El género como factor condicionante de la victimización y de la criminalidad femenina

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between gender, victimization, criminality, imprisonment and the social reintegration of women offenders based on the results of research carried out in the framework of the project Equality and Law: Gender and Nationality as Primary Factors of Discrimination (I+D 2010-19781). Criminological research methods were used, including surveys on victimization and crime and discussion forums carried out in Spanish prisons and one from El Salvador, as well as data from official statistics and case law. The findings show that gender is a factor that rules the lives of women victims of crime, influences their criminal career and subsequently becomes a decisive factor in the execution of the sentence. Women can legitimately be asked to eliminate violence from their lives, but only if we are able to eliminate the gender violence against women tolerated by society. Otherwise, their criminal actions are only a form of mistaken and unconscious self-defense.