Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment
Thailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South East Asia and there has been substantial growth since the 1990s....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Laws |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/9/2/15 |
| _version_ | 1797564472531877888 |
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| author | Samantha Jeffries Chontit Chuenurah Tristan Russell |
| author_facet | Samantha Jeffries Chontit Chuenurah Tristan Russell |
| author_sort | Samantha Jeffries |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Thailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South East Asia and there has been substantial growth since the 1990s. This increase has been driven by punitive changes in drug law, criminal justice policy/practice which have disproportionately impacted women. As female representation in Thailand’s prisons grows, so does the number of women who return to communities. Thus, one of the challenges facing Thai society is the efficacious re-integration of growing numbers of formally incarcerated women. However, what is known about re-entry comes almost exclusively from studies of prisoners (usually men) returning home in western societies. Re-integration does not occur in a vacuum. Supporting women post-release necessitates knowledge of their pathways to, experiences of, and journeys out of prison. Utilising in-depth interviews with (<i>n</i> = 80) imprisoned/formally incarcerated women and focus groups with (<i>n</i> = 16) correctional staff, this paper reports findings from the first comprehensive study of women’s re-integration expectations and experiences in Thailand. Findings showed that women had multifaceted and intersectional needs which directed their pathways into, during, and out of prison. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:57:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-da98ac9f21e84e20b6aec33d826793eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:57:45Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Laws |
| spelling | doaj.art-da98ac9f21e84e20b6aec33d826793eb2023-11-20T04:38:08ZengMDPI AGLaws2075-471X2020-06-01921510.3390/laws9020015Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-ImprisonmentSamantha Jeffries0Chontit Chuenurah1Tristan Russell2School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith Criminology Institute, Mount Gravatt Campus, Griffith University, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122, AustraliaChief of the Implementation of the Bangkok Rules and Treatment of Offenders Programme, Thailand Institute of Justice, GPF Building 15-16th Floor, Witthayu Road, Lumpinee, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, ThailandSchool of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith Criminology Institute, Mount Gravatt Campus, Griffith University, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122, AustraliaThailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South East Asia and there has been substantial growth since the 1990s. This increase has been driven by punitive changes in drug law, criminal justice policy/practice which have disproportionately impacted women. As female representation in Thailand’s prisons grows, so does the number of women who return to communities. Thus, one of the challenges facing Thai society is the efficacious re-integration of growing numbers of formally incarcerated women. However, what is known about re-entry comes almost exclusively from studies of prisoners (usually men) returning home in western societies. Re-integration does not occur in a vacuum. Supporting women post-release necessitates knowledge of their pathways to, experiences of, and journeys out of prison. Utilising in-depth interviews with (<i>n</i> = 80) imprisoned/formally incarcerated women and focus groups with (<i>n</i> = 16) correctional staff, this paper reports findings from the first comprehensive study of women’s re-integration expectations and experiences in Thailand. Findings showed that women had multifaceted and intersectional needs which directed their pathways into, during, and out of prison.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/9/2/15womenprisonpathwaysre-entryre-integrationThailand |
| spellingShingle | Samantha Jeffries Chontit Chuenurah Tristan Russell Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment Laws women prison pathways re-entry re-integration Thailand |
| title | Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment |
| title_full | Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment |
| title_fullStr | Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment |
| title_short | Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment |
| title_sort | expectations and experiences of women imprisoned for drug offending and returning to communities in thailand understanding women s pathways into through and post imprisonment |
| topic | women prison pathways re-entry re-integration Thailand |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/9/2/15 |
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