NCJ Number
89960
Date Published
1980
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This report on female inmates in Panama, Costa Rica, and Colombia is drawn from the respective country's official crime statistics, prison archives, and interviews with correctional personnel as well as with women in correctional institutions.
Abstract
It attempts to document the characteristics of female offenders and their crimes and to provide insight into the social backgrounds and correctional conditions of imprisoned women in the Latin American countries. The data cited cover approximately the years from the late 1960's through 1977. Each country's situation is reported separately, with the following topics highlighted: proportion of all crimes committed by females; proportion of arrests and prosecutions involving female defendants; and crime types with high female participation, i.e., prostitution and drug-related offenses. Facility conditions are represented by data on sentencing length; female prison populations; and by discussions on inmates' social background and special problems such as children, reasons for criminal involvement, and personal difficulties arising from imprisonment. Some comparative tabulations of prison populations in Latin American countries are appended. Charts, tabular data, footnotes and a bibliography of 13 entries are given.