Black Women in Prison Research Paper by Nicky

Black Women in Prison
A research study on the situation facing an older black female in prison today.
# 149792 | 8,524 words | 34 sources | APA | 2011 | US
Published on Jan 01, 2012 in Criminology (Criminal Justice and Corrections) , Women Studies (General) , Psychology (General)


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Description:

The paper explores the effects of being an older black female in prison today, including how prison life affects depression and anxiety levels, whether a black woman's socioeconomic background contributes to or hinders her ability to adapt to prison life and also the effect that racial and cultural discrimination may have on black female inmates serving longer sentences and facing the possibility of dying in prison. The paper outlines the methodology, participants, instruments, measures, data collection and analysis and limitations of the study. The paper reveals that the initial results of the surveys indicate a significant difference in depression, anxiety, somatization, prison adjustment and death anxiety levels between white and black female offenders. The paper considers why black female offenders show a significant increase in depression and death anxiety scales, while the white female offenders have a harder time adjusting to prison. The paper includes figures and several appendices with tables and charts.

Outline:
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Participants
Instrument
Measures
Hopkins Symptom Checklist
Templer's Death Anxiety Scale
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Results
Limitations of the Study
Discussion/Conclusion

From the Paper:

"There is also to be considered the marginal increase in the percentage of older adults in general as a result of baby boomers reaching late adulthood. Regardless of the reason, there has been a tremendous increase in long-term female incarceration and with that comes an increased concern about the health and welfare of this prison population.
"In a comparison of women prisoners to their male counterparts, the increase in population size has almost doubled. In a national comparison of female prisoners, surveys show that female prisoners are "economically, politically, and socially marginalized" (Owen and Bloom, 1995, p. 165). The lack of literature on female prisoners is not because of the fact that they do not commit crimes, but rather, social scientists choose to focus on their male counterparts instead when looking for the issues that involve prison inmates. Over the past 20 years the national female incarceration rate has more than doubled. Prison inmate size in 