The Role of Stressful Life Events and Cultural Factors on Criminal Thinking Among African American Women Involved in the Criminal Justice System

African American women are positioned at the intersection of multiple disadvantaged statuses and disproportionately affected by criminal justice policies, as evinced by their increased likelihood of incarceration. Yet they continue to be overlooked in mainstream criminological research. Using data from 418 African American women in the B-WISE (Black Women in a Study of Epidemics) project, the present study investigates the relationship between several prominent stressors occurring in five social contexts and criminal thinking as a coping strategy. Findings indicate that criminal thinking may be one maladaptive coping mechanism to manage stressors, such as gendered racism, financial stress, and network loss, that occur across these multiple social contexts for African American women in prison and on probation. Spirituality, on the other hand, seems to operate as a buffer. Implications for practice include promoting programs that strengthen a sense of collective identity in the community, as well as hiring more African American women who could provide additional culturally competent behavioral health services in criminal justice professions.