Los estudios realizados desde una perspectiva de género en otros países y la normativa internacional subrayan la importancia de (re)conocer las similitudes y diferencias existentes entre mujeres y hombres penados y su impacto en la ejecución de las penas. En España, a pesar de disponer de numerosas investigaciones que analizan el género en prisión, carecemos de estudios que hagan lo mismo en el sistema de medidas penales alternativas. El presente trabajo pretende conocer si existen diferencias entre las mujeres y los hombres penados a medidas penales alternativas. Para ello, se lleva a cabo un análisis bivariado que estudia la relación del sexo con variables sociodemográficas, personales, procesal-penales correspondientes a las medidas penales alternativas impuestas sobre una muestra representativa de 580 mujeres y hombres que finalizaron una medida alternativa. Los resultados señalan que existen diferencias por sexo significativas entre las diferentes variables analizadas.

Unlike in other jurisdictions, in Catalonia there has been no specific evaluation of women’s experiences regarding community sentences. The purpose of this article is to contribute to filling this gap by conducting qualitative research in Barcelona and Girona to analyse the experiences of women serving community sentences. To this end, 23 semi-structured interviews with women offenders are analysed. The results follow the trend found in research conducted in other jurisdictions and show that women have multiple issues, responsibilities and needs in comparison with men, and what works with female offenders is different from what works with male offenders with regard to supervision style, relationship with professionals and unpaid work or therapy environments. The findings make it possible to identify alternative responses that offer appropriate support and interventions to address women’s underlying problems and reduce reoffending. The article underscores the importance of listening to women’s voices in order to achieve a gender-sensitive criminal justice system.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the experiences of probation officers who supervise women in the community in Catalonia. To this end, qualitative research involving 15 semi-structured interviews with probation officers in Barcelona and Girona was carried out. The results show that professionals agree that there are important gender differences in relation to: (a) personal and penal characteristics and (b) supervision style. The perceptions of practitioners and existing empirical data are broadly consistent. Women who serve community sentences have a wide range of problems, needs and responsibilities compared to men, which is often reflected in the fact that women's attendance is much more irregular, an issue that presents multiple challenges for practitioners. Probation officers already carry out different gender-responsive practises, however, they face different challenges in a gender-insensitive probation system. Furthermore, given the great heterogeneity of the female service users compared to the men, service provision for women in the community also needs to be intersectionally-responsive. Based on these disparities, the elements of probation that the professionals believe work better with women and those that could be improved are discussed.

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