

trader. Although street workers appear on my calendar every day, not

one call girl or one high-priced john has ever stood before me during

all my years on the bench. Nor could any of the colleagues I asked at

the Hall of Justice recall when a pimp actually appeared before them,

charged with a crime. Arrests are directed toward those who can solicit

only $20 to $40 for a “half-and-half” (half oral and half more conventional sex) and toward those who can afford to pay no more than that.

Public pressure

The rise and fall of arrests for solicitation depend largely on public

pressure. The same people who tell the courts, when they are on a jury,

that we should not be spending time on solicitation turn around and

join their neighbors in cries to get sex workers off street corners. When

a neighborhood pressures the police or elected officials to clean up the

street corners, the number of cases increases. Neighborhood residents

say they don’t want prostitution on their blocks, and they also don’t

think solicitation laws should be criminally enforced; yet, they want the

police and the district attorney to do something. Mandated intervention

programs are a major part of the solution. In enforcing laws against

solicitation, we are protecting the communities from the nuisance of

solicitation and, at the same time—acting in loco parentis—protecting

the street worker from herself, her pimp, and the ravages of her work.

Melissa Farley’s study of prostitutes revealed that 82 percent of them

said they had been assaulted by customers, 88 percent had been physically threatened, and 83 percent had been threatened with a weapon.6

The issue of jury nullification also comes into play. It is extremely difficult to obtain a conviction in solicitation cases because the jurors feel

that consensual conduct between two adults should not be legislated 

or enforced and that their tax dollars should not be spent trying these

cases—unless, of course, the conduct occurs on their street corners.

And even then, jurors are looking for a noncriminal resolution.
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Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

Feminist issues

Some women make a rational decision to enter this profession without

shame and are demanding the right to be recognized without shame.

These women rarely are seen in court.

Some feminists argue for decriminalization and unionization of sex

workers. Others claim prostitution is a continuation of sexual abuse 

of women by men. Survivors of prostitution are also divided on the

subject. Some argue that it is a crime by men against women—nothing

less than the commercialization of sexual abuse and perpetuation of

the inequality that women suffer in all other forums, and part of a global traffic in sexual slavery of women. Others demand lawful recognition of prostitution and raising its status to that of a valid, protected

occupation.

There are also arguments that prostitution demonstrates a woman’s

right to control her body; that selling it is free enterprise—in effect, a

career choice; and that pimps are, in fact, entrepreneurs.

Conflicting roles

Add to this milieu of contradictions the opposing roles of the district

attorney, often reluctantly prosecuting; public defenders, who sometimes take the myopic view that their role is only to free their clients

from custody and not to consider what may be in their clients’ best 

interest in the long run; and the courts, with overburdened calendars.

All of these players pull in different directions; alternative programs

help bring them together toward a solution.

Interventions

If the goal is to dismantle the sex trade industry, we cannot escape the

fact that society creates prostitution and the customer fuels the need for

it. If we want to take on this lofty task, we would do well to confront

these issues and address them. But on the road to achieving that goal,

certain interventions would be helpful. These include providing a way

out for the prostitutes and educating the johns about their role in perpetuating prostitution and the sex trade industry.

Alternative programs are a great step. Although their effect is currently

limited to the participants, they are initiating a discourse that may have

long-term and broad-based preventive effects. SAGE, the First Offender
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22

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

Prostitution Program (FOPP), and other effective programs in San

Francisco were started and are run by ex-street workers.

Meeting the needs of sex workers

One broad-based and enterprising effort is the SAGE counseling and

outreach organization in San Francisco. The SAGE Trauma and Recovery

(STAR) Center addresses the multiple needs of sex workers recovering

from drug addiction, prostitution, and trauma through peer counseling

and individual therapy, holistic healing, and vocational services. Women

enter the program via two routes: court referrals and an extensive outreach program on the street that involves volunteers and police. Court

referrals usually are for eight sessions and may be made for either firsttime or repeat offenders. Usually, the incentive is that charges will be

dismissed upon program completion.

