Review of " Good Girls Gone Bad - American Women in Crime " by Susan Nadler

In her book, Good Girls Gone Bad, journalist Susan Nadler talked with a variety of women in prison and found that they tended to fit into one of several categories: o[ " Acting out or defying an image: People think of you in a certain way and you want to do something outrageous to prove that you’re not what they think. o Snapping: While this is a controversial diagnosis, in ordinary language it means that someone was pushed by events to the breaking point. o Being the outlaw: they pursue crime to develop an image that they perceive as cool or working outside social boundaries. (One woman with whom Nadler talked had grown up privileged, but by the time she was 24, “Rosa” had pulled over 500 burglaries, had three men working for her, and was earning over $200,000 a year.) o Addiction: 90% of women in prison have substance abuse problems. o Following a role model: Especially in gangs, girls who see those they respect committing a crime tend to do the same. o Keeping someone’s attention or affection: Many women who team up with men get involved in their criminal activities as a way to keep them romantically involved. They end up in prison for crimes they might not otherwise have done. o Obsession: Some women develop a fixation that involves crossing legal boundaries. o Justification by the act of others: they did it and so can I. " ]