Forensic psychiatrist tells why women turn to crime
The extent of women’s involvement in gang violence has once again surfaced following public showing of the video featuring gun-toting members of the notorious Joel Andem Gang, including two women.
The video showed Tamika, the girlfriend of one of the core members of this gang demonstrating how she would shoot a senior member of the police force. She is also seen attending to domestic chores at the Rawley Gully camp which she shared with the gangsters, and the consummate hostess at a Christmas party which was held for children.
Many viewers of this video are left asking this question: Why would a woman risk her life living on the edge, and supporting men who are considered “armed and dangerous and a threat to society”?
Forensic psychiatrist, Dr Carol McDaniel, who appeared on the programme and whose analysis further provoked the issue, gave All Woman some valuable insights into the phenomenon, and of her work within the island’s correctional institutions.
“My first impression of those women at the camp playing with high-powered weapons was what really got them to this point, and then other thoughts surfaced. Something unpleasant must have happened in their childhood. They probably got involved for financial reasons; they are trying to please their men or they were coerced into this.
“From my experience, these are all highly probable reasons why these women got involved”, said McDaniel.
Women’s involvement in gang-related activities is widespread, she explains, but notes it does not necessarily mean that they become core members.
“Although they may not be core members, women give support on various levels to the core members of gangs. Out of a sense of duty, they (women) offer companionship, cater to the men’s domestic needs, shield them if necessary, and in return they are rewarded financially.
“It is also very rare to find a woman on her own committing a crime, and it is also rare to find homogenous female gangs in our setting,” McDaniel said.
Looking at the profile of most women incarcerated in Jamaica, McDaniel noted that there is a shift worldwide in the types of crime committed by women. While there are isolated cases of a woman committing a violent crime in Jamaica, drug trafficking is rampant and is the number one offence for which women are charged.
“A very high percentage of the inmates I work with are drug couriers and most of them were forced to do this out of economic necessity. Contrary to what others have reported, I find that in general, that female inmates tend to be more remorseful and say they will never offend again.
“Women go through an adjustment disorder when they enter the institution. Most have children and feel more psychological guilt than men for being there, instead of at home caring for their children,” she told All Woman.
“I also find that they are very supportive of each other. For example, everyone becomes a mother to any child who is born within the institution, and this support also extends to any member who becomes mentally-ill,” noted McDaniel, who is intimately involved in the rehabilitative process of these women.
The first formally-trained forensic psychiatrist in the English-speaking Caribbean, McDaniel lectures part-time at the University of the West Indies, but works full-time within the prisons. Very passionate about her job that forges a unique link between the hospital and the correctional services, McDaniel has appealed to the health authorities to set up a psychiatric hospital to house patients within the institutions who are mentally-ill.
“This is a very serious issue for which I am about to launch a public campaign. We do not have a secure facility for our inmates and from my experience it is the best place for the mentally-ill who have offended and within which they can be offered the best therapy.”
A doctor of medicine, McDaniel studied at the University of the West Indies before earning a British Chevening Scholarship, which allowed her to study forensic psychology at the post-graduate level in Birmingham, England.
She later taught at the prestigious Reaside Hospital while working in a number of women’s prisons in England.
