There is an expectation that women will be nurturers and carers. Women who have been judged violent, destructive and criminal and who are detained in the criminal justice system can find themselves perceived through a distorted lens as unwomanly. This book explains how they become hypervisible in their difference, while the histories of trauma and suffering that are communicated through their offending and other risk behaviour remain hidden, and so are unseen.
Key Features
- Expert Contributions: Bringing together authors uniquely placed as experts in their fields.
- Psychoanalytical Insights: Presents a psychoanalytically informed account of the development of violence and offending.
- Pathways for Change: Identifies pathways to address trauma within the lives of these women and their children.
- Focus on Emotional and Social Forces: Highlights the role of emotional, social and cultural forces in traumatising women who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
Additional Information
Invisible Trauma argues that it is essential to trace the traumatic roots of women’s violence and criminality. Powerful intergenerational factors perpetuate the cycles of offending and trauma re-enactment that current sentencing practice overlooks. The authors present pathways for change to create a responsive, effective and sensitive workforce. It will be invaluable to those working in clinical and forensic psychology, mental health nursing, psychotherapy, social work, medical practice and women’s health, as well as frontline practitioners in the criminal justice system, the health service, and third sector organisations, and for anyone with an interest in racism, equality and social justice.