Not all women complete the program on their first, second, or even

third attempt. Many are also trying to get off drugs and are dealing

with numerous other psychological and survival issues. SAGE offers

the services of peer counselors as well as acupuncture, trauma recovery

groups, relapse prevention, self-defense training, and yoga.

The SAGE program for teenage girls targets 14- to 18-year-olds, who are

usually referred by the court or the probation department. The 15-week

program emphasizes education, psychological needs, life skills, and

self-esteem issues. Intake assessment is conducted for problems related

to depression, posttraumatic stress, and self-esteem, with followup after

6 weeks. SAGE addresses the girls’ need to learn to trust responsible,

respectful, and caring adults and peers and to learn how to form durable relationships based on mutual support and affection. SAGE also

provides assistance and training in life and personal growth skills,

including housing assistance, job training and development, financial

counseling, and problem solving.

Educating the customers

FOPP is a program based in the San Francisco district attorney’s office

that offers counseling to prostitutes’ customers in an effort to reduce

arrests, recidivism, and exploitation of the women.7

 It is designed for

first-time johns and facilitated by former prostitutes. Since 1995, approximately 2,700 solicitors of prostitutes have been diverted from the

court system and received an educational (and hopefully rehabilitative)
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Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

experience in lieu of criminal prosecution. After first-time offenders are

arrested, usually through undercover decoy operations, they are cited

and offered the opportunity to participate in the program instead of being charged and jailed. Men pay a fee (based on a sliding scale up to

$500) and attend one 8-hour class that covers the penal risks and practical consequences of continued criminal conduct and educates them

about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, prostitution survivors speak about childhood risk factors, violence, drug use,

rehabilitation, and reintegration. Other topics include pimping, recruitment, and trafficking tactics used against women and girls; sexual addiction; and domestic violence education that examines power and

equality in relationships.

Other programs

Other alternative programs include Sister/Power, Promise, and Safe

House. The 12- to 18-week Sister/Power programs feature ongoing

groups that use peer counselors and the resources of the adult probation

department. These programs address sexual trauma, drug abuse, and

life skills. The Sister program serves women in custody, and the Power

program is a postrelease group for the women after they leave prison

or jail.

The Promise program is operated and staffed by peer counselors who

provide transitional housing using vouchers for local hotels. Their approach focuses on the women’s financial needs because women often

engage in prostitution for financial reasons. Promise emphasizes life

skills, job skills, and transitioning.

Safe House, a “clean and sober” residential community for women

leaving prostitution, provides 24-hour staffing, clothing, food, and

vocational and training assessments. Women can stay for as long as

18 months. If a woman is not clean and sober for at least 6 months

before entering, she must participate in a day treatment program. Safe

House offers individual and group counseling, referrals to drug treatment, vocational training, domestic violence counseling, and counseling for sexual assault trauma.

These programs are not exclusive; they often work in conjunction with

each other. For example, a woman in Safe House may also participate

in the SAGE, Promise, or Power program.
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24

One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade

Future needs: Resources and self-worth

Needed resources include bilingual education, geared toward both

English-speaking and non-English-speaking communities, to inform

residents that it is a crime to solicit sex, that johns will be arrested, and

that johns’ acts have broad consequences and implications. Also needed

are interventions for and intensive assistance to victims of child abuse;

mobile units providing health care, legal assistance, and other resources

to street workers; drop-in or short-term shelters open 24 hours per day

offering medical, legal, and other resources; shelters for runaway

youths where no questions will be asked and where they will not fear

being sent back to their abusers; mental health care facilities; long-term

shelters for women and children; access to drug treatment on demand;

education for judicial officers; and financial training and places for

women to make the transition from the sex trade to a viable alternative

career. Although women cannot be expected to shift from working in

the sex trade to working in sweatshops or fast-food restaurants, there

are industries and training that would be appropriate, plausible, and attractive. Before a woman can participate in these programs, however,

she needs to have time and space to heal and regroup.

If we really want to dismantle the sex worker industry, we need to

address core issues. Just as we might try to imagine prostitutes when

they were in the first grade, we might also wonder about their abusers.

