Vulnerability across a life course: an empirical study: women and criminality in Botswana prisons

Modie-Moroka, Tirelo

doi:10.4314/jsda.v18i1.23823

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…This is critically important, as parental incarceration generates a unique combination of trauma, shame and stigma, leaving many vulnerable to the 'triple threat' of depression, violence and addiction (Arditti and Few 2008) and potentially disrupting children's lives (Hairston 2007 The global phenomenon of increased female incarceration is compounded by the feminisation of poverty and the punitive policies that are spawned by the international war on drugs (Barberet 2014;Reynolds 2008;Sassen 2002). Most incarcerated women are poor and underemployed (Decker et al 2010;Modi-Moroka 2015;Wesley 2012). In China, for example, poor women with low social status and limited educational opportunities, who are often forced to rely on drug trafficking, prostitution and property crimes, comprise the fastest growing sector of the prison population (Radio Free Asia 2015; Dui Hua 2020).…”

Section: Profile Of the Female Offendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Female Prisoners’ Access to Education

Ryder¹

2020

Int J for Crime, Justice & Social Democracy

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The rate of female incarceration continues to surge, resulting in over 714,000 women currently being held behind bars worldwide. Females generally enter carceral facilities with low educational profiles, and educational programming inside is rarely a high priority. Access to education is a proven contributor to women’s social and economic empowerment and can minimise some of the obstacles they encounter after being released from custody. Support for the intellectual potential of incarcerated female ‘students’ can address intersecting inequalities that impede access to social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure. Policymakers, academics and activists concerned with gender equality must begin by focusing on academic and vocational program development for female prisoners, built through strong community partnerships, and inclusive of trauma informed supports.

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Section: Profile Of the Female Offendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Female Prisoners’ Access to Education

Ryder¹

2020

Int J for Crime, Justice & Social Democracy

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“…There is little published literature on infant abandonment/infanticide in Africa. Most of the papers have been qualitative [ 10 , 11 ], although one from Ghana asserted that nearly 15% of deaths under the age of 3 mo could be linked to infanticide practices [ 12 ]. A survey of violent deaths in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania [ 13 ], estimated a rate of neonaticide (within 24 h of birth) of 27.7 per 100,000 live births, which is one of the highest reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study

et al. 2016

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BackgroundHomicide of children is a global problem. The under-5-y age group is the second largest homicide age group after 15–19 y olds, but has received little research attention. Understanding age and gender patterns is important for assisting with developing prevention interventions. Here we present an age and gender analysis of homicides among children under 5 y in South Africa from a national study that included a focus on neonaticide and infanticide.Methods and FindingsA retrospective national cross-sectional study was conducted using a random sample of 38 medico-legal laboratories operating in 2009 to identify homicides of children under 5 y. Child data were abstracted from the mortuary files and autopsy reports, and both child and perpetrator data data were collected from police interviews. We erred towards applying a conservative definition of homicide and excluded sudden infant death syndrome cases. We estimated that 454 (95% CI 366, 541) children under the age of 5 y were killed in South Africa in 2009. More than half (53.2%; 95% CI 46.7%, 59.5%) were neonates (0–28 d), and 74.4% (95% CI 69.3%, 78.9%) were infants (under 1 y), giving a neonaticide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 live births and an infanticide rate of 28.4 per 100,000 live births. The majority of the neonates died in the early neonatal period (0–6 d), and abandonment accounted for 84.9% (95% CI 81.5%, 87.8%) of all the neonates killed. Distinct age and gender patterns were found, with significantly fewer boy children killed in rural settings compared to urban settings (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.9; p = 0.015). Abuse-related killings and evidence of sexual assault were more common among older girls than in all other age and gender groups. Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall (71.0%; 95% CI 63.9%, 77.2%). Abandoned neonates were mainly term babies, with a mean gestational age of 38 wk. We did not have information on abandonment motives for all newborns and did not know if babies were abandoned with the intention that they would die or with the hope that they would be found alive. We therefore considered all abandoned babies as homicides.ConclusionsHomicide of children is an extreme form or consequence of violence against children. This national study provides one of the first analyses of neonaticide and infanticide by age and gender and shows the failure of reproductive and mental health and social services to identify and help vulnerable mothers. Multi-sectoral prevention strategies are needed.

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“…However, as discussed by Nuytiens and Christiaens (2015), "Limited options", and "Making choices in gendered life contexts" (p. 206), complicate women's agency, to reveal more than a simple identity-action construct. Numerous studies (Daly, 1992;DeHart, 2008;Ferraro & Moe, 2003;Gehring, 2016;Modie-Moroka, 2003;Pollack, 2007;Yingling, 2016) have demonstrated that victimisation and multi-layered vulnerabilities, including poverty, mental illness and experiences of loss and abandonment, are important prerequisites when understanding the female offender's pathways to crime. Indeed, this study confirms as much, through the words spoken by the participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, their diminutive populace creates the perception of their existence as an anomaly, and their experiences assumed to be the equivalent of their male counterparts. Yet, in spite of their small presence, the number of women housed in correctional facilities in South Africa and worldwide has continued steady growth over the last few decades (Bosworth, 2000;Ferraro & Moe, 2003;Liddell & Martinovic, 2013;Modie-Moroka, 2003; UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, 2013). Resultantly, female offenders' pathways to incarceration have become of growing interest to researchers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways and penalties: Exploring experiences of agency among incarcerated women in South Africa

Parry

2020

Feminism & Psychology

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Despite the documented rise in the population of incarcerated women over recent decades, female offenders only represent about 5% of the total global incarcerated population. South Africa is no different – female offenders total less than 3% of the country’s incarcerated population, a populace that was previously counted as one of the ten largest correctional systems in the world. This small representation of women in the correctional system leads to interpretations of their pathways to offending and experiences of incarceration to be the same as those of male offenders, delegitimising any role that gender may play in offending behaviour. By utilising a feminist pathways research approach, the narratives of 17 women incarcerated in the Johannesburg Female Correctional Centre are contextualised in this study, to reveal conduits to women’s incarceration that primarily involve victimisation and socially constructed gendered vulnerabilities that are interconnected with poverty and oppression. As seen through excerpts of their life history interviews, this confluence of factors, coupled with pathways of narrowing options, contribute to female offending. Ultimately the research allows for a holistic understanding of the unique choices and challenges incarcerated women in South Africa face, and the role agency and patriarchy has played in the pathways taken.

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Vulnerability across a life course: an empirical study: women and criminality in Botswana prisons

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Enhancing Female Prisoners’ Access to Education

Enhancing Female Prisoners’ Access to Education

Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study

Pathways and penalties: Exploring experiences of agency among incarcerated women in South Africa

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