Experienced racism, attachment and the risk of offending among Dutch Caribbean women

Abstract

Dutch Caribbean-born women form one of the largest female ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands and are overrepresented in Dutch crime statistics. Experienced racism has been shown to weaken bonds to society and has been linked to (female) offending among African Americans. In the Netherlands and across the Caribbean research on experienced racism and offending is scarce. The current study examines the relationship between self-reported offending, weakened attachments and experienced racism among 328 Dutch Caribbean-born women. Results show that more experienced racism is related to both weakened attachments as to higher rates of self-reported offending across the life course.

Keywords:

• Attachment
• Dutch Caribbean
• experienced racism
• risk factors of offending
• women

Declaration of interest statement

The authors confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

Notes

1 The term native Dutch refers to individuals who have two biological parents born in the Netherlands.

2 Participants had to be at least 18 years old and born in the Dutch Caribbean: Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire, St. Maarten, Saba, or St. Eustatius.

3 Specific formulations of items can be requested from the corresponding author.

4 An overview of all univariate relationships between combinations of two predictors for the total sample can be requested from the corresponding author.

5 A full overview of univariate relationships between all predictors can be requested from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Study) under Grant number 858.14.080. The Project Caribbean Women & Crime was also financially supported by The Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR).

Notes on contributors

Katharina J. Joosen

Katharina J. Joosen graduated in Clinical and Health Psychology from Utrecht University (2005). Her PhD, at the Center for Child and Family Studies of Leiden University, focused on early maternal behavioral and physiological indicators of harsh discipline among lower educated mothers (2012). As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the NSCR, Katharina studied female pathways into prison in the Netherlands from 2012 till 2015. For this project she interviewed 400 incarcerated women on their life histories prior incarceration. In 2014 she received a grant from the Caribbean Research Program together with Anne-Marie Slotboom (VU) and Catrien Bijleveld (NSCR). She coordinated this international project, which focused specifically on pathways to offending among Dutch Caribbean women. Over the years her research interests have broadened from clinical psychology, child development, attachment, parenting, and physiological underpinnings of behavior to forensic psychology, criminology, injustice, and the impact of racism. Currently she works as behavioral scientist at Child Protective Service in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Anne-Marie Slotboom

Anne-Marie Slotboom received her PhD in developmental psychology and held research positions at Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Criminal Law and Criminology Department of the VU University in Amsterdam. Her main publications have been focused on prison conditions in women’s prisons, women’s prison experiences, and girls in the juvenile justice system. Furthermore, she coordinated a study for the Dutch ministry of Justice on the need for gender specific interventions. Her current research interest is concentrated on pathways to female imprisonment (with a particular focus on Caribbean women), female desistance and juvenile delinquents treated in outpatient clinics.