Author Identifier (ORCID)

Natalie Gately: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8687-9540

Abstract

Women are a minority of the prison population, however their number is increasing at a faster rate than is the case for men. Interviews with 80 incarcerated women in Western Australian prisons revealed similar pathways commencing with adverse childhood experiences and subsequent areas of deprivation, which reverberated throughout their lives, leading to criminal behavior and imprisonment. Describing these cycles of harm, we argue that, in addressing the increase of women in prison, there is a need to move away from the individual “offender-focused” approach and look at the broader systemic context that lets women down and contributes to their criminalization.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

School

School of Arts and Humanities

RAS ID

83554

Funders

Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics and Research

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Comments

Tubex, H., & Gately, N. (2025). Women’s pathways into prison: Cycles of harm. Women & Criminal Justice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2025.2532433

Share

 
COinS