Research on Women and Girls in the Justice System: Plenary Papers of the Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation--Enhancing Policy and Practice through Research, Volume 3 (1999). Research Forum.

This publication presents three papers from a 1999 conference on criminal justice research and evaluation. The papers reveal real-life implications of research for a situation of growing urgency. Research has uncovered a link between the victimization of women and their criminal behavior. The papers propose that justice system practice can be enhanced if policymakers and the practitioners who operationalize their decisions redefine justice to take this special condition into account. The first paper, "Exploring the Link between Violence against Women and Women's Involvement in Illegal Activity" (Beth E. Ritchie), discusses the extent of the problem (domestic violence, sexual assault, and patterns of violence); women involved in illegal activity; women in the criminal justice system; and public policy and programmatic recommendations. The second paper, "One Judicial Perspective on the Sex Trade" (Kay Tsenin), discusses judicial approaches, the sex worker (victim and survivor), courts and the communities they serve, interventions, and future needs. The third paper, "Childhood Victimization and the Derailment of Girls and Women to the Criminal Justice System" (Cathy Spatz Widom), discusses the role of childhood victimization in the development of criminal behavior, mechanisms in derailment, and the female criminal (opportunities for intervention). (SM)