An Exploration of Employment-Related Personal Projects Undertaken by Women on Probation and Parole

• DOI: 10.1177/1557085120951843
• Date: 01 January 2021
• Published date: 01 January 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085120951843

Feminist Criminology

2021, Vol. 16(1) 3 –25

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085120951843

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Article

An Exploration of

Employment-Related

Personal Projects

Undertaken by Women

on Probation and Parole

Ariel L. Roddy1* , Merry Morash1,

and Kayla M. Hoskins1

Abstract

This qualitative research investigates the extent to which 401 women under

supervision identify employment-related personal projects (i.e., actions taken to

achieve abstract goals) as a way to make their lives better. Psychological theory

about personal projects and feminist pathways theory guided the analysis. Findings

reveal how project meaningfulness, self-efficacy, and social support to carry out the

project affect well-being. Structural barriers, disability, and transportation issues

were also identified. Findings suggest that many women pursue and benefit from

employment-related projects. Correctional agents can assist women by helping them

choose meaningful projects and providing information, resources, and social support.

Keywords

employment, women offenders, personal projects, probation and parole

Criminologists have increasingly recognized the dual influences of an individual’s

agency and of contextual constraints on the process of desistance from crime (Giordano

et al., 2002; King, 2013). Even when opportunities and resources are available to facil-

itate change, individuals must want to change and must exercise their agency and take

1Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

*All decisions concerning this article were handled by Deputy Editor Dr. Susan Sharp.

Corresponding Author:

Ariel L. Roddy, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Road, 138 Baker

Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.

Email: roddyari@msu.edu

951843FCXXXX10.1177/1557085120951843Feminist CriminologyRoddy et al.

research-article2020

4 Feminist Criminology 16(1)

appropriate actions to change themselves and their lives. However, agentic plans and

actions can be stymied by lack of resources and opportunity, stigmatization, and other

features of the immediate context and one’s location in the social structure.

As noted by feminist theorists (Maher, 1995), some criminologists have depicted

women in the justice system as lacking agency, for example, because they have been

led astray by partners or are victims who have used drugs or alcohol to cope with

trauma. Alternatively, feminist criminologists have recognized that even when con-

fronted with many constraints, women and girls in conflict with the law assert them-

selves and act to circumvent them (Bosworth, 1996; Jones, 2009; Morash, 2010). The

research for this article examined whether and how women on probation and parole

exerted their agency to find and maintain employment in an effort to improve their

lives. It also explored various factors that inhibited or supported women in achieving

their employment-related objectives, and the resulting negative and positive effects on

well-being. We studied women’s efforts to find or maintain work by examining their

employment-related personal projects. Personal projects are actions taken to achieve

more abstract goals, and they are a key construct in an ecological theory that considers

personal characteristics and context as influences on the pursuit of personal projects

that lead to subjective well-being, happiness, and physical and mental health (Little,

1983, 2020).

We focus on women who are supervised in the community because of their num-

bers and unique needs. In 2016, an estimated 4.5 million people were on probation or

parole, and women are a growing proportion of this segment (currently 1 million)

(Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018). A common requirement of community supervision is

employment, which studies have shown to produce positive outcomes for offenders,

including desistance from crime and drug use, improved financial stability, and

general well-being (Lageson & Uggen, 2013; Leverentz, 2005; Petersilia, 2004;

Skardhamar & Savolainen, 2014; Uggen, 2000; Visher et al., 2008). However, most of

these studies focused on men, and relative to male offenders women with criminal

histories face unique challenges to finding and maintaining employment. These chal-

lenges include skill deficits (e.g., reading, writing, and interpersonal skills), substance

abuse and addiction, transportation, and mental and physical disability (Tonkin et al.,

2004; van Olphen et al., 2009). Additional research is needed to understand the effects

of seeking and maintaining employment on women involved with the criminal justice

system.

One goal of the current study is to understand whether women on probation or

parole described efforts to find and keep employment as personal projects. Second,

informed by past research on personal projects (Dietrich et al., 2012; Dowden, 2004;

Pomaki et al., 2009), we investigated how three cognitive factors—project meaning

(personal reasons for project pursuit), project manageability (belief in one’s capacity

to complete the project), and project community (support for project completion)—are

connected to subjective well-being or ill-being for women on probation and parole.

Because the characteristics and effects of work-related personal projects have only

been examined for samples of individuals who do not have justice system involve-

ment, the final goal of this research is to extend the personal projects literature. By