Abstract

LOINAZ, Ismael. Violent female offenders. Psychosocial Intervention [online]. 2014, vol.23, n.3, pp.187-198. ISSN 2173-4712.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psi.2014.05.001.

Female violent offending is an understudied topic in Spanish-speaking countries. This review explores the major research findings accumulated internationally over the last decade (2003-2013) about women's violence and crimes. The focus of the review is the intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence committed by females, the psychopathy and violence risk assessment, and the treatment and recidivism of these female offenders. Although the female offender topic is too wide to review all crime typologies (child physical abuse is not included, for example) the review indicates that: there are legal and police biases in the treatment of women offenders; women can commit the same IPV and share the motivations of male offenders; sexual violence has a low prevalence, but there are many limitations in this research topic; predicting the risk of non-specific violence is feasible with the available tools; psychopathy is less prevalent among adult female offenders, although there are fewer differences with male offenders among adolescent samples; research about treatments is very limited and there are not effectiveness evidences; and last, recidivism rates for violent crimes are very low (in cases where information is available). Main implications and research lines are discussed.

Keywords : Female crime; Violence risk; Psychopathy; Treatment; Recidivism.

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