Gaining insight, changing attitudes and managing ‘risk’: Parole release decisions for women convicted of violent crimes

Abstract

The discretion that is inherent in legal decision making creates ambiguity about the reasons for parole boards’ decisions. Although research has documented some of the factors shaping parole decisions for male prisoners, the release process for female prisoners remains largely unexplored. This study asks: What characteristics of violent female offenders and their offences do parole boards emphasize in their decision to release? We employ a multi-method approach to (1) determine the association between parole release and individual, offence and institutional characteristics, (2) clarify the issues that parole boards emphasize when determining whether a prisoner is ‘ready’ to return to the community and 3) analyse how parole board members reconcile past and unalterable factors in a woman’s criminal background with concerns about her future dangerousness by assessing her degree of insight into her crime/s, criminogenic factors and triggers and whether she has learned alternative strategies for managing her potential risk. Data from federally sentenced women in Canada suggest that a parole board’s assessment of a violent offender’s ability to ‘change’ positively emerges as a central concern in whether she will be granted parole. Despite their discretionary power, parole boards thus appear to reinforce a dominant correctional logic that requires women to take responsibility for their choices and target dynamic risk factors in order to reduce the likelihood of recidivism.