The effects of gender and previous prison sentence on the risk of committing crime among a substance-abusing population

Is the gender gap theory in criminology valid for substance abusers who have been imprisoned? We analyzed the risk of committing a crime between 2006 and 2010 using a Cox regression analysis. The data from Finland consisted of 2,034 women and 4,537 men substance abusers divided into groups based on...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Kaskela, Teemus (Author) ; Pitkänen, Tuuli (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In: Crime & delinquency
Year: 2018, Volume: 64, Issue: 6, Pages: 703-722
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Gender
Prison sentence
Substance abuse
Cox regression
Description
Summary:Is the gender gap theory in criminology valid for substance abusers who have been imprisoned? We analyzed the risk of committing a crime between 2006 and 2010 using a Cox regression analysis. The data from Finland consisted of 2,034 women and 4,537 men substance abusers divided into groups based on prior imprisonment. Overall, men had a greater risk of committing any crime than women did. However, the gender gap hypothesis was not valid in the specific case of property crimes in a substance-abusing population with prior incarcerations. Women with prior convictions differ profoundly from other substance-abusing women. This raises a question if imprisonment had a wider marginalizing effect on women than on men.
ISSN:1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/0011128716682229