| Abstract: | Objectives. We assessed the prevalence of and risk factors for trading sex with a police officer among women recruited from drug courts in St Louis, Missouri.Methods. In 2005 to 2008, we recruited women into an HIV intervention study, which surveyed participants about multiple sociodemographic, lifestyle, and risk factors. Regression analyses assessed risk factors for trading sex, a form of police sexual misconduct (PSM).Results. Of the 318 participants, 78 (25%) reported a lifetime history of PSM. Among women who experienced PSM, 96% had sex with an officer on duty, 77% had repeated exchanges, 31% reported rape by an officer, and 54% were offered favors by officers in exchange for sex; 87% said officers kept their promise. Only 51% of these respondents always used a condom with an officer. Multivariable models identified 4 or more arrests (adjusted odds ratio AOR] = 2.8; 95% confidence interval CI] = 1.29, 5.97), adult antisocial personality (AOR = 9.0; 95% CI = 2.08, 38.79), and lifetime comorbid cocaine and opiate use (AOR = 2.9 1.62, 5.20]) as risk factors; employment (AOR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.77) lowered the risk of PSM.Conclusions. Community-based interventions are critical to reduce risk of abuse of vulnerable women by police officers charged with protecting communities.Female offenders represent a growing population of high-risk, vulnerable women in the United States. The number of women who are incarcerated or under correctional supervision increased from approximately 600 000 in 1990 to just more than 1.3 million in 2009.1 Many women involved in the criminal justice system experience stressful life events, suffer from mental disorders, and struggle with substance use problems.2,3Stressful and traumatic life events are common experiences for female offenders. Childhood physical or sexual abuse is such an event and is reported by a large proportion of female offenders4–6; according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 37% of women in state prisons, 23% of women in federal prisons, 37% of women in jail, and 28% of female probationers were victims of physical or sexual abuse as a minor. These rates exceed the range of 6% to 14% for men in respective facilities and estimates of 12% to 17% for women in the general adult population.5 Household dysfunction during childhood (e.g., family violence, parental separation or divorce, foster care or adoption placement) is more common among female offenders than women in the general population.6 In addition, the prevalence of other stressful life events, such as adolescent pregnancy and motherhood, among criminal justice samples is higher than national rates.6–8In addition to their experiences with stressful life events, female offenders have high rates of mental health problems, which have been reported among drug court participants,2,9–11 jail detainees,3 felons entering prison,12 prisoners,4,13,14 and offenders in prison substance abuse treatment programs.15,16 Comorbidities, particularly mental disorders and substance use disorders, are common in this population.14,17–19 For example, Teplin et al. found that more than 80% of jail detainees met criteria for 1 or more lifetime psychiatric disorders.3 Lifetime prevalence was highest for substance abuse or dependence (70.2%), posttraumatic stress disorder (33.5%), and major depressive episode (16.9%). Another study among drug-dependent female inmates in a substance abuse treatment program reported rates of 43% and 32% for antisocial personality and depression, respectively.15 Interestingly, the pattern of comorbidity differed such that women with a greater number of drug dependencies had higher rates of antisocial personality and depression than did women dependent on fewer drugs. Studies on gender differences among drug court populations have shown that female drug court participants are more likely than their male counterparts to have mental health problems; specifically, women are more likely than men to report feelings of depression and anxiety11 and to require referrals for mental health issues.2 Women who took more risks were also more likely to engage in gambling.20 Finally, the rate of female offenders’ mental disorder diagnoses exceeds that of the general population, with population prevalence estimates of 6% to 16% for major depressive disorder17,18 and less than 1% for antisocial personality disorder.21Police sexual violence, including rape, has been explored in a few studies in the criminological literature. Methods of these studies varied and included assessing police officers’ perspectives22 and reviewing publicly available records.23 In a study of 40 St Louis, Missouri–area police officers, 11 incidents of firsthand knowledge of a “sexual shakedown” were reported; this involved a demand for sexual services from an unwilling citizen who yielded to perceived police authority. However, these 11 incidents represented only a very small proportion of the 8306 total incidents of firsthand knowledge of police sexual misconduct (PSM). The most common type of PSM was nonsexual contact, such as a sexually motivated traffic stop, with 3481 reported incidents.22To understand the complex environmental factors that could affect behavioral change associated with an HIV prevention field trial focused on female offenders, we convened a series of focus groups at a St Louis correctional facility. Quite serendipitously, women shared with us that the sexual abuse experienced as a child with male relatives extended into their adulthood with other men in authority, specifically police officers.24To better understand the life events that affect female drug court participants, we added structured questions to focus on PSM, a neglected area of study masked by a “blue wall of silence”: an unwritten rule among some groups of police officers whereby officers ignore one another’s misconduct.22,23,25 We compared the experiences of female drug court participants who reported they had traded sex for favors with a police officer with those who did not and assessed sociodemographic characteristics, stressful life events, psychiatric history, and substance use as risk factors for this behavior. |
