Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services | www.FamiliesInSociety.org | DOI: 10.1606/1044-3894.3891 ©2009 Alliance for Children and Families 293 FAmILY FUNCTIoNING IN ECoNomIC dISPARITY Wives and Mothers At Risk: The Role of

As the numbers of women entering prison are increasing, more attention is being paid to the social circumstances of criminally involved women. Crime research has highlighted the familial roles of women more than men, focusing on the social and personal roles of women. This study examines a cross-sectional sample of 423 women in one state, assessing the associations of motherhood and intimate partnership with criminal activity. The study finds that criminal activity, particularly economic crime, is highly related to motherhood. Economic crime is predicted by having a higher number of young children, while both economic and violent crimes are predicted by a woman’s history of victimization; marriage does not reduce these risks. Existing studies indicate that inmates ’ families are an impor-tant source of deterrence to continued criminal offending and recidivism (Covington, 2003; Hairston, 1998, 1991; Richie, 2001). Findings from Slaught’s (1999) study also found that family relation-ships have a strong positive influence on recovery from addictions and alcohol and on drug relapse prevention among parolees. A meta-anal-ysis of the research on best practices with women offenders, completed by Dowden and Andrews (1999), identified family process variables, including concepts such as affection, to be strong predictors of postin