Are they enjoying baseball games while, 20 years later, their victims

are struggling to live from day to day on the street, suffering from debilitating posttraumatic stress, or self-medicating with illegal drugs? Is

the abuser barbecuing this weekend while his victim is confined to a

jail cell suffering from suicidal urges and engaging in life-threatening

behaviors?

As long as there is sexual abuse of girls, women will continue to

grapple with profound and traumatic low self-worth and self-esteem

issues. And as long as women’s sexuality is treated as a commodity

in the media and women lack access to adequate employment, prostitution will exist. As long as men continue to believe that sex on demand

is their male prerogative, it will not matter how many street sweeps are

conducted or how many arrests are made. The only chance to make

things better is to instill a sense of self-worth in all girls at a very early

age and to educate young people on many fronts.
25

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Kay Tsenin, Judge, Superior Court of San Francisco

We need to stop the sexual abuse of children and provide women in

poverty with adequate resources so they will not have to trade sex for

survival. We also need to provide meaningful and concrete assistance

and resources to sex workers who want to quit. Although we cannot

dismantle this system overnight, we can begin.

Notes

1.In San Francisco, numerous programs offer alternatives to incarceration for

sex trade workers. Among them are FOPP (First Offender Prostitution Program, for both “johns” and sex workers), SAGE (Standing Against Global

Exploitation), and pretrial diversion. Except for the first offender programs,

each usually involves a counseling component, frequently substance abuse

treatment, and often a needs assessment with an attempt to address the needs.

2.These cases are so called because they involve prostitution charged under

section 647(b) of the California Penal Code.

3.Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt (WHISPER),

Oral History Project, Minneapolis, 1988. The Mary Magdalene Project in

Reseda, California, reported that 80 percent of the women they worked with

were sexually abused as children. Genesis House in Chicago reported that 

94 percent of the women they worked with were abused as children. These

reports were made at the First National Workshop for Those Working with

Female Prostitutes, Wayzata, Minnesota, 1985.

4. Farley, Melissa, and Howard Barkan, “Prostitution, Violence Against

Women, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” Women & Health 27 (3) (1998):

37–49. Dr. Farley works with Prostitution Research & Education, a project

sponsored by San Francisco Women’s Centers.

5. Although men and women engage in this work for many of the same reasons, male sex workers have even fewer resources. However, male sex workers and the international sex trade are beyond the scope of this paper.

6. Farley and Barkan, “Prostitution, Violence Against Women, and Posttraumatic

Stress Disorder.”

7.The First Offender Prostitution Program was among the winners of the

prestigious Innovations in American Government awards competition in 1998.
27

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Childhood Victimization

and the Derailment of 

Girls and Women to the

Criminal Justice System

Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry

of New Jersey

There has been a general perception that we do not need to understand,

or intervene to prevent, female delinquent or criminal behavior because

small numbers of women are involved, such offenses are primarily

sexual in nature, and the female offender is the exception—a manifestation of extreme forms of psychological deviance. Early researchers

have referred to female offenders as “themselves on the whole a sorry

lot,”1

 focused on their “precocious sexual development” as the root

cause of their delinquency,2

 and described the criminal woman as “a

monster . . . whose wickedness must have been enormous before it

could triumph over so many obstacles.”3

 Others have described the

female offender as relatively nonthreatening to society: “The girls and

women who make up the bulk of the criminal justice workload involving the female offender (and are the grist of the female offender programs) commit ordinary crimes—mostly minor thefts and frauds, low

level drug dealing, prostitution, and simple assaults involving their

mates or children. . . . They are not career criminals” (emphasis

added).4

In reality, the problem of female criminality is substantially more complex than presented in the literature—and girls and women may be the

victims as well as the offenders. It is tempting to conclude from reports

describing the extent of childhood sexual and physical abuse and neglect in the backgrounds of incarcerated women that their childhood

victimization experiences have somehow played a role in their offending.5

 A better way to answer questions about the role of childhood victimization in the development of criminal behavior, however, is through

prospective longitudinal studies that follow a group of abused and neglected girls into adulthood. These studies allow researchers to identify
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28

Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System

the proportion of girls who go on to become offenders as adults, learn

about their criminal careers, and determine what happens to other

abused and neglected girls who might not have experienced such negative outcomes. Previously, most large longitudinal studies providing

information for criminologists have involved males, usually white

males. Fortunately, some current studies that include young girls will

be able to redress some of the earlier study limitations when their subjects grow into adulthood.

