“The World was Never a Safe Place for Them”

Federal welfare reform legislation imposes a lifetime ban barring women with felony drug convictions from receiving TANF benefits or food stamps unless a state acts to waive the ban. Relatively little research has been done on women with felony drug convictions. This qualitative, preliminary study interviewed 26 women with felony drug convictions or pending charges and more than 30 criminal justice and public health staff members. This article examines the women's histories of childhood sexual and physical abuse and domestic violence, and the connections between that abuse and their drug usage and convictions. The women repeatedly experienced multiple types of violence, which are thoroughly intertwined with their drug usage, abusive relationships, and criminal activities, making the lifetime ban on public assistance benefits now in existence in 22 states harsh and counterproductive.