Young Female Offenders - Trust and Trauma in a Forgotten Population

本研究的目的是探讨在监狱中受严重创伤的年轻女性群体中影响信任的因素，以期确定在创伤普遍存在、社会和文化根深蒂固的不信任环境中促进信任的方法。信任对社会运作至关重要。违背信任，世界就会变成一个充满敌意、威胁和危险的地方。年轻的女性罪犯通常是长期人际间身体虐待和性虐待的受害者，造成严重的精神创伤，对人民和社会的信任急剧丧失。与这些人密切合作的监狱官员本身也容易受到二次创伤，进一步阻碍了囚犯与工作人员之间的关系。此外，不信任往往在监狱文化中根深蒂固，其基础是更广泛的、具有社会学知识的信念。因此，复原工作提出了一系列重大的、针对性别的挑战。

This research aims to explore factors influencing trust in a prison population of highly traumatised young females, with a view to to determining methods of promoting trust in an environment where trauma prevails and distrust is socially and culturally engrained. Trust is essential for social functioning. Violate trust, and the world becomes a hostile, threatening and treacherous place. Young female offenders are commonly victims of chronic interpersonal physical and sexual abuse, resulting in severe traumatisation categorised by an acute loss of trust in people and society. Prison officers working closely with this population are themselves vulnerable to secondary traumatisation, further impeding relations between prisoners and staff. Moreover, distrust is often entrenched in prison culture, with its basis in wider, sociologically informed beliefs. Rehabilitation, therefore, presents a series of significant, gender-specific challenges.