Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Patriarchy as a contextual and gendered pathway to crime: a qualitative study of Iranian women offenders

  • Published:
Quality & Quantity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Scholars have already presented different pathways to crime for males and females. We need more investigation on these pathways especially for women. Therefore, this study aims at studying Iranian female offenders via a qualitative method. The Grounded Theory methodology was used to analyze the life history of the female offenders. Participants include 23 incarcerated women. Four pathways emerged during categorizing the data: family as the facilitator of the crime; addiction; escape; exclusion and lack of support. Finally, it was concluded that in spite of the similarity between these four neutral pathways, there is a contextual and gendered pathway, i.e. patriarchy. Although the findings of the present study are similar to Street Women scenario (Daly in Rev Law Women’s Stud 2:11–52, 1992; Miller in Street women. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1986), there can be seen a latent mechanism at the background of this scenario, i.e. the shade of a patriarch system with its special power relations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Sigheh is a short-term marriage in Islam that a couple agrees to marry for a distinct time. This is a real marriage with a contract defining the conditions and amount of money paid to the wife for a specific duration. It can be comparable to taking a common-law wife.

  2. Dowry is a parental property that paid to the bride or wedded couple. This ancient custom is prevalent in some part of Asia and Africa (Maitra 2008: 440).

References

  • Alarid, L.F., Cromwell, P.: Women‘s pathways to crime: linking victimization and criminalization. In: Own, Her (ed.) Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization. Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, S.W.: Street youth, gender, financial strain, and crime: exploring Broidy and Agnew’s extension to general strain theory. Deviant Behav. 28, 273–302 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, K.M., Wright, J.P.: A child effects explanation for the association between family risk and involvement in an antisocial lifestyle. J. Adolesc. Res. 22(6), 640–664 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belknap, J., Holsinger, K.: The gendered nature of risk factors for delinquency. Feminist Criminol. 1, 48–71 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, T., Breitenbach, M., Dieterich, W.: Explanatory taxonomy of adolescent delinquents: Identifying several social-psychological profiles. J. Quant. Criminol. 24, 179–203 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, T., Breitenbach, M., Dieterich, W., Salisbury, E.J., Voorhis, P.V.: Women’s pathways to serious and habitual crime: a person-centered analysis incorporating gender responsive factors. Crim. Justice Behav. 39(11), 1481–1508 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broidy, L., Agnew, R.: Gender and crime: A general strain theory perspective. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 34, 275–306 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burguess-Proctor, A.: Intersections of race, class, gender and crime: future directions for feminist criminology. Feminist Criminol. 1(1), 27–47 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, G.B.: Differences between male and female juvenile offenders as measured by the BASC. J. Offender Rehabil. 33, 87–96 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesney-Lind, M.: Patriarchy, crime, and justice: feminist criminology in an era of backlash. Feminist Criminol. 1(1), 6–26 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Covington, S.S.: A woman’s journey home: challenges for female offenders and their children. In: “From Prison to Home” conference. US department of Health and Human Services and the Urban Institute, Washington (2002)

  • Covington, S.S.: Women in prison: approaches in the treatment of our most invisible population. Women Therapy 21(1), 141–155 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daigle, L.E., Cullen, F.T., Wright, J.P.: Gender differences in the predictors of juvenile delinquency: Assessing the generality-specificity debate. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 5(5), 254–286 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalley, L.P.: Policy implications relating to inmate mothers and their children: Will the past be prologue? Prison J. 82(2), 234–268 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly, K.: Women’s pathways to felony court: feminist theories of lawbreaking and problems of representation. Rev. Law Women’s Stud. 2, 11–52 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, K., Chesney-Lind, M.: Feminism and criminology. Justice Q. 5, 497–538 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeHart, D.D.: Pathways to prison: impact of victimization in the lives of incarcerated women. Violence Against Women 14, 1362–1381 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erez, E., Berko, A.: Pathways of Arab/Palestinian women in Israel to crime and imprisonment: an intersectional approach. Feminist Criminol. 5(2), 156–195 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro, K., Moe, A.: Mothering, crime, and incarceration. J. Contemp. Ethnogr. 32(1), 9–40 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine, N., Carbonneau, R., Vitaro, F., Barker, E.D., Tremblay, R.E.: A critical review of studies on the developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior in females. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 50, 363–385 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franklin, C.: Women offenders, disparate treatment, and criminal justice: a theoretical, historical, and contemporary overview. Crim. Justice Stud. 21, 341–360 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B., Strauss, A.: Discovery of Grounded Theory. Transaction Publishers, Rutgers (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, B.L., Miranda, J., Daroowalla, A., Siddique, J.: Trauma exposure, mental health functioning and program needs of women in jail. Crime Delinq. 51, 133–151 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, S., Haney, C., Hurtado, A.: Cycles of pain: risk factors in the lives of incarcerated mothers and their children. Prison J. 80(1), 3–23 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harden, J., Hill, M.: Breaking the Rules: Women in Prison and Feminist Therapy. Harrington Park Press, New York (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hay, C.: Family strain, gender, and delinquency. Sociol. Perspect. 46, 107–135 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollin, C.R., Palmer, E.J.: Criminogenic need and women offenders: a critique of the literature. Legal Criminol. Psychol. 11, 179–195 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holsinger, K., Holsinger, A.M.: Differential pathways to violence and self-injurious behavior: African American and White girls in the juvenile justice system. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 42, 211–242 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javdani, S., Sadeh, N., Verona, E.: Expanding our lens: female pathways to antisocial behavior in adolescence and adulthood. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 31, 1324–1348 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, H.: Drug use by incarcerated women offenders. Drug Alcohol Rev. 25, 433–437 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, J.M.: Gendered responses to serious strain: the argument for a general strain theory of deviance. Justice Q. 26, 410–444 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kratzer, L., Hodgkins, S.: A typology of offenders: A test of Moffitt’s typology among males and females from childhood to age 30. Crim. Behav. Mental Health 9, 57–73 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maitra, S.: Dowry and bride price. In: Darity, W. A. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. McMillan, London (2008)

