Domestic abuse as a driver to women's offending

Abstract

The presence of victimisation within the backgrounds of women who have come into contact with the criminal justice system has been well documented. Yet, despite recognition that a link between a woman’s victimisation and her offending exists, the relationship between the two is still not well understood. This chapter will summarise the range of academic and policy-based literature which has begun to explore how a woman’s experience of domestic abuse can influence her pathway into crime, criminalisation or ability to carry out her sentence in the community. By focusing on the ways in which women resist, cope with or respond to their experiences of domestic abuse, this chapter will demonstrate how a woman’s pathway into crime can be influenced, either directly or indirectly, immediately or in a longer term context, by her victimisation. Much of the existing literature has focused upon crime committed by women with, for or against their abusive partners. The empirical data included in this chapter will, however, demonstrate how a woman’s offence can occur without her abuser being present, after the abusive relationship has ended or even years after the abuse has ceased, yet her actions can still be attributed to her experience of domestic abuse.