Desistance : Motherhood as a Possible Exit Strategy ?

Title of Document: FEMALE GANG MEMBERS AND DESISTANCE: MOTHERHOOD AS A POSSIBLE EXIT STRATEGY? A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FLEISHER AND KRIENERT (2004) Jennifer Anne Varriale, Master of Arts, 2006 Directed By: Professor Shawn Bushway, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice This study sought to evaluate differential gang processes as they vary by gender through a quantitative analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997. Specifically, this investigation explored the role of motherhood as a potential exit strategy for female gang membership, which had been previously examined in the qualitative work of Fleisher and Krienert (2004). In fact, Fleisher and Krienert (2004) noted that sixty-three percent of their sample had attributed pregnancy or “settling down” as the primary reason for desistance. All in all, this investigation found no support for Fleisher and Krienert’s (2004) assertions of the causality of motherhood as a potential desistance mechanism, or for the magnitude of their sixtythree percent finding. FEMALE GANG MEMBERS AND DESISTANCE: MOTHERHOOD AS A POSSIBLE EXIT STRATEGY? A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FLEISHER AND KRIENERT (2004)