Abstract
Globally, female incarceration rates are rising faster than those of men. Prisons are highly masculinized environments and often disregard female inmates’ gendered physical and mental healthcare needs. Gendered deficiencies can result in higher recidivism and mortality rates and increased psychological and physical illness for women. Widespread intersecting factors such as structural failures and personal and collective identities have played a role in women’s susceptibility to violence, oppression, and incarceration. We propose that incarceration can be a form of gender-based oppression and violence against women (VAW) and that incarceration serves as a risk multiplier for existing vulnerabilities, including modern slavery victimization. The present study expands on existing literature that explores the complex relationship between VAW, gender inequality, and gendered susceptibility to modern slavery by including an investigation of female incarceration rates. Results indicate that VAW and female incarceration rates significantly predict the estimated prevalence of modern slavery. Further, female homicide, interpersonal violence, and lifetime prevalence of VAW were strong single predictors of modern slavery but not female incarceration. While differences regarding the gendered vulnerabilities to incarceration for women exist across countries, evidence has suggested—and our findings support—that VAW can increase susceptibility to incarceration status for women.
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Data Availability
The data sets analyzed during this study are publicly available from the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (https://dataunodc.un.org/), the U.N. Office of Economic and Community Development (https://data.oecd.org/inequality/violence-against-women.htm), the World Prison Brief (https://www.prisonstudies.org/w orld-prison-brief-data), the Prison Policy Initiative (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/women/2018.html), and the Walk Free Foundation (https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/resources/downloads).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Erinn C. Cameron, Janine M. Ray, Fiona J. Trend-Cunningham and Kristine M. Jacquin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Erinn C. Cameron and Janine M. Ray, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Cameron, E.C., Ray, J.M., Trend-Cunningham, F.J. et al. Female Incarceration Rates and Violence Against Women Predict Estimated Prevalence of Modern Slavery. Trends in Psychol. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-022-00239-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-022-00239-7