Assessment and Treatment of Woman Offenders

About the Authors.

Series Editors' Preface.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1 The Extent and Nature of Female Offending and Incarceration Patterns.
Introduction.
Female Offending Patterns.
Incarceration Trends.
Offence Gestalts.
Conclusions and Recommendations.

2 Theories of Female Offending.
Introduction.
Gender-Neutral Theories.
Control Theories.
Self-control Theory.
Social Control Theories.
Social Learning Theory.
Personal, Interpersonal, and Community-Reinforcement Theory.
Life-Course Perspectives.
Evolutionary Psychology.
Biological Theories.
Female-Centered Theories.
Women's Liberation/Emancipation Theory.
Economic Marginalization Theory.
Integrated Liberation and Economic Marginalization Theory.
Socialization Theories.
Relational Theory.
Power Control Theory.
Feminist Theories.
Hybrid Theories.
General Strain Theory.
Gendered Theory.
Summary and Recommendations.
Assessment for Classification of Women Offenders.
Introduction.
History of Classification.
Static versus Dynamic Risk.
Clinical versus Actuarial Assessment.
Applying 'Objective' Measures to Female Offenders.
Gender-Informed Assessment Models for Women.
Summary and Recommendations.

4 Assessing Women's Risk.
Introduction.
The Risk Principle.
Statistical Information on Recidivism-Revised Scale.
Psychopathy Checklist - Revised.
Reliability.
Construct Validity.
Concurrent Validity.
Convergent Validity.
Discriminant Validity.
Predictive Validity.
Level of Service/ Case Management Inventory.
Historical Clinical Risk Scheme.
Summary.
Conclusions and Recommendations.
Assessing Women's Needs.
Introduction.
Need Principle.
Employment /Education.
Family.
Associates.
Attitudes.
Substance Abuse.
Community Functioning.
Personal/ Emotional.
Self-Esteem.
Personal Victimization.
Self-harm/ Parasuicide.
Summary and Conclusions.

6 Responsivity, Treatment and Women Offenders.
Introduction.
Defining the Responsivity Principle.
General

Kelley Blanchette completed her doctorate in forensic psychology at Carleton University, Ottawa, 10 2005. Her dissertation was focused on the development and field validation of a gender-informed security classification scale for women offenders. The scale has subsequently been implemented into national practice within the Canadian federal correctional system.
Dr. Blanchette has been working with the Research Branch, Correctional Service of Canada, since 1993. She is currently the Director of Women Offender Research, and she has published extensively in this area.
 
Shelley Brown completed her doctorate in forensic psychology at Queen's University, Kingston in 2002. Her dissertation focused on understanding the criminal recidivism process with a specific interest in exploring how changes in dynamic risk factors influence criminal recidivism.
Dr. Brown has over ten years' experience working with the Research branch, Correctional Service of Canada. During this time her research with women focused primarily on developing gender-informed assessment strategies. Currently, she is the Research Advisor to the National Parole Board of Canada. She is also an adjunct professor with Carleton University and teaches a criminology research methods course.