NCJ Number
227632
Date Published
2008
Length
310 pages
Annotation
Relying on 30 years of personal clinical experience with perpetrators and victims of interpersonal violence, the author presents the first book for the general reader that examines why an increasing number of women and girls are engaging in dangerous behaviors that range from inappropriate sexual behavior to brutal murder.
Abstract
Using a case study approach, the book analyzes why a young mother drowned her children; why a woman shot her partner in the back of the head; why women murder strangers; why girls and women sexually abuse children; why an attractive female teacher molests a student; And why nuns molest children and each other. After an introductory chapter on the author's development as a forensic psychologist, he devotes a chapter to the warning signs that a girl may be developing aggressive and potentially dangerous behaviors. This is followed by a chapter with four case studies of female predators who killed victims outside the family. A chapter then analyzes three cases of women who killed their partners. Another chapter presents six cases of women who engaged in threatening behaviors but claimed they had no intention of doing any harm. Three mothers who murdered their children are profiled in a fifth chapter. Three women who molested children are discussed in the sixth chapter, followed by a review of seven cases in which women teachers sexually abused students. Cases of the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of children by nuns are examined in the subsequent chapter. Another chapter focuses on girls who molested and murdered their victims. The concluding chapter summarizes reasons why girls and women become dangerous and what can be done to prevent and address their criminal behaviors. Chapter notes and a subject index