  • Makarios, M.D.: Race, abuse, and female criminal violence. Feminist Criminol. 2, 100–116 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazerolle, P.: Gender, general strain, and delinquency: an empirical examination. Justice Q. 15, 65–91 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDaniels-Wilson, C., Belknap, J.: The extensive sexual violation and sexual abuse histories of incarcerated women. Violence Against Women 14(10), 1090–1127 (2008)

  • Miller, E.: Street Women. Temple University Press, Philadelphia (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moallem, M.: Between Warrior Brother and Veiled Sister: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Politics of Patriarchy in Iran. University of California Press, Berkeley (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt, T.E.: The neuropsychology of conduct disorder. Dev. Sychopathol. 5, 135–152 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt, T.E., Caspi, A., Rutter, M., Silva, P.A.: Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2001)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Owen, B., Bloom, B.: Profiling the Needs of Young Female Offenders: Instrument Development and Pilot Study—Final Report. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M.Q.: Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, 2nd edn. Sage, Newbury Park (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  • Richie, B.: Challenges incarcerated women face as they return to their communities: Findings from life history reviews. Crime Delinq 47, 368–389 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richie, B.E.: Compelled to Crime: the Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women. Routledge, New York (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronel, N., Haimoff-Ayali, R.: Risk and resilience: the family experience of adolescents with an addicted parent. Int. J. Offender Therapy Comp. Criminol. 54(3), 448–472 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadeghi-Fassaei, S., Kathleen, K.: Iranian women’s pathways to imprisonment. Women’s Stud. Int. Forum 24(6), 701–710 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salisbury, E.J., Van Voorhis, P.: Gendered pathways: an empirical investigation of women probationers’ paths to incarceration. Crim. Justice Behav. 36, 541–566 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shayestehkhou, S., Moshtagh Bidokhti, N., Eftekhar, M., Mehrabi, F.: Family environment of homosexual and transsexuals in Iran. Sexologies 17, S55–S56 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shechory, M., Perry, G., Addad, M.: Pathways to women’s crime: differences among women convicted of drug, violence and fraud offenses. J. Soc. Psychol. 151(4), 399–416 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, S.S., Yahner, J.L., Dugan, L.: Understanding women’s pathways to jail: analyzing the lives of incarcerated women. Aust. N. Z. J. Criminol. 41(1), 84–108 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stefurak, T., Calhoun, G.B.: Subtypes of female juvenile offenders: a cluster analysis of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory. Int. J. Law Adolesc. 30, 95–111 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., Corbin, J.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory. Procedures and Techniques. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A.J.: Child maltreatment and offending behavior: gender-specific effects and pathways. Crim. Justice Behav. 38(5), 492–510 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Voorhis, P., Wright, E.M., Salisbury, E., Bauman, A.: Women’s risk factors and their contributions to existing risk/needs assessment: the current status of a gender-responsive supplement. Crim. Justice Behav. 37(3), 261–288 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, N.A., Piquero, A.R.: A preliminary test of Silverthorn and Frick’s delayed-onset pathway in girls using an urban, African-American US-based sample. Crim. Behav. Ment. Health 14, 291–309 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, K., Rushforth, C.: The Female Criminal: An Overview of Women’s Drug Use and Offending Behaviour. Australian Institute of Criminology, Canbera (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, S.K.: Reciprocal effects of family disruption and crime: a panel study of canadian municipalities. West. Criminol. Rev. 12(1), 43–63 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, T.M., Slotboom, A.-M., Bijleveld, C.C.: Risk factors for delinquency in adolescent and young adult females: a European review. Eur. J. Criminol. 7(4), 266–284 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, K.C., Choo, A., Lim, L.: Interventions with young female offenders and teenage girls at risk: alternative educational services in a Singapore girls’ home. Support Learn. 24(3), 137–143 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Sciences Department, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Aliasghar Maghsoudi & Dariush Boostani

  2. Department of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3X5, Canada

    Nahid Rahimipour Anaraki

Authors
  1. Aliasghar Maghsoudi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nahid Rahimipour Anaraki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dariush Boostani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nahid Rahimipour Anaraki.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maghsoudi, A., Anaraki, N.R. & Boostani, D. Patriarchy as a contextual and gendered pathway to crime: a qualitative study of Iranian women offenders. Qual Quant 52, 355–370 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0470-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0470-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation