Intersectionality and crime: Reflections from female ex-inmates in South Africa.
Agboola, Caroline; Rabe, Marlize
Intersectionality was used as a lens in this article to analyse the recounted experiences of 20
former female inmates (prisoners) of correctional centres (prisons) in South Africa. It was found
that if stratification identifiers such as race, class and gender are simultaneously analysed in
conjunction with female crime, distinctive trends of criminality can be identified. Fraud and
shoplifting were the two most common offences for which women in this study were sentenced and
the majority of them had relatively short sentences. It was found that the types of crime women
have committed and their experiences whilst being incarcerated were influenced by their access
to financial resources which, in turn, was simultaneously influenced by their educational levels
and racial category. Multiple positions of power and hardship were revealed in this study.
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