ABSTRACT
Feminist studies into female criminality have repeatedly demonstrated the important role of sexual and physical victimisation in the female trajectory into crime (Chesney-Lind, 2006); a relationship that has been found to cut across all ages of female offending (Hansen, 2006). The identification of the role of gender in female offenders’ lives has led to a growing global recognition of the existence of gendered pathways into crime. In turn, these particular pathways have been shown to have implications for female desistance (Leverentz, 2014). As is recognised in the broader feminist criminological literature (Chesney-Lind and Pasko, 2004; Heidensohn 1996; Lloyd, 1995; Naffine, 1996; Holsinger, 2000), it is only by situating the female path in the totality of lived experience, linking biography and societal processes, that we can start to form a more complete picture of her journey. Importantly, this is not about identifying excuses, but rather, it is about acknowledging that the dynamics of early life are likely to affect later decision-making abilities (Lempert, 2016). As noted by McNeill (2016), it is only by understanding what individuals bring to the journey, and an exploration of how fit they are to make it – along with in what context it is situated – that we can start to understand the desistance process in a more rounded manner.
