Desenvolvimento, mulheres e criminalidade: uma análise dos relatos das presidiárias detidas por envolvimento com tráfico de drogas na cadeia pública de Montes Claros/MG

Abstract

The present work analyzes the concept of development and its relationship to rates of crime, especially in reference to female criminality. To explore these ideas, in April to May of 2007, we interviewed women imprisoned in the women's ward of the Public Jail of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where twenty-nine women were imprisoned during that period. Only women who volunteered to participate were included in the investigation. 23 women completed questionnaires and, later, eight semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were applied. The first stage (quantitative) tried to outline the demographics of the prisoners, based on variables such as education, race, and income, as well as detect what crimes the women had committed. The second stage (qualitative) focused on the women who were found guilty of drug trafficking in order to better understand how the women had come to be involved in these incidents. The main conclusion is that the research population is poor, not white, and has little formal education. In addition, we found that the interviewees are often led to commit these crimes as a result of factors beyond their control.