ee a,

N egative stereotypes

are misleading, say

researchers into

women offenders

What’s your impression of the
female offender in Canada? Do
images of depraved, violent, anti-
social beings spring up when the
term “women in prison” is used?

“In terms of personality, the
female offender can’t be typed,”
says Dr. Karlene Faith, a Simon
Fraser University criminologist
who teaches a course on female
offenders. ““‘Demographically,
however, she is disadvantaged in
many ways.”

In challenging common stereot-
ypes about female offenders, Faith
encourages a clearer understand-
ing of the social circumstances
which bring a small percentage of
women into conflict with Cana-
dian criminal law.

Demographic studies show that
the Canadian female offender is
typically under 30 years old, poor,
unemployed, and lives in an urban
environment.

“Over 50 per cent are single
parents, approximately 75 per cent
have a history of being sexually
abused, and native women are
highly over-represented,” Faith
says. “In some provinces, natives
make up 100 per cent of the
women in the provincial jails, and
in all provinces they are at least 10
times over-represented.”’

Faith attributes the high native
offender rate to social disempow-
erment, lack of community
resources on reserves, and a lack
of economic and employment
opportunities for native women in
the cities, compounded by the
“tTacism endemic throughout
North America.”

Women commit very few
violent crimes, and most crimes
which they are charged with can
be termed “economic,” such as
shoplifting, fraud, or prostitution-
related, or are drug-related,
according to Faith. “Even the drug
crimes are economically related if
you go to the root of the matter.”

Homicide charges against
females are almost always the
result of a woman killing an abu-
sive male partner,

~The exceptions to this are the
cases which make the headlines,”
Faith says. ““They’re so uncommon
that when they happen they are
news.”

Although exotic or political
crimes by women do make the
news, ordinary female offenders
are rarely in the public view, and
this makes it easier for negative
stereotypes to continue to flourish.

“I find it fascinating and dis-
tressing to see how the media
portray women in prison,”’ says
Faith. “They’re presented as horri-
ble, monstrous creatures who
behave in ‘masculine,’ violent
ways. There are some very homo-
phobic messages presented, and
the media plays on foolish myths
about lesbianism.”

Faith sees these negative and
false stereotypes as barriers to
improved conditions for the
women who constitute four per

cent of the Canadian prison popu-
lation.

“Getting a clear picture of the
female offender is the first step
towards any solutions,” says Faith.
“We need to challenge the nega-
tive stereotypes and recognize that
for women, the criminal justice
system is the extreme end of a
continuum of victimization, where
the factors of class, race and gen-
der intersect.”’

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Review 661151

TheReview

Wednesday, January 31, 1990

= eA eS

Bl2

month. The ariest January on record was in
1985, when there was a mere 19 mm of
precipitation. :

RAIN DROPLETS CLING to a branch, during
a lull between storms. Compared to Jan-
uary 1989, about 80 mm more rain fell this

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