From Victims to Survivors to Offenders:

Abstract

This study explores the patterns by which women enter into criminal activities by drawing upon in-depth life history interviews with a sample of 20 incarcerated women. The author constructs a conceptual framework for understanding the progression from victim to survivor to offender in the subjects' life histories. This framework shows that the best available options for escape from physical and sexual violence are often survival strategies which are criminal: i.e., running away from home, use of drugs, and the illegal street work required to survive as a runaway. The women's own narratives are used to illustrate their views of themselves as survivors, not as victims, and their commitments to important relationships in their lives which explain their entry into and commitments to criminal activities. Women's responses to victimization and women's relational identities are seen as factors which both motivate and restrain women's criminal activities. The concept of immersion in street crime is offered as a more accurate term than criminal career in describing women's criminal histories.