Caracterização psicológica de mulheres que praticaram crimes violentos : uma revisão sistemática da literatura

Abstract

Background: Violent crime perpetrated by women has been a poorly studied phenomenon. Most of the investigation focuses on the comparison between men and women, seeking to understand the lesser involvement of women in crime, or focuses on the history of victimization and situations of adversity, obscuring the psychological characterization. Objective: To obtain a detailed description of the literature and studies on the psychological characterization of women who commit violent crimes. Method: Systematic review, using the PRISMA-P guidelines. Eligibility criteria were developed for the selection of publications and the research was carried out in 7 electronic databases. The process was carried out by two independent researchers. Results: The studies are almost all quantitative, with a retrospective cross-sectional design, with data collection in the prison system. There is a variability in the type of studies regarding the use of control groups. Most studies are carried out in Europe, mainly in the countries of the North. Studies tend to use a variety of collection instruments (databases of the prison system, self-report instruments and interviews). Depending on the samples used, the results point to contradictory results. Conclusion: When studies use only samples of women who have committed violent crimes, they tend to point to the existence of mental health problems, mainly personality disorders. When studies use comparative samples, the results start to be less consistent. Despite this diversity, some transversal and / or more consensual psychological indicators are identified.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	Ana Rita Conde Dias (Supervisor)