“I’ve certainly grown from all of this” : factors related to criminal behaviour and desistance from crime among Canadian, justice-involved women

Abstract

The rate of incarceration of Canadian women increased by 16.3% between 2009-2010 and 2018- 2019 (Public Safety Canada, 2020). Trauma, mental illness and substance use have been noted to be integral in understanding women’s pathways to criminal behaviour (Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009), however, Canadian research is needed. In this mixed-methods study, justice involved women affiliated with Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia (<i>n</i>=8) were interviewed and completed a test battery. Women indicated that negative influences from others, life circumstances, substance abuse, inadequate services and ‘the system failed me’ were related to their criminal behaviour. Despite these adversities, many women reported an improvement to their well-being and that positive influences, self-motivated change, and adequate services and supports were related to their desistance from crime. Findings from this study may be used by organizations to make important decisions regarding advocacy and programming for supporting the desistance of justice-involved women.