NCJ Number
222100
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2003 Pages: 798-812
Date Published
July 2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article describes the demographic, penal, and psychopathological characteristics of men who are in prison for committing a serious offense of gender violence.
Abstract
The results indicated the existence of irrational beliefs both about women and violence as a strategy to cope with everyday difficulties, as well as a general inadaptation to daily life. The study concludes that from a sociodemographic perspective, the participants have a mean age of 40, have only a very basic education, and are of lower-middle and lower social class. The most characteristic feature of this group is the high percentage of divorced men and widowers, which is directly related to the type of offense committed (violence against women). The incidence of past histories of psychiatric problems in the sample is only slightly higher than in the population as a whole. In criminological terms, almost half of the participants killed their partners, or attempted to do so, which was why the prison sentences were rather long. More than two-thirds of the sample had no previous prison record, an indication of the specific nature of gender-based violence outside the course of a criminal career. From the psychopathological viewpoint, this symptomatology currently presented is not very high, especially among those who've spent a long time in prison, at least related to the general population. Data were collected for 54 men in prison for a serious offense of violence against their intimate partner, and serving sentences in a Federal penitentiary in Spain. Tables, references