Chapters’ Comparison and Contrast

It is a rare but valuable opportunity that the public is presented with a literary work, which is a compilation of various personal stories as written by different authors, but served as clear and moving depiction of women criminals’ perspectives on crime and persecution. Such effort was what Editors Leanne Fiftal Alarid and Paul Cromwell exemplified in their anthology “In Her Own Words. ”

Alarid and Cromwell collected the works of several writers who all succeeded in making people realize the significance of the crime world through the personal accounts of women offenders themselves. In doing so, the compilation effectively provided the readers with a generalized idea about the reasons behind and manners, by which women criminals were directed, forced and even motivated to break the law.

This particular attempt was manifested through the first four chapters of the book which were grouped under one section carrying the title “Women’s Pathways to Crime: Linking Victimization and Criminalization. ” The chapter authors presented a diverse representation of how women offenders similarly view several offenses that involve sex, drugs and the various forms of crimes. However, it is also in the initial four narrative works that conflicting stories were told in the own words of women criminals.

Despite the similarity and contrasting manner of discussion, it is therefore very evident that such pathway to crime principle paved the way for the effective realization of the book’s essence and purpose through the recognition of female criminals’ connection with crime and oppression. Chapters’ Similarities The first way to realize the similarities of the book’s Chapters 1 to 4 is to acknowledge the justifications made by the different chapter authors on the reasons and inevitable conditions why women committed crimes. Editors Alarid and Cromwell showed how chapter authors Mary E.

Gilfus (“From Victims to Survivors to Offenders: Women’s Routes of Entry and Immersion Into Street Crime”); Lisa Maher, Eloise Dunlap and Bruce Johnson (“Black Women’s Pathways to Involvement in Illicit Drug Distribution and Sales”); Elizabeth Comack (“Coping, Resisting and Surviving: Connection Women’s Law Violations to Their History of Abuse”), and Brenda Geiger and Michael Fischer (“Naming Oneself Criminal: Gender Differences in Offenders’ Identity Negotiation”) established the theory of pathway to crime (Alarid & Cromwell).

Another significant way which showed the resemblance and eventual correlation among the first four chapters is the approach used by the chapter authors to present the women criminals as victims themselves before emerging as criminals and ending up in jails. This is proven with how Gilfus’ chapter created a structure for understanding the women offenders’ evolution from a mere victim into full blown offenders. The author presented the pathway to crime theory through the offenders’ previous experiences or histories of childhood maltreatment, abandonment, alcohol and drug addiction and homelessness (Gilfus 5).

The individual narratives in Chapter 1 eventually served as the general illustration of the succeeding three chapters. This is because the four chapters basically implied that the quality and circumstances of the hostilities, which made women susceptible to violating the laws, indeed functioned as relevant factors in their “criminalization. ” Most importantly, the survival instincts and means of these women led them to the evolving path from just being the victim into becoming a dreadful criminal (Gilfus 12). Chapters’ Differences

Although a compilation of similar and connecting stories by nature, the four chapters of “In Her Own Words” effectively showed its respective distinctions. The first evident way which showed such difference among the four chapters is the varying characteristic of each crime where the women offenders were involved. In particular, Maher, Dunlap and Johnson regarded in Chapter 2 how the socioeconomic limitations and deficiencies paved the way for the women to commit crime hence forming a pathway to drug distribution and use or the illicit drug business in general (Maher, Dunlap & Johnson).

In Chapter 3, on the other hand, Comack discussed how previous physical cruelties and sexual exploitations played important roles in women’s involvement in sex-related crimes and other law violations before finally being locked up in prison. It is in this chapter that the author emphasized the damaging implication of one’s exposure to maltreatments. This was done by way of presenting women’s histories which depicted how their resistance and survival eventually linked them to the performance of various forms of crimes (Comack). Conclusion In Her Own Words simply yet effectively showed the stories and the reasons behind women-initiated crimes.

Through the words of the women offenders themselves, the public was generally provided with a clearer picture on the causes, circumstances and justifications which led women commit offenses. It is relatively important that the similarities and differences of the various presentations in the book, particularly chapters 1 to 4, created descriptive information and an entire picture of how women offenders themselves think and feel about crime and victimization. The book’s first four chapters are also to be noted for its pathway to crime theory and method.

This is because such approach enabled the readers to identify and ultimately realize the real causes and factors why and how women, who used to be victims, have chosen the lives of criminals in order to survive. Works Cited Alarid, Leanne Fiftal and Paul Cromwell, eds. In Her Own Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2006. Comack, Elizabeth. “Coping, Resisting and Surviving: Connection Women’s Law Violations to Their History of Abuse. ” In Her Own Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization. Eds. Leanne Fiftal Alarid and Paul Cromwell.

Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2006. Gilfus, Mary E. “From Victims to Survivors to Offenders: Women’s Routes of Entry and Immersion Into Street Crime. ” In Her Own Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization. Eds. Leanne Fiftal Alarid and Paul Cromwell. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2006. Maher, Lisa, Eloise Dunlap and Bruce D. Johnson. “Black Women’s Pathways to Involvement in Illicit Drug Distribution and Sales. ” In Her Own Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization. Eds. Leanne Fiftal Alarid and Paul Cromwell. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2006.

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