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Exploring pathways to incarceration among Indian and Sri Lankan women
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Bhardwaj, Ntasha. Exploring pathways to incarceration among Indian and Sri Lankan women. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-4phx-yx60

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TitleExploring pathways to incarceration among Indian and Sri Lankan women
NameBhardwaj, Ntasha (author); Miller, Jody (chair); Griffiths, Elizabeth (member); Bacak, Valerio (member); Panfil, Vanessa R. (member); Rutgers University; Graduate School - Newark
Date Created2023
Other Date2023-01 (degree)
SubjectCriminology, Comparative research, Gender, Incarceration, India, Sri Lanka, Women
Extent212 pages : illiustrations
DescriptionGlobally more than 714,000 women are held in penal institutions either as remanded or convicted prisoners. Existing research highlights the role of abuse; violence; substance use; and structural inequalities such as poverty, social class, and access to education in the lives and carceral pathways of women incarcerated in Western contexts. These studies suggest that the majority of the women are from the most marginalized sections of society, are embedded within unstable families characterized by violence, have high risks for substance abuse, are particularly vulnerable to psychosomatic complaints, and experience heightened consequences resulting from gender inequalities reproduced culturally and institutionally. While studies set in Western contexts serve as a useful guide for research in non-Western settings, due to social and cultural differences, it is essential to carry out country-specific prison pathways research, both to understand women’s unique pathways in context and to build a comparative knowledge base. The limited work available suggests that despite India and Sri Lanka’s proximity and notable cultural similarities, women’s patterns of incarceration in the two countries are quite distinct, with a disproportionate share of women in India incarcerated for family violence while most incarcerated women in Sri Lanka are convicted for vagrancy and excise offenses. This dissertation comparatively investigates pathways to incarceration among women in India and Sri Lanka using a life course/pathways perspective. I utilize 181 qualitative life history interviews, supplemented with information from life event calendars, with incarcerated women in India (N=85) and Sri Lanka (N=96). My findings reveal important similarities and differences across the two sites in women’s pre-carceral experiences, the cultural contexts that shape how they narrate their life stories and criminal offenses, and the social contexts that lead to their incarceration. Findings from the study complicate the monolithic story often told about South Asia and identify the unique experiences that shape women’s pathways to incarceration in India and Sri Lanka, expanding our understanding of the intersections of gender, violence, inequalities, and crime.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-4phx-yx60
LanguageEnglish
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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