Female Criminality, Incarceration and Mental Health: A Comparative Study

The multidimensional relationship among women, crime, and mental health has picked up scientific interest only after the 1970s and in response to the pressure of the globally rising rates of crimes committed by women since then. In hopes of expanding this scientific interest, this paper gathers national and international research that adopted a gender-based approach to the mental health of incarcerated women. In this vein, databases such as Science Direct, Research Gate, Mendeley, Wiley Online Library, Google Scholar, TRDizin, ULAKBİM, DergiPark and TURKSTAT were screened for English and Turkish publications using keywords that are related to female and male inmates’ mental health. For a comprehensive portrayal of the current situation, the evolution of the approaches to the criminality of women and national and international statistics about incarcerated women and their crimes were discussed in addition to offering an extensive compilation of the studies that compare the mental health of female offenders to that of the general population and male offenders. Thus, this review aims to contribute to the studies, programs, and interventions that both consider gender-based differences and focus on the female offenders' mental health both before and during incarceration. The findings of the review indicated that gender-sensitive biopsychosocial interventions should be developed for the mental health of female inmates, and that legal and healthcare curricula should be updated accordingly.