Publication Date

5-2010

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice

Department

Criminal Justice

Supervisory Committee Chair

Lisa Growette Bostaph, Ph.D.

Abstract

Using the scale on feminist views developed by Henley et al. (1998), this study adapted and created two survey instruments to measure views on feminism and female offenders: 1) the Societal Perspectives Scale, which measures a respondent’s views of feminism; and 2) the Female Offender Perspectives Scale, which measures a respondent’s views of female offenders. Using these survey instruments and convenience sampling, the current study examined college students’ perceptions of feminism and female offenders. This study sought to investigate the following hypotheses: 1) the reliability of the survey instruments, especially the Female Offender Perspectives Scale; and 2) the predictive value of general feminist views on perceptions of female offenders. Using Cronbach’s alpha, support was found for the first hypothesis indicating high overall reliability for the Female Offenders Perspectives Scale. Analysis of the multivariate OLS regression affirmed the second hypothesis and determined that the societal scale proved to be predictive of the female offender scale. These findings can provide a better understanding of female offenders and assist policy makers and professionals in creating new laws and making decisions that would affect female offenders in the system.

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