The female prison population rate and economic, gender and societal conditions

Abstract

Women in prison is a topic that has received increasing attention in academia in recent years. While women are a minority in the total prison population, the rate of women prisoners is rising and has been for many years. Earlier research shows an increase of female prison admissions in countries where women have a higher advancement in economic, societal and equality conditions. There is also research showing that women living in poverty has an increased chance of participating in criminal activities and ending up in prison.

In our thesis we will explore the relationship between economic, gender and societal variables and the female prison population rate of the total prison population. Which have culminated into our Problem statement:

Does the female prison rate correlate with several indexes and topics when it comes to female advancements in regard to economy, gender and societal conditions?

To answer our problem statement, we have used single and multiple linear regression, to analyse our dataset. When answering all our research questions and by this answering our problem statement. We have reached a conclusion that there is a relationship between our dependent variable the female prison population rate and the different topics and indexes in our independent variables. The different relationships are both positive and negative but with the exception of the Gini index (not significant) and the women’s legal rights (could not reject the null hypothesis) they all support our assumption that when economic, gender and societal conditions improve for females they will constitute a larger part of the prison population

Women in prison is a topic that has received increasing attention in academia in recent years. While women are a minority in the total prison population, the rate of women prisoners is rising and has been for many years. Earlier research shows an increase of female prison admissions in countries where women have a higher advancement in economic, societal and equality conditions. There is also research showing that women living in poverty has an increased chance of participating in criminal activities and ending up in prison.

In our thesis we will explore the relationship between economic, gender and societal variables and the female prison population rate of the total prison population. Which have culminated into our Problem statement:

Does the female prison rate correlate with several indexes and topics when it comes to female advancements in regard to economy, gender and societal conditions?

To answer our problem statement, we have used single and multiple linear regression, to analyse our dataset. When answering all our research questions and by this answering our problem statement. We have reached a conclusion that there is a relationship between our dependent variable the female prison population rate and the different topics and indexes in our independent variables. The different relationships are both positive and negative but with the exception of the Gini index (not significant) and the women’s legal rights (could not reject the null hypothesis) they all support our assumption that when economic, gender and societal conditions improve for females they will constitute a larger part of the prison population