Young Women and Violence

Members of SCCJR are involved in ongoing scholarship on young women and violence. Funded projects have included:

‘A View from the Girls: Exploring Violence and Violent Behaviour’ (Michele Burman, Kay Tisdall, Jane Brown & Susan Batchelor, ESRC Violence Research Programme)

‘Pathways Through Violence: Young Women Incarcerated for Violent Offences’ (Susan Batchelor, ESRC Postgraduate Studentship)

Project DocumentsBatchelor, S. (2005) ‘Prove me the bam!’ Victimisation and agency in the lives of young women who commit violent offences. Probation Journal 52(4): 358-375.
This article reviews the evidence regarding young women’s involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provides an overview of the characteristics, needs and deeds of young women sentenced to imprisonment for violent offending. Through the use of direct quotations, the article suggests that young women’s anger and aggression is often related to their experiences of family violence and abuse, andthe acquisition of a negative worldview in which other people are considered as being ‘out to get you’ or ready to ‘put one over on you’. The young women survived in these circumstances, not by adopting discourses that cast them as exploited victims, but by drawing on (sub)cultural norms and values which promote pre-emptive violence and the defence of respect. The implications of these findings for those who work with such young women are also discussed.Batchelor, S., Burman, M. and Brown, J. (2001) Discussing violence: let’s hear it for the girls. Probation Journal 48(2): 125-134
Susan Batchelor, Michele Burman and Jane Brown present some key findings from an exploratory Scottish study of teenage girls’ views and experiences of violence. They discuss girls’ perceptions of violence and the nature and extent of the many forms of violence in their lives, particularly the pervasiveness of verbal conflicts. They also outline the characteristics of those girls who describe themselves as violent, concluding with a brief discussion of practice and policy implications.