Previous Offending in Young Female Prisoners is Associated with Drug Problems, Drug Offenses and Low Social-Emotional Restraint

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring possible systematic differences between first-time and previously convicted young female prisoners. A study sample consisting of 99 consecutively incarcerated females below the age of 30 was collected from three Norwegian prisons. Only females with sentences shorter than 2 years were included. The attrition rate was low at 6%. Information on social circumstances and drug/alcohol problems was collected in semi-structured interviews. All informants completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) and the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI). Detailed criminal records were collected from the National Crime Registry. Unadjusted analyses demonstrated that previously convicted offenders reported more drug/alcohol problems (p < .001), their index offense was more often a drug offense (p < .001), they had less often been in permanent employment (p = .001), they had completed fewer years of education (p = .006), they had younger age at first court conviction (p = .007), and they obtained lower scores on the WAI Restraint dimension (p < .001). In the adjusted analyses (hierarchical logistic regression, ‘enter’ procedure) the following variables were associated with repeat offending: self-reported drug/alcohol problems (OR = 4.5), drug offenses (OR = 7.5), and a low WAI Restraint dimension score (OR = 5.0). The importance of drug/alcohol problems in repeat offending in women is well known and was confirmed by the present study. In addition, the WAI Restraint dimension score was associated with repeat offending. This finding could be of value in the development of more individualized prevention strategies intended to reduce re-offending in female offenders.