In or out: Justice-involved women characterization and their perceptions about penal sanctions

Andreia de Castro Rodrigues; Joana Andrade; Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves; Ana Rita Cruz; Olga Cunha

doi:10.1080/08974454.2022.2126743

In or out: Justice-involved women characterization and their perceptions about penal sanctions

Andreia de Castro Rodrigues
, Joana Andrade
, Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves
, Ana Rita Cruz
, Olga Cunha

HEI-LAB - Human Environment Interaction Lab

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Women incarceration rates in Portugal are rising, nevertheless, noncustodial sanctions should be chosen, whenever possible. This paper aims to understand which women are being sentenced to noncustodial sanctions and which are not, and what they think about their penalty, considering that the penalties’ effectiveness is linked to how they are experienced. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 152 Portuguese women serving custodial and non-custodial sentences. Results demonstrated that women were not spared from prison, regardless of their parental and marital situation and whether or not this was their first penalty or if it was a nonviolent crime conviction. The women generally considered their sentences to be unfair, and rehabilitation was not considered the purpose guiding judges’ sentencing decisions. Implications for the rehabilitation of justice-involved women are discussed since these perceptions might compromise their adherence to the penalties and minimize its effectiveness.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	248-265
Number of pages	18
Journal	Women and Criminal Justice
Volume	35
Issue number	4
Early online date	3 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2022.2126743
Publication status	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Funding

This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The study was also supported by Grant SFRH/BPD/108602/2015 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology awarded to the first author.

Funders	Funder number
COMPETE2020	SFRH/BPD/108602/2015, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Universidade do Minho

Keywords

Custodial penalties
justice-involved women
non-custodial penalties
perceptions about penal sanctions
sociodemographic and juridic characterization

Access to Document

10.1080/08974454.2022.2126743

Cite this

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title = "In or out: Justice-involved women characterization and their perceptions about penal sanctions",

abstract = "Women incarceration rates in Portugal are rising, nevertheless, noncustodial sanctions should be chosen, whenever possible. This paper aims to understand which women are being sentenced to noncustodial sanctions and which are not, and what they think about their penalty, considering that the penalties{\textquoteright} effectiveness is linked to how they are experienced. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 152 Portuguese women serving custodial and non-custodial sentences. Results demonstrated that women were not spared from prison, regardless of their parental and marital situation and whether or not this was their first penalty or if it was a nonviolent crime conviction. The women generally considered their sentences to be unfair, and rehabilitation was not considered the purpose guiding judges{\textquoteright} sentencing decisions. Implications for the rehabilitation of justice-involved women are discussed since these perceptions might compromise their adherence to the penalties and minimize its effectiveness.",

keywords = "Custodial penalties, justice-involved women, non-custodial penalties, perceptions about penal sanctions, sociodemographic and juridic characterization",

author = "\{de Castro Rodrigues\}, Andreia and Joana Andrade and Gon{\c c}alves, \{Rui Abrunhosa\} and Cruz, \{Ana Rita\} and Olga Cunha",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Taylor \& Francis Group, LLC.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1080/08974454.2022.2126743",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

pages = "248--265",

journal = "Women and Criminal Justice",

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number = "4",

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T1 - In or out

T2 - Justice-involved women characterization and their perceptions about penal sanctions

AU - de Castro Rodrigues, Andreia

AU - Andrade, Joana

AU - Gonçalves, Rui Abrunhosa

AU - Cruz, Ana Rita

AU - Cunha, Olga

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Women incarceration rates in Portugal are rising, nevertheless, noncustodial sanctions should be chosen, whenever possible. This paper aims to understand which women are being sentenced to noncustodial sanctions and which are not, and what they think about their penalty, considering that the penalties’ effectiveness is linked to how they are experienced. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 152 Portuguese women serving custodial and non-custodial sentences. Results demonstrated that women were not spared from prison, regardless of their parental and marital situation and whether or not this was their first penalty or if it was a nonviolent crime conviction. The women generally considered their sentences to be unfair, and rehabilitation was not considered the purpose guiding judges’ sentencing decisions. Implications for the rehabilitation of justice-involved women are discussed since these perceptions might compromise their adherence to the penalties and minimize its effectiveness.

AB - Women incarceration rates in Portugal are rising, nevertheless, noncustodial sanctions should be chosen, whenever possible. This paper aims to understand which women are being sentenced to noncustodial sanctions and which are not, and what they think about their penalty, considering that the penalties’ effectiveness is linked to how they are experienced. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 152 Portuguese women serving custodial and non-custodial sentences. Results demonstrated that women were not spared from prison, regardless of their parental and marital situation and whether or not this was their first penalty or if it was a nonviolent crime conviction. The women generally considered their sentences to be unfair, and rehabilitation was not considered the purpose guiding judges’ sentencing decisions. Implications for the rehabilitation of justice-involved women are discussed since these perceptions might compromise their adherence to the penalties and minimize its effectiveness.

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KW - justice-involved women

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KW - perceptions about penal sanctions

KW - sociodemographic and juridic characterization

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DO - 10.1080/08974454.2022.2126743

M3 - Article

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JO - Women and Criminal Justice

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ER -

In or out: Justice-involved women characterization and their perceptions about penal sanctions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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