This study explored the histories of physical and sexual victimization reported by incarcerated and non-incarcerated women. It sought to identify the survival strategies women activated at various points in their life span. In Phase One, 424 women were interviewed from March 2004 to March 2005 on a variety of topics covering victimization and disclosure experiences and risk and protective factors. Information from those interviews is contained in Part 1, Phase One, Interview Data. In Phase Two, 17 women from the prison and/or the community who had participated in the Phase One interviews were again interviewed in an effort to provide more depth about their experiences of victimization and of the resources, social services, and supports they may have received or not, subsequent to the victimization(s). Information from these qualitative follow-up interviews is contained in Parts 2-18. Variables cover topics such as personal attitudes, health and well-being, relationships with family and friends, coping with stress, emotional health, alcohol and drug use, childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual experiences, services and resources received, traumatic experiences, suicide, resource generating strategies, legal issues, and demographics.

The goal of this research project was to develop an efficient mental health screen that would aid in the early identification of severe mental illnesses and other acute psychiatric problems during the jail intake process. The researchers sought to validate the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) as such a tool. Participants in the study included male and female jail detainees admitted to one of four county jails, two in Maryland and two in New York, from November 2005 to June 2006. A total of 10,562 jail detainees were screened using the BJMHS-R (Part 1). The screening data were used to identify a sub-sample of detainees who were systematically sampled for a detailed clinical assessment, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), which was conducted by a trained research interviewer in order to validate the screen. A subset of 464 jail detainees completed the SCID interviews (Part 2). Part 1, Tracking Data, contains 54 variables, including items and scores from the BJMHS-R, that were used to used to identify and generate a list of potential detainee participants for the SCID interview. Part 2, Interview Data, contains 326 variables, including items and scores from both the BJMHS-R and the SCID interviews, that were used to validate the screen.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the initial efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of Seeking Safety (SS) treatment in a sample of incarcerated women with comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) and comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Seeking Safety, a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy treatment, is a psychosocial treatment for women with comorbid PTSD and SUD and, at the time this study was conducted, it was the treatment with the most efficacy data for this population. SS treatment appears to be a promising intervention for incarcerated women with PTSD and SUD because (1) the treatment targets many of the deficits found in this population that may interfere with their recovery and place these women at risk for reoffending (such as impulsiveness, anger dyscontrol, and maladaptive lifestyle activities), and (2) it teaches skills to manage these problematic behaviors. This study aimed to conduct an open feasibility trial of Seeking Safety treatment in a sample of six incarcerated women with SUD and PTSD and to conduct a randomized controlled pilot study to evaluate the initial efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of the proposed treatment as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU), compared to a TAU control group in a sample of 22 incarcerated women with comorbid PTSD and SUD. The primary hypothesis was that, compared to the TAU condition, women in the SS treatment condition would have less severe drug and alcohol use as well as fewer PTSD symptoms and legal problems after intervention, and at six weeks and three months after release. The first six participants recruited for the study received SS group treatment as an adjunct to the treatment provided by the Discovery Program, the substance abuse treatment program in the minimum security arm of the Women's Facility of the Adult Correctional Institution in Providence, Rhode Island. The remaining participants were randomly assigned to either the control group (TAU) or to a group that received SS treatment as an adjunct to TAU. The treatment groups were conducted by clinicians who worked as substance abuse therapists in the Discovery Program and a clinical psychologist from Brown University. All SS therapists received training in delivering SS therapy from Dr. Lisa Najavits, who developed SS treatment. Assessments were conducted at pretreatment, post-treatment during incarceration, and three and six months postrelease for PTSD-related measures. Measures of severity of substance abuse and legal problems were taken at pretreatment, as well as at the six- and 12-week postrelease intervals. Measures were taken with a variety of clinical instruments, including the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) module on substance use, the Clinician Administered Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale-I (CAPS-I), the Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ), the Helping Alliance Questionnaire-II (HAQ-II), the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the End-of-Treatment Questionnaire. Basic demographic data were also collected from administrative records. Variables include alcohol, drug, and legal composite scores at pretreatment and post-treatment, number of relapses, whether the woman returned to prison, whether the woman lied about substance abuse, use of particular substances one month prior to prison and during lifetime, PTSD indicators of frequency and intensity, total client satisfaction scores, patients' ratings of therapists and treatment, and trauma scales for crime, sexual abuse, and physical abuse. Demographic variables include age, ethnic background, education, first time in prison, the nature of the current conviction, and number of arrests with convictions.

The Urban Institute, in collaboration with the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA), the National Center on Victims of Crime (NCVC), and the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), and with funding from the National Institute of Justice, conducted a two-tiered, 33-month, exploratory mixed methods study of the policies, programs, and practices used nationwide to address the needs of incarcerated women with prior trauma and victimization experiences and prevent in-custody victimization, aiming to generate actionable information for policymakers, practitioners, and program developers. This is the first single, comprehensive study documenting the extent to which facilities implement trauma-informed and gender-responsive approaches to address women's victimization experiences, whether they offer victim services, the range of services offered, and the prevalence of trauma-informed practices in state-level women's correctional facilities. It establishes foundational knowledge for the field regarding the scope, structure, and composition of these approaches, including their trauma-informed components and use in women's correctional facilities.

