Main description:

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.

Bringing together authors uniquely placed as experts in their fields, 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 a psychoanalytically informed account of the development of violence and other offending, identifying pathways for change to address trauma within the lives of these women and their children, and also to create a responsive, effective and sensitive workforce.

Invisible Trauma highlights the role of emotional, social and cultural forces in traumatising women who come into contact with the criminal justice system and uncovers areas of their lives that are all too often hidden from view. 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.

Contents:

1. Introduction

The Authors

2. Maternal Violence: Ordinary and Extraordinary

Anna Motz

3. The Criminalisation of Blackness

Maxine Dennis

4. Caught in the Racist Gaze?:

The vulnerability of black women to forensic mental health and criminal justice settings

Anne Aiyegbusi

5. Prostitution: Visible Bodies, Hidden Lives

Anna Motz

6. Self-Harm: Inscriptions and Survival

Anna Motz

7. Taboo: Female Psychopathy and Sex Offending against children

Anna Motz

8. Extreme violence and female terrorism: restricted status and indeterminate sentences for public protection

Anna Motz

9. Intoxicating States of Mind: Violence and its impact

Anna Motz

10. 'What Happened?' An attachment based understanding of detained women with offending histories and diagnoses of personality disorder

Anne Aiyegbusi

11. Imprisoned and in prison: Organised defences working against black women and girls

Maxine Dennis

12. Conclusion: Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Authors