Mental health problems among female offenders and its relation to social engineering

Abstract

The objective of this study is to understand the common mental health problems among female offenders and how they affect the society through application of rehabilitation program. Female offenders have always been a minor subject in research and study. So far, theory and research relating to crime had been focusing on male offenders. As a result, correctional program that has been used for female offenders is based on male criminality and often failed to provide the appropriate option for the needs of female offenders. In Malaysia, the study on female offenders has not draws so much interest contributing to a lack of information regarding this population. Factors that may cause a female to commit a crime have not been studied much. The number of female offenders however, seem to be increasing annually. One of the major concerns in female criminality is mental health problems. Various study revealed that female offenders had higher rates of having at least one mental health problems. The methodology of this study is designed based on cross-sectional study using a psychometric instrument, Carlson Psychological Survey (CPS). The findings showed that chemical abuse and antisocial tendency are very common among female offenders.