Study of the violence imprisoned women were exposed to in their lives

Abstract

Violence is closely linked with social, economic and political structures, as well as with the subjects inner states, present in the dialectic relationships between victims and aggressors, and between the collective, objective and subjective aspects. When we look at a female prison population, the violence problem can assume different dimensions. Besides having committed some kind of violence, these women may also have been victims during their lives. Thus, it becomes important to invest in characterizing the violence imprisoned women were exposed to in their earlier life and to verify knowledge about this theme and the type of participation they have experienced in violence situations. This study will be carried out at the Female Penitentiary of Ribeirão Preto-SP, which currently houses a population of 335 prisoners, called reeducandas (persons subject to re-education). This is an exploratory and descriptive study with a qualitative approach. The research sample will consist of 15 prisoners, randomly selected from the penitentiary official list. This numerical range can be narrowed or expanded, in line with the proposed objectives and the rules of the field. Data will be collected through recorded semistructured interviews, subdivided in two parts: part I, drawing the prisoners sociodemographic profile, including personal data to identify the interviewee, using closed questions, which will be registered manually by the researcher; part II, composed of ten open questions (previously constructed and submitted to evaluation by three experts) about their understanding of violence, including the types, whether they committed or where victims inside and outside the penitentiary. The researcher will subsequently write down her perceptions about the interviewee (gestures, attitudes and voice inflections). Thus, attempts are made to describe or reveal the conceptions and experiences related to violence of imprisoned women and offer, through the interviews, a space of attention to allow them to talk about their stories, reflecting on the circumstances related to their crimes and their current condition of imprisonment. This information is crucial to implement abuse and crime prevention and rehabilitation programs for victimized women who have become aggressors or criminals. (AU)