Criminological frameworks and research emphasize the importance of social capital for desistance from crime. However, it is unclear why deficits exist in networks and how differences among offenders' semiregular interaction partners are related to resource access. For women in the criminal justice system, an understudied population, research has produced rich narratives highlighting the importance of social support during the correctional process. But, few scholars have assessed offender characteristics that are associated with resource access and the structural and compositional characteristics of female offenders' social networks and network members have yet to be studied. The present study utilizes innovative social network software and egocentric social network methods and techniques to collect data on women offenders' semiregular interaction partners. Two key research objectives are to 1) present a descriptive assessment of women's social support networks and access to social capital through these networks and 2) identify participant (e.g., financial hardship, limited education), network member (e.g., age, gender, criminal history), tie (e.g., closeness, frequency of contact), and network characteristics (e.g., density, proportion kin) that are associated with access to resources commonly needed by women. To collect the data, face-to-face interviews were completed with a sample of 160 justice-involved women (50 who were on parole and 110 who were on probation) about their 1313 network members.The research involves a two-study design. The first study examines women's access to resources from individuals who they "know" based on a 26-item resource generator. Single-level analyses are used to examine the prediction of access to political social capital and personal and problem-solving social capital, two dimensions of the resource generator. The second study focuses on dyadic social capital and the structure and composition of women's networks. Multilevel regression models are tested to predict access to resources from specific network members. In the first study, on average, women had access to nearly three-quarters of the 26 resource generator items but demonstrated resource deficits in relation to political social capital (i.e., elected officials, someone who works at City Hall). Assessment of the connection between participant characteristics and access to personal and problem-solving capital suggest that women who attained higher levels of education were more likely to have access to social capital.In regard to political social capital, women who reported increased employment and financial needs (i.e., unemployed, unable to pay bills without help from family or friends) and women who had recently been arrested were less likely to have access to social capital.Findings from the second study suggest that, on average, women possess eight semiregular interaction partners. One-third of network members had previously been involved with the law and many were substance users. On average, crime-involved and/or substance-abusing ties accounted for approximately half of women's access to social capital. Networks were moderately dense and comprised of mostly women. Older participants and those with higher employment and financial needs were less likely to be tied to individuals who provided access to social capital. Network members who were older in age, employed, and emotionally close to the participant were particularly helpful in providing women access to resources. A test of an interaction effect between network characteristics revealed that for women with loosely-knit networks (i.e., low density), increases in the proportion of kinship ties within the network was associated with reduced access to social capital. Implications of the research are discussed.
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