Incarcerated Women’s Strategic Responses to Intimate Terrorism

Incarcerated women disproportionately experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Using Johnson’s typology as a guiding framework, we investigated 114 women’s strategic responses to intimate terrorism (IT) prior to their incarceration. Research questions included: (1) What formal help-seeking strate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family violence 2024-01, Vol.39 (1), p.65-76
Main Authors: Leone, Janel M., Beeble, Marisa L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical Psychology
Coercion
Correctional institutions
Counseling
Counselors
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Cultural competence
Domestic violence
Emotional abuse
Female offenders
Help seeking behavior
Imprisonment
Injuries
Intimate partner violence
Law and Psychology
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental health
Original Article
Perceived social support
Prisoners
Psychological distress
Psychological trauma
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Quality of Life Research
Responses
Social support
Strategies
Terrorism
Terrorists
Trauma
Victims
Women
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Summary:Incarcerated women disproportionately experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Using Johnson’s typology as a guiding framework, we investigated 114 women’s strategic responses to intimate terrorism (IT) prior to their incarceration. Research questions included: (1) What formal help-seeking strategies do women use to cope with IT?; and (2) Is the nature of IT and/or the subsequent consequences associated with formal help-seeking? Face-to-face interviews occurred in an upstate New York jail. Physical violence, coercive control, psychological distress, violence-related injuries, perceived social support, and several demographics were examined as correlates of seven formal help-seeking strategies in a series of logistic regression models. Incarcerated women sought help to end IT and did so from multiple sources. Women most commonly called the police, contacted a mental health counselor, and/or sought domestic violence (DV) counseling. Coercive control was related to filing a protection order and contacting a DV counselor. Perceived social support was associated with contacting a DV counselor. Violence-related injuries were marginally related to contacting a DV counselor. Findings empirically challenge erroneous beliefs that IT victims are passive recipients of abuse. Understanding incarcerated women’s experiences of IPV and help-seeking prior to incarceration has implications for: (1) the development and implementation of trauma-informed interventions within correctional facilities that meet women’s immediate needs; (2) the development of safety-planning strategies that can assist women in their escape from intimate terrorists following their release; and (3) a greater cultural understanding of how IT impacts incarcerated women’s lives both in the short- and long-term.
ISSN:0885-7482
1573-2851
DOI:10.1007/s10896-022-00400-x