”Från partyprinsessa på Stureplan till bostadslös heroinist på Plattan”

: en kvalitativ studie om 12 kvinnors upplevelser kring sina brottsaktiva perioder

Abstract

Based on qualitative interviews, this study outlines the lives of 12 former criminal women, with a focus on how their criminal lives came about and subsequently ended. The study also focuses on how they saw their identities as well as the ways in which their experiences could be understood through a gender perspective. The interviews have been analyzed using Hirschi's theory of social bond, Sutherland's theory of differential association, Goffman's theories about roles, identity and stigma and Messerschmidt's concepts about gender, masculinities and femininities. The results show that childhood trauma contributed to the beginning of a criminal career for all interviewees; leading the women to seek interaction with likeminded people and thus contributing to the development of identity. All participants in this study state that they ended their criminal career when they felt that their addiction as well as the situation itself was unbearable. The individual choice seems to be key; both with regard to initiating, as well as ending the criminal lifestyle. With regard to the gender aspect, this study lends evidence towards the notion that the judiciary system, as well as the criminals themselves, treats females differently from males. The feminine gender seems to be portrayed as subordinate to the masculine gender. Several of the participants admit to an adaptation of a masculine role in order to survive in the criminal world. A criminal man appears to meet the most idealized form of masculinity whilst a criminal woman goes against all the expectations of femininity.