The research described in this paper involves a large group of physically and sexually abused and neglected girls and boys (ages 0 to 11)

and a matched control group (ages 0 to 11) who were followed and

studied into young adulthood. Their criminal histories were gathered

when the subjects were approximately 26 years old and again when

their average age was about 33.6

 Thus, the subjects had ample opportunity to engage in behavior resulting in arrest.

The study sample represents documented court cases of abuse and

neglect. It is important to note that these cases are generally skewed

toward the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Therefore, the

study findings cannot be generalized to middle- or upper-class cases

of abuse and neglect or to cases that do not come to the attention of

the authorities—and the consequences may be different for these girls.

This paper addresses questions about the role of childhood victimization in the development of female criminal behavior, suggests potential

mechanisms in the derailment of girls and women to the criminal justice

system, and describes opportunities for intervention.

Role of childhood victimization in the

development of criminal behavior

Considering whether childhood victimization derails the normal

developmental processes of girls and young women and whether this

derailment affects their ability to cope with the demands of life and

adulthood involves four key questions:

● Is criminal behavior among abused and neglected girls and women

rare?

● Is criminal behavior among abused and neglected girls and women

predominantly sexual?
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Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

● Do abused and neglected status offenders escalate to criminal

offending?

● Do abused and neglected girls develop antisocial or delinquent

lifestyles that persist into adulthood as serious criminal careers?

Is criminal behavior among abused and neglected girls 

and women rare?

When compared with girls who have not been abused and neglected

during childhood, abused and neglected girls are nearly twice as likely

to be arrested as juveniles (20.0 percent versus 11.4 percent), twice as

likely to be arrested as adults (28.5 percent versus 15.9 percent), and

2.4 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes (8.2 percent versus 3.6 percent). Data also indicate that physical and sexual abuse and

neglect lead to increased risk of arrest for violence among women, a

pattern dissimilar to that identified for abused and neglected males.7

Although abused and neglected females are at increased risk, however,

these relationships are not inevitable or deterministic; about 70 percent

do not become offenders.8

Is criminal behavior among abused and neglected girls 

and women predominantly sexual?

While arrests and self-reports indicate that abused and neglected females

are at increased risk for prostitution,9

 they also engage in a variety of

other criminal behaviors. Of the females in the study sample, 248 were

arrested as juveniles or adults, and only 40 (16.1 percent) of these were

arrested for prostitution or other sex-related crimes. The remainder

were arrested for a variety of other crimes. Interestingly, the majority

of the 40 females arrested for sex crimes had been abused or neglected

(that is, not the control females).

Do abused and neglected status offenders escalate to

criminal offending?

Despite the belief that status offenders do not escalate in their criminal

behavior and we should not intervene in their lives,10 results of this

study indicate that they do escalate. About half (49 percent) of the

abused and neglected girls who committed status offenses (were arrested as juveniles for an offense that would not be considered criminal if

committed by an adult) were arrested as adults as well as 36 percent of
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Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System

the control females. Thus, in both groups, a substantial portion of the

girls with status offenses as juveniles were arrested as adults.

Do abused and neglected girls develop antisocial or

delinquent lifestyles that persist into adulthood as

serious criminal careers?

Peter Lambert, Daniel Nagin, and I have examined developmental trajectories of offending among this sample of individuals. The results of

our work challenge the prevailing assumption that female offenders are

not career criminals. We found a subset of abused and neglected females who develop antisocial and delinquent lifestyles that persist into

adulthood and who become “high-rate chronic” or “persistent” offenders with serious criminal careers. This group (about 8 percent of the

abused and neglected females in our sample) does not appear among

the control females; showed peaks of offending at about ages 26 to 27;

and averaged slightly more than one arrest every 2 years (0.6 per year)

through age 35. About 38 percent had been picked up for status offenses as girls, but about 54 percent were arrested for property crimes,

76 percent for order offenses, 46 percent for violence, and 32 percent

for drug offenses. The overall criminal histories of this group were

similar to those of “mid-rate chronic” male offenders.11

Mechanisms in derailment

Potential mechanisms in the derailment of girls and women include

running away, deficits in cognitive ability and achievement, growing

up without traditional social controls, engaging in relationships with

deviant or delinquent individuals, and failing to learn the social and

psychological skills necessary for successful adult development. Such

mechanisms may also offer opportunities for intervention.

