Bad People or Harmful Pasts? A Look into How Abuse Affects Deviance

Abstract

Using data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, an analytical sample of 3,277 prisoners were used to examine the gendered relationship between suffering abuse and engaging in deviant acts. The study found differences between genders of the types of crimes committed and between those who have and have not been abused. Those who have been abused have greater odds of showing deviant behaviors than those who have not, and males have higher odds of both committing violent offenses and using hard drugs than females. When examining the findings, there is a much larger gap between the genders on violent offenses than on drug use.

Biography: Lauren Johnson is a senior majoring in Criminology with a focus in Statistics, going on to the Masters Program in Criminology at the University of Oklahoma with a focus on Quantitative Methods as well as Family, Gender, and Crime.

University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award