Available data indicate that female violent crime has not only increased quantitatively but, also, that it has changed qualitatively. Similar patterns have been observed relative to womens involvement in drug use and distribution. Recent changes in illicit drug use and markets, and simultaneous changes in communities with high base rates of both abuse and distribution, suggest the possibility of significant shifts in the drug- violent crime connection for women. The proposed research builds upon and extends the current FEMDREIM study.
Specific aims i nclude: (l) collecting detailed accounts of robberies and assaults from women arrested and/or incarcerated for these crimes; (2) exploring the nature and extent of the relationship between drug use/distribution and violent crime; (3) determining if the use of specific substances is related to specific kinds of female perpetrated violence; (4) establishing the extent to which female violent offenders are the victims of drug-related violence; (5) determining if certain life history characteristics are associated with specific types of violent crimes; (6) gaining insight into the role the social milieu plays in the development of female drug use/distribution and criminal careers; (7) comparing the drugs-violence relationship as manifested in a sample of women who committed robbery and/or assault with the relationship manifested in a sample of women who committed homicide (FEMDREIM). We propose to interview a total of 510 women within four subsamples of female violent offenders: (l) women incarcerated in New York State correctional facilities for robbery or assault at the time the grant award is received); (2) women convicted of robbery or assault who will be admitted to NYS correctional facilities during the first 12 months of the project; (3) women who were arrested for robbery or assault in New York City during the 6 months prior to the grant award; and (4) women arrested for robbery or assault outside of NYC during the 6 months prior to the grant award. The interview schedule will be a modified yet comparable version of the FEMDREIM schedule. It will be designed to generate detailed quantitative and qualitative data focusing on life histories and the robbery and assault events for which subjects were arrested and/or incarcerated. Questions will tap contextual, situational, and individual factors that influence the sociocultural processes associated with drug use/distribution-violence relationships.
| Spunt, B; Brownstein, H H; Crimmins, S M et al. (1998) Alcohol-related homicides committed by women. J Psychoactive Drugs 30:33-43 |
| Spunt, B; Brownstein, H H; Crimmins, S M et al. (1996) Drugs and homicide by women. Subst Use Misuse 31:825-45 |
| Spunt, B; Goldstein, P; Brownstein, H et al. (1994) The role of marijuana in homicide. Int J Addict 29:195-213 |
