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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The goal of this study by Sommers and Baskin was to examine the elements involved in female perpetration of robbery and aggravated assault. A situational/dynamic approach to crime was the perspective used.
METHODOLOGY:
A non-experimental research design was employed for this study. Interviews were conducted with 65 women who were arrested and/or incarcerated for a violent street crime. This sample was obtained from two sources: the New York City arraignment calendars for January-June 1990 and the New York State Department of Correctional Service's databases. For the first source, official data were collected on 176 women; 124 letters were sent to invite these women to be included in the study. Twenty three women from this sample completed interviews. For the incarcerated sample, female commitments for a felony offense during 1990 were eligible. Ninety three incarcerated women fit study criteria; 42 women agreed to be interviewed. Women who were arrested or incarcerated for domestic violence were excluded from the study. Depth interviews were conducted to collect the life histories of these 65 women. These interviews focused on basic demographics, perceptions of family and neighborhood characteristics, school and employment experiences, official and self-reported involvement in crime, domestic violence histories, alcohol and drug use as well as substance abuse treatment, participation in drug selling, and chronologies of peer relationships; the accounts of violent offending centered on the nature of the event, the statuses and behaviors of the participants, weapons, drugs, and the physical consequences to all. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative techniques.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Sixty eight percent (44) of the women interviewed reported involvement in 96 robberies, and 57% (37) reported involvement in 69 assaults. The range in the frequency of assaults was from 1 to 16 with median of 3. Fourteen women said they committed only one robbery, and 11 women reported being involved in more than 10 robberies. When the sample was divided into robbery only, assault only, and robbery and assault, there were no significant demographic differences found. Women in the assault only sample were significantly less likely (p<.01) to have been arrested for violent felony crimes than were female robbery offenders. Women who committed robbery were more likely to have also committed burglary, homicide, and drug sales than their counterparts in the assault-only sample. An insignificantly higher proportion of women involved in robbery were addicted to drugs.
The authors examined the situational characteristics of the robberies and assaults reported by the women in the study. For robbery, the authors found that the women had committed robbery for instrumental purposes: 89% for obtaining money of which 81% said it was for getting drugs. Eleven percent of the robbery events were motivated by a desire for excitement, vengeance, or loyalty to friends. Early participation in robbery was based on noneconomic motivations in 2/3 of the cases, though participation became instrumental in later cases. The women in the study were not crime specialists with 66% of the women involved in robbery also having a criminal career that included involvement in other offenses such as nonviolent theft and vice. Addiction to drugs was found to be an amplifier rather than a cause of a criminal lifestyle. The social context from which these women came was said to include violence, and the women in the study reported that they continually maintained a posture of readiness to use violence. A casual approach was taken to their robberies; 51% of the robbery events involved no planning at all. Sixty six percent of the robberies that involved planning involved only minor planning. Seventy two percent of the robbery victims were strangers and were as likely to be males as females. Intuition was used to choose the victim (they "looked right"). Another means of choosing a victim was by knowledge acquired through watching or neighborhood gossip. In 9% of the robberies there was a personal relationship between the victim and the offender with 19% of the robberies involving a drug partnership. For 45% of the robbery events, the women said they chose their victims because of convenience; in 28% they said it was because the victims appeared to have money, and for 18% it was because the risk appeared to be low. Sixty percent of the robberies took place in public areas, 32% were in quasi-public areas (such as apartment building lobbies or hallways), and 8% were in a commercial location. Weapons were used as a way of quickly defining the situation for the victim as a robbery and to manage or minimize victim resistance. Seventy percent of the robberies involved some kind of weapon: 27% of the robberies involved guns, 38% involved knives or other sharp cutting instruments, and 5% involved blunt instruments. Sixty three percent of the robberies were committed with accomplices. The women reported that they acted out of self-determination and not in concert with or for boyfriends. When they did act with men, they were most often equal partners. This finding stood in sharp contrast with the literature on female offending.
A three-stage model for assaults was described by the authors. First, a verbal conflict occurred in which identities were assailed and attempts to influence an antagonist failed. Second, threats and evasive action were used. Third, a physical attack was used in which retaliation was the key motivation. Victims were often aggressive, though more likely to be verbally aggressive and less physically aggressive than the assailant. The assault situation itself was found to involve a series of actions and retaliatory actions perpetrated by both victim and assailant which gave the assaults an impulsive and unorganized character. Only 20% of the assaults were planned. Fourteen percent of the incidents were related to drug dealing. In these cases, the system of drug use and distribution often created a structure of situations conducive to retaliatory violence. Support was found for both economic behavior that reflected aspects of social control and for a generalized pattern of crime and violence. In these situations as well, there was a good degree of victim precipitation involved in the assault incident.
Overall, the differences found between assault and robbery were attributed to differences of degree of rationality used in the crime situation. The importance of the decision making context was emphasized.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors called for an integration of routine activities and lifestyle perspectives with an understanding of the community context in which female violent criminal behavior occurs. Specifically, community levels of family dysfunction, economic and social dislocation, as well as the presence of illegitimate opportunity structures were mentioned as specific targets for attention. Field studies with nonincarcerated offenders were seen as important to help support these findings.
EVALUATION:
Few studies have taken a situational dynamics perspective and applied it to women's offending. This study offers a pioneering effort in this regard and a point from which further research should draw. The authors recognize the limitations of the study; the use of an incarcerated sample could produce bias. Additionally, there was a strong possibility for self-selection bias in that less than 50% of those contacted agreed to be interviewed. There may be a regional distortion operating as well. Both New York City and State are likely different from other urban areas and regions of the country. As this study was an exploratory work, its contributions to future research in women's violent offending outweigh the methodological problems it faced.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - New York
KW - 1990s
KW - Adult Female
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Robbery Offender
KW - Robbery Causes
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Female Offender
KW - Female Violence
KW - Physical Assault Causes
KW - Physical Assault Offender
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Adult Crime
KW - Female Crime
KW - Situational Factors
Language: en |