The major goals of the project were to use survey data about victimization experiences among American women to examine: (a) the consequences of victimization for women's physical and mental health, (b) how the impact of victimization on women's health sequelae is conditioned by the victim's invoking of family and community support, and (c) how among victims of intimate partner violence, such factors as the relationship between the victim and offender, the offender's characteristics, and police involvement condition the impact of victimization on the victim's subsequent physical and mental health. This data collection consists of the SPSS syntax used to recode existing variables and create new variables from the study, VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1994-1996 (ICPSR 2566). The study, also known as the National Violence against Women Survey (NVAWS), surveyed 8,000 women 18 years of age or older residing in households throughout the United States in 1995 and 1996. The data for the NVAWS were gathered via a national, random-digit dialing sample of telephone households in the United States, stratified by United States Census region. The NVAWS respondents were asked about their lifetime experiences with four different kinds of violent victimization: sexual abuse, physical abuse, stalking, and intimidation. Using the data from the NVAWS, the researchers in this study performed three separate analyses. The study included outcome variables, focal variables, moderator variables, and control variables.

This study examined victimization in the lives of incarcerated women, specifically victimization as a risk factor for crime, with particular emphasis on the direct and indirect ways in which the impact of victimization contributed to criminal involvement. Interviews were conducted with 60 women incarcerated in a maximum security state correctional facility in South Carolina from October 2001 to August 2002. Interview measures consisted of participant responses to loosely-structured open-ended prompts and addressed each woman's own perspective on psychological, physical, and sexual victimization within her life, as well as her history of family and peer relationships, alcohol and drug use, and criminal activity. The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) provided demographic and criminal history information for each prospective participant, including participants, no-shows, and decliners (Part 1) and for the female prison population without the prospective participants (Part 2). These data were used for sampling decisions and provide descriptive information on sample characteristics. In addition the SCDC provided inmate data on offenses committed while in the SCDC (Part 3), disciplinary actions at the SCDC (Part 4), education through the SCDC (Part 5), and known prior offenses (Part 6). The project also conducted online searches in NewsLibrary for media reports concerning women who participated in the study. Variables include age, race, number of children, marital status, criminal offense history, correctional disciplinary records, probation/parole information, victim/witness notification, corrections program participation, intelligence scores, math and reading scores, basic academic history/degrees, mental health assessment, and special medical needs.

The impact of criminal victimization on the health status of women is the focus of this data collection. The researchers examined the extent to which victimized women differed from nonvictimized women in terms of their physical and psychological well-being and differences in their use of medical services. The sample was drawn from female members of a health maintenance plan at a worksite in Cleveland, Ohio. Questions used to measure criminal victimization were taken from the National Crime Survey and focused on purse snatching, home burglary, attempted robbery, robbery with force, threatened assault, and assault. In addition, specific questions concerning rape and attempted rape were developed for the study. Health status was assessed by using a number of instruments, including the Cornell Medical Index, the Mental Health Index, and the RAND Corporation test battery for their Health Insurance Experiment. Medical service usage was assessed by reference to medical records. Demographic information includes age, race, income, and education.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a national-scale evaluation of correctional facilities housing female offenders in order to assess the effectiveness of current programs, including alternative sanctions and treatment programs, and management practices. The goal was to gather information on "what works for which women" with respect to the program characteristics most related to positive outcomes. The first stage of the study consisted of gathering the opinions of administrators in state departments of corrections, including state-level administrators and administrators in institutions for women (Part 1). Administrators from jails that housed women were also interviewed (Part 2). Data collected for Parts 1 and 2 focused on attitudes toward the influx of women into jails and prisons, the needs of incarcerated women, and management and program approaches for meeting those needs. Respondents were asked to identify programs that in their view stood out as especially effective in meeting the needs of incarcerated women. From this list of nominated programs, researchers conducted 62 in-depth telephone interviews with administrators of programs located in jails, prisons, and the community (Part 3). A supplement to this study consisted of telephone interviews with 11 program directors who headed mental health programs that appeared to be "state of the art" for incarcerated women (Part 4). Variables in Parts 1-4 that concern the nominated programs include the underlying principles guiding the programs, whom the programs targeted, what types of staff were employed by the programs, the most positive effects of the programs, and whether program evaluations had been completed. Program effort variables found in Parts 1-4 cover whether the programs focused on trying to treat substance abuse, stop child abuse, provide women with nontraditional job skills, parenting skills, HIV/AIDS education, and life skills, change cognitive thinking, and/or promote self-esteem. Several variables common to Parts 1-3 include whether the programs provided women with follow-up/transitional help, helped to stimulate pre-release planning, allowed visits between women and children, or used ex-offenders, ex-substance users, volunteers, or outside community groups to work with the women. Variables focusing on the types of assessment tools used cover medical assessments, VD screening, reading/math ability screening, mental health screening, substance abuse screening, needs regarding children screening, and victim-spouse abuse screening. Variables pertaining to institution management include background knowledge needed to manage a facility, the types of management styles used for managing female offenders, security and other operational issues, problems with cross-sex supervision, and handling complaints. Similar variables across Parts 1, 2, and 4 deal with the impact of private or state funding, such as respondents' views on the positive and negative outcomes of privatization and of using state services. Both Parts 1 and 2 contain information on respondents' views regarding the unique needs of women offenders, which programs were especially for women, and which program needs were more serious than others. Planning variables in Parts 1 and 2 include whether there were plans to have institutions link with other state agencies, and which programs were most in need of expansion. Further common variables concerned the influx of women in prison, including how administrators were dealing with the increasing number of women offenders, whether the facilities were originally designed for women, how the facilities adapted for women, and the number of women currently in the facilities. In addition, Part 1 contains unique variables on alternative, intermediate sanction options for women, such as the percentage of women sent to day supervision/treatment and sent to work release centers, why it was possible to use intermediate sanctions, and how decisions were made to use