Runaways

Researchers have argued that victimization triggers girls’ entry into

delinquency as they try to escape abusive environments.12 Adolescent

females who are unable to end abuse through legal channels often run

away and end up on the streets with few legitimate survival options:

[They are] unable to enroll in school or take a job to support

themselves because they fear detection. . . . [T]hey engage in

panhandling, petty theft, and occasional prostitution in order to

survive. Young women in conflict with parents (often for very
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Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

legitimate reasons) may actually be forced by present laws into

petty criminal activity, prostitution, and drug use.13

While abused and neglected children are at increased risk for running

away, and running away is associated with increased risk of arrest

among juveniles and adults, the effect of running away is also seen in

nonabused and nonneglected children. Indeed, the increased risk of

arrest among control runaways was higher than that observed among

abused and neglected children, even though the abused and neglected

children were already at high risk for criminal behavior.14

Neglected young children, alone on the streets, are at risk of being victimized or enticed into prostitution. Runaways may fall under the control of pornographers and pimps and experience subsequent physical

and sexual victimization by pimps and customers. Given their lack of

adequate medical care and high prevalence of risky lifestyles (which

may include prostitution, alcohol, drugs, and smoking), children who

run away also may be at risk for multiple problems, including serious

public health concerns.

Deficits in IQ or cognitive ability

Abused and neglected women earn lower average scores on IQ tests

and tests of reading ability than nonabused and nonneglected women.15

They are also low achievers scholastically (as evidenced by poor grades,

behavioral problems, and expulsion) and complete, on average, one

year fewer of school.

We do not know the origin of deficits in academic and intellectual

performance among abused and neglected females. The deficits may

be caused by brain dysfunction that is a result of brain injury from

physical abuse or malnutrition from neglect. Physical abuse (such as

battering) or severe neglect (producing, for example, dehydration, diarrhea, or failure to thrive) also may lead to developmental retardation

that, in turn, may affect school performance and behavior. Thus, deficits in IQ or cognitive ability resulting from early childhood abuse or

neglect may lead to impaired academic performance in elementary or

secondary school and decreased cognitive functioning.

Decreased functioning also may result in lowered self-esteem or the

lack of a sense of control over one’s life, either directly (the child perceives she was somehow responsible for the abuse or neglect or was

unable to prevent the victimization) or indirectly (through diminished
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Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System

social and interpersonal skills). Also, because expectations for early

academic success are often higher for girls than boys,16 such deficits in

girls may elicit more negative responses from teachers and caregivers

that, in turn, may place girls at greater risk for behavioral problems.17

Lack of traditional social controls

Traditionally, females are closely supervised, especially during their

formative years, and antisocial behavior is discouraged through sanctions.

Risk-taking behavior is often discouraged among girls but encouraged

and rewarded among boys.18 Girls’ friends are also more carefully

monitored, decreasing the likelihood of influence by delinquent peers.19

However, the lives of abused and neglected young girls do not necessarily reflect these traditional patterns and social controls. They often

grow up in multiproblem homes with alcohol- or drug-abusing parents

and other social maladies, lacking the barriers described earlier as

holding the normal woman to the path of virtue.20 Perhaps the “lucky”

abused and neglected girls are those who are placed into foster care and

bond with foster parents at an early age or those whose grandparents or

other relatives are able to rear them successfully.

Relationships with deviant or delinquent friends and

relatives

Abused and neglected individuals are more likely to report that someone in their family was arrested (a parent or sibling, for example) than

are nonabused and nonneglected individuals. High rates of psychopathology are reported among the families of female delinquents and

felons,21 and antisocial women and men often engage in “assortative”

mating (nonrandom mating resulting from the selection of similar

partners).22

If behavioral preferences are a function of the networks in which a

person is embedded,23 then it would not be surprising that abused and

neglected girls and women engaged in deviant or criminal behaviors

because their networks offered models or support for such behavior.

