Mothers on Community Supervision: Understanding Child-Centered Motivations and Behaviors in Relation to Neighborhood Crime

• In Event: Life-Course Outcomes of Criminal Justice-Involved Populations

Abstract

Interviews with female offenders have indicated they are highly motivated to parent and abstain from crime for their children. Although desistance scholars often identify the importance of motivations in the desistance process, many also note that environmental and circumstantial barriers to fulfilling motivations may promote problematic frustration and even antisocial behavior. The current examination is a follow-up on an existing study which found increased child-centered motivations and intentional behaviors discussed by mothers on community supervision (n=190) were related to fewer violations for those in low-crime neighborhoods, but increased violations for those in high-crime neighborhoods. To explain this variation in violations based on neighborhood crime, we conducted additional coding of child-centered content to identify risks that may underlie parenting motivations and behaviors. The results indicated that women in high-crime neighborhoods more often described child-centered motivations and behaviors as responses to the conditions in their neighborhood. Implications of this finding and several others will be discussed.

Authors

• Elizabeth Adams, Michigan State University

• Merry Morash, Michigan State University

• Jennifer E Cobbina, Michigan State University

• Sandi W. Smith, Michigan State University