Living at Risk: The Intersection of Individual, Structural, and Contextual Risk Correlates among Women Incarcerated for Violent Crime

This presentation explores women’s incarceration for violent crime as rooted in the social contexts, institutional policies, and socioeconomic structures that frame a woman’s world. Results of a secondary analysis of national survey data gathered from 2,930 female state prisoners are offered and interpreted within the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, general strain theory, and the pathways perspective identified through feminist criminology. Characteristics and contextual features of women’s violent crime, as well as specific individual and structural risk correlates are discussed. Results indicate that high levels of adverse childhood experiences and gender disadvantage significantly contributed to the risk of incarceration for a violent offense. Possible pathways specific to women’s violent offending are delineated and provide an opportunity to de-individualize this phenomenon. The relevance of women’s exposure to multiple oppressions including racial, class, and gender disadvantage is addressed. Implications of study results for advocacy, violence prevention, intervention, and re-entry services are illustrated