Since many abused and neglected girls are more likely to grow up in

“criminogenic” homes and in neighborhoods with high rates of crime

and violence, there may be numerous opportunities for them to learn

and model aggressive and antisocial behavior. This picture contrasts

sharply with explanations typically offered to explain the generally 
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Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

low rates of female crime. For abused and neglected girls, we need

to rethink these models.

Failure to learn social and psychological skills

Finally, childhood victimization may prevent girls from learning the

social and psychological skills needed for successful adult development. Abused and neglected girls and women have multiple problems—including lower academic and intellectual performance, more

stressful life events,24 more suicide attempts,25 increased likelihood of

abusing alcohol,26 higher levels of hostility and sensation seeking, and

lower levels of self-esteem and sense of control27—than do nonabused

and nonneglected girls and women.

Some researchers suggest that the patterns of problems experienced

by women lead to noncriminal forms of coping that are not likely to

trigger aggressive forms of criminal behavior.28 Our findings, however,

suggest otherwise: Abused and neglected females are more likely to use

alcohol and other drugs and turn to criminal and violent behaviors

when coping with stressful life events.29

The female criminal: Opportunities for 

intervention

The common explanations for female crime and its nonthreatening nature do not account for the derailment of abused and neglected girls and

women to criminal behavior. From a public health perspective, these

consequences are particularly important because of the risk of sexually

transmitted diseases and the potential of these consequences to facilitate girls’ transition into prostitution.

As indicated, about 8 percent of abused and neglected girls (roughly

the same proportion as among nonabused and nonneglected males

identified in other studies) become chronic, persistent offenders, engaging in violence and other forms of troublesome behavior that persist

into adulthood. More research on female offenders in general, and on

abused and neglected females in particular, is needed because there

is very little knowledge about how best to intervene and treat them.

Rather than denying there are women who are serious offenders, we

need to understand and respond to the mechanisms that lead them to

engage in criminal behavior not traditionally associated with women.
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Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System

Women play a unique role in society: They produce children (80 to 85

percent of the females in this study were mothers). The behavior and

health risks (alcohol consumption, for example) these young adult

women face are of particular concern—especially because the environments they create will affect the physical and psychosocial development of their children.

We need to pay more attention and intervene when children first come

in contact with the criminal justice system as runaways and status offenders, particularly with those who do so at very young ages. We also

need to identify the aspects of status offenses that suggest they are precursors of adult criminal activity and the least harmful ways to respond

so that these behaviors do not persist. These will be the first steps in

preventing the derailment of young abused and neglected girls to the

criminal justice system and in enhancing their opportunities to lead

healthy and successful lives.

Notes

1. Glueck, S., and E. Glueck, Five Hundred Delinquent Women, New York:

A.A. Knopf, 1934.

2. Smith, A.D., Women in Prison, London: Stevens and Sons, 1962.

3. Lombroso, C., and W. Ferrero, The Female Offender, London: Fisher

Unwin, 1895.

4. Steffensmeier, D., and L. Broidy, “Explaining Female Offending,” in Women,

Crime, and Criminal Justice: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. C.M. Renzetti

and L. Goodstein, Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company, in press.

5. Browne, A., B. Miller, and E. Maguin, “Prevalence and Severity of Lifetime

Physical and Sexual Victimization Among Incarcerated Women,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 22 (3/4) (1999): 301–322; and Harlow,

C.W., Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers, Special Report,

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,

April 1999, NCJ 172879.

6. Widom, C.S., “The Cycle of Violence,” Science 244 (1989): 160–166; and

Maxfield, M.G., and C.S. Widom, “The Cycle of Violence: Revisited Six

Years Later,” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 150 (1996):

390–395.

7. Maxfield and Widom, “The Cycle of Violence.”
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Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

8. Ibid.

9. Abused and neglected males are also at increased risk for prostitution

(based on arrests and/or self-reports) compared with control males (14.2

percent versus 8.0 percent, respectively); see Widom, C.S., and J.B. Kuhns,

“Childhood Victimization and Subsequent Risk for Promiscuity, Prostitution,

and Teenage Pregnancy,” American Journal of Public Health 86 (11)

(November 1996): 1607–1612.

