Preventing a Trajectory of Violence in Women with a History of Trauma

• Andrea Araya, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
• Alexa Brown, Nursing, University of Delaware

• Kathleen Brewer-Smyth, School of Nursing, University of Delaware

In 2019, females accounted for 10.1% of homicide perpetrators and 21.1% of persons arrested for violent crimes in the United States. Due to this being a relatively small proportion of violent crime perpetrators, little is understood about female violence. Our research aims to bridge this gap of understanding by conducting private interviews and examinations of randomly selected female prison inmates in order to identify risk factors that could lead to future violence. A modified case-control design was used to compare female prison inmates who have and have not attempted suicide, and those who have committed a violent crime and/or attempted suicide to those who did not commit a violent crime or attempt suicide. We also investigated levels of past abuse, traumatic brain injury, abnormal neurological findings, and alcohol use of the incarcerated females in order to make correlations between histories of trauma and violent acts. Data analysis revealed that females who committed a violent crime and/or attempted suicide experienced greater levels of abuse resulting in healthcare access compared to those who did not attempt suicide or commit violent crimes. This presents a critical opportunity that when women access healthcare after experiencing abuse, actions can be taken to prevent suicide, homicide, and other violent crimes from being perpetrated by these survivors. This study also found that both childhood physical and sexual abuse can be risk factors for attempting suicide and/or committing violent crimes later in life, and survivors of childhood sexual abuse should be advised to avoid alcohol due to changes in the fight-or-flight response that could increase chances of violent tendencies.