Feminist pathways perspective

The feminist pathways perspective is a feminist perspective of criminology which suggests victimization throughout the life course is a key risk factor for women's entry into offending.

Victimization has profound psychological consequences and impacts the social development of an individual. There is considerable evidence that victimization is a precursor to involvement in crime. While victimization is a risk factor for both men and women's criminal behavior, it is a stronger predictor for women. Although both men and women may experience victimization in their lifetime, women experience and respond to victimization differently than men due to gender inequalities. Incarcerated women experience higher rates of victimization than both incarcerated men and the general female population.

Women's imprisonment is frequently attributed to drug addiction, prostitution, and retaliation to an abuser. While these attributions are characterized as crimes, research has also begun to conceptualize them as survival strategies to cope with victimization. A young girl, for example, may run away from an abusive home and turn to prostitution as a way to make a living. Literature on victimization has often created a division between victims and offenders. However, these two groups are not as separate as was once understood.

It was not until the 1970s that research analyzed victimization, traumas, and past abuse as factors that can influence women to commit crimes. In the early 20th century, the personal histories of women in crime were not a focus of research. Early literature suggested women were antisocial due to their biology, environment, and socialization. Lombroso, for instance, distinguished female offenders from non-offenders based on their physical anatomies. These early explanatory factors were understood individualistically outside of a social-historical context.

There is a well-documented association between criminal behavior and victimization among female offenders. That said, the age and gendered patterns of victimization risk, context, and consequences are highly visible and exacerbated among incarcerated women. There is evidence to support that women involved with crime often have extensive histories of physical and sexual abuse. Female offenders are more likely to have been abused than male offenders and more likely to have been victimized than female non-offenders. A survey of national correctional populations found that over half of female inmates have been physically or sexually abused, compared to fewer than one in five male inmates.

Literature suggests female offenders' victimization often begins at a young age and persists through her lifetime. Nearly two thirds of incarcerated women have experienced at least one event of abuse by age eleven. Ninety-two percent of girls under 18 in the California juvenile justice system report having faced emotional, sexual, or physical abuse. Eighty percent of women in prison in the United States have experienced an event of physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. This lifetime of violence is "pervasive and severe." The literature suggests that the prevalence of victimization among incarcerated women and its cumulative impact indicates that victimization is a central factor for women's entry into crime.

The feminist pathways perspective is not meant to suggest that victimization is unique to women. Instead, this perspective addresses how gender impacts the experience of victimization, and how this difference in experience paves the path to crime for women. An individual's risk of victimization is shaped by environmental context, social networks, and demographics. Life course researchers maintain that people are exposed to violence to various degrees based on their location, socioeconomic circumstance, and lifestyle choices. According to the lifestyle exposure perspective, sociodemographic traits give rise to lifestyle differences which may put an individual at an increased risk of victimization. For instance, someone from a low-income neighborhood who spends time in public places at night and among strangers may be more likely to encounter offenders, and therefore at a greater risk of victimization.

Age is strongly associated with victimization risk, especially for property and violent crimes. Victimization tends to be concentrated early in life. Young people are significantly more likely to experience violent victimization than older adults. Victimization risk peaks between ages 16 and 19. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the risk of victimization increases by 8 percent from ages 12 to 15 and 16 to 19. The opportunity perspective attributes this tendency to the way social activities are structured by age. Young adults are more likely to be in situations where they can be exposed to offenders, or engage in activities where they can be easily targeted.