10. Chesney-Lind, M., “Girls’ Crime and Woman’s Place: Toward a Feminist

Model of Female Delinquency,” Crime and Delinquency 35 (1) (January

1989): 5–29.

11. Widom, C.S., D. Nagin, and P. Lambert, “Does Childhood Victimization

Alter Developmental Trajectories of Criminal Careers?” Paper presented 

to American Society of Criminology, annual meeting, Washington, DC,

November 11–14, 1998.

12. Chesney-Lind, M., “Women and Crime: The Female Offender,” Signs

12 (1986): 78–96; Chesney-Lind, “Girls’ Crime and Woman’s Place”; and

Chesney-Lind, M., and R. Sheldon, Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice,

Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1992.

13. Chesney-Lind, “Girls’ Crime and Woman’s Place,” 24.

14. Kaufman, J., and C.S. Widom, “Childhood Victimization, Running Away,

and Delinquency,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 36 (4)

(November 1999): 347–370.

15. Perez, C.M., and C.S. Widom, “Childhood Victimization and Long-Term

Intellectual and Academic Outcomes,” Child Abuse and Neglect 18 (8) (1994):

617–633.

16. Keenan, K., and D.S. Shaw, “Developmental and Social Influences on

Young Girls’ Early Problem Behavior,” Psychological Bulletin 121 (1997):

95–113.

17. Keenan, K., R. Loeber, and S. Green, “Conduct Disorder in Girls: A Review

of the Literature,” Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 2 (1999): 3–19.

18. Steffensmeier and Broidy, “Explaining Female Offending.”

19. Giordano, P., S. Cernkovich, and M. Pugh, “Friendships and

Delinquency,” American Journal of Sociology 91 (1986): 1170–1203.

20. Lombroso and Ferrero, The Female Offender.
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Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System

21. Cloninger, C.R., and S.B. Guze, “Psychiatric Illness in the Families of

Female Criminals: A Study of 288 First-Degree Relatives,” British Journal 

of Psychiatry 122 (1973): 697–703.

22. Robins, L.N., Deviant Children Grown Up, Baltimore: Williams and

Wilkins, 1966.

23. Smith-Lovin, L., and J.M. McPherson, “You Are Who You Know: A

Network Approach to Gender,” in Theory on Gender/Feminism on Theory, 

ed. P. England, New York: Aldine deGruyter, 1993: 223–254.

24. Chavez, J.M., and C.S. Widom, “Childhood Victimization and Substance

Abuse: The Role of Stressful Life Events and Coping Strategies,” in review,

1999.

25. Widom, C.S., “Childhood Victimization: Early Adversity and Subsequent

Psychopathology,” in Adversity, Stress, and Psychopathology, ed. B.P.

Dohrenwend, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998: 81–95.

26. Widom, C.S., T.O. Ireland, and P.J. Glynn, “Alcohol Abuse in Abused and

Neglected Children Followed-Up: Are They at Increased Risk?” Journal of

Studies on Alcohol 56 (1995): 207–217.

27. Widom, C.S., “Motivation and Mechanisms in the ‘Cycle of Violence’,” in

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, vol. 46, ed. D. Hansen, Lincoln, NE:

University of Nebraska Press, in press.

28. Broidy, L., and R. Agnew, “Gender and Crime: A General Strain Theory

Perspective,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 34 (3) (August

1997): 275–306.

29. Chavez and Widom, “Childhood Victimization and Substance Abuse.”
About the National Institute of Justice

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a component of the Office of Justice Programs, is the

research agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Created by the Omnibus Crime Control and

Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, NIJ is authorized to support research, evaluation, and demonstration programs, development of technology, and both national and international information

dissemination. Specific mandates of the Act direct NIJ to:

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In recent years, NIJ has greatly expanded its initiatives, the result of the Violent Crime Control

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Use Forecasting (DUF) program—to increase the number of drug-testing sites and study

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