A gender-specific model of trauma and victimization in incarcerated women

ABSTRACT

Trauma, victimization and risk factors associated with women’s pathways to crime have been widely discussed. The focus of this manuscript is on trauma and victimization’s role in the development of negative trauma related cognitions in the lives of incarcerated women. To improve post release adjustment it is imperative to understand how trauma experienced prior to incarceration [PIT-pre-incarceration trauma] and trauma associated with the prison environment [IBT-incarceration-based trauma] impedes incarcerated women’s ability to engage in future oriented behavior, such as gaining sustainable employment. A conceptual framework to examine, explain and theorize the effects of childhood and adulthood trauma experiences on post release adjustment of incarcerated women has been presented. This manuscript has been organized in two broad sections which aim to to review theoretical perspectives on the influence of PIT, specifically multiple traumatic events, on the development of negative trauma-related cognitions and the discontinuity of self; and (2) to propose a gender-specific conceptual model as a lens through which to critically examine the role of PIT in the lives of incarcerated women. The manuscript concludes with a discussion of how PIT, and IBT affects women’s Post-Release Adjustment. Implications for trauma-informed intervention with incarcerated women and gender-specific programming in criminal justice and community settings to provide a continuum of care are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Incarcerated women
• trauma
• trauma-related cognitions
• post-release adjustment
• PTSD