An exploration of family criminality among incarcerated female offenders

Abstract

Female offenders have been neglected in many Criminology theories which limits understandings of women’s offending behaviour. The basis of the research is to explore the criminal histories of the families of female offenders through the social control and bonding theories thus informing both Criminology theories and female crime. The aim of the study is to determine if female offenders consider family criminality as a contributing factor to their own criminal behaviour.

The study was positivist in nature which allowed the researcher to acquire and provide objective and accurate data. By means of the quantitative approach, the researcher was able to provide numeric evidence obtained from the 34 women from Kgosi Mampuru II Female and 32 women from Johannesburg Female Correctional Centres. The type of research was basic as the social control and bonding theory was chosen to descriptively and exploratively delve deeper into the women’s familial criminal history. A cross-sectional survey was made use of in an interview setting and the researcher ensured the institutions’ ethical standards by assuring the reliability and validity of the study.

The respondents were made up of 66 female offenders aged between 18 and 66 years. Majority of the women were African (80.3%) with a bulk (78.9%) of respondents having had some type of employment prior to incarceration. The women were mostly incarcerated for murder (45.5%), fraud (14.8%) and robbery (12.1%). The women were mostly motivated by financial reasons (28.5%) to commit their crimes. Only four of the women were coerced by family members to commit a crime. The family members with criminal histories were the male cousins (26.2%), brothers (21.9%) and uncles (19.5%) of respondents. The crimes committed the most by the family members were sexual assaults (13.3%), fraud related offences (11.1%) and by assault (11.1%). One in five respondents (19.7%) considered their families to have influenced their criminal trajectories.

The family members with whom respondents had the closest ties were female while most of the family members with criminal histories were men. The offences commonly committed between the female offenders and their family members were violent and economic offences. Almost half of the family members with a criminal history were sentenced to imprisonment suggesting that they committed seriousness offences. Instead of the family members being the great influences of the women’s criminality, it was rather other societal pressures that came with being an adult that turned the women to crime. Even with family members who had a history of criminality, most of the female offenders believed familial backgrounds did not have an influence on their criminality.