Assessing Short-Term Outcomes of an Intervention for Women Convicted of Violent Crimes

Women convicted of violent offenses represent a small but important subpopulation of women involved in the criminal justice system. Correctional administrators working with these women often rely on treatment and rehabilitation programs developed for violent male offenders. Although women’s trajectories into violent behavior—as well as their trajectory out—differ from their male counterparts, the field is marked by the absence of interventions designed specifically for women with violent offenses. As attention grows in the research literature and in community settings about “women who use force” it is important to develop interventions that effectively modify aggressive behavior as well as the underlying precursors of such aggression. This paper describes a pilot study as one step in a developmental approach to intervention research. Beyond Violence, a gender specific and trauma-informed intervention, was piloted with 35 women incarcerated in a state prison with a conviction for a felony-level assault. Short-term outcomes assessed through changes in pre- and posttest measures show reductions in mental health symptoms associated with depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and serious mental illness. The encouraging results of this pilot study have led to the next step in the intervention research process of testing the program in a randomized controlled trial that is currently underway.