NCJ Number
183061
Date Published
1999
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This chapter identifies and examines some of the persistent methodological and practical problems that have previously been identified by Australian and international independent academic and community-based researchers undertaking research on women's imprisonment; it also addresses the new difficulties facing researchers in Australia today as a result of the changing social, economic, and political climate of economic rationalism and privatization.
Abstract
Researching women's imprisonment has traditionally involved complex and persistent practical and methodological problems. Feminist researchers have had to walk a tightrope of theoretical, political, moral, and personal dilemmas in order to provide some knowledge and understanding of women's experiences of imprisonment. Now researchers must face a new set of difficulties that are more complex than ever before. In the context of economic rationalism and privatization, only limited funds are made available for research into women's imprisonment, and access to vital information has been severely curtailed. The political, social, and economic factors that have led to the private management of prisons in Australia and overseas are creating a climate in which opportunities to research women's imprisonment are steadily diminishing. 69 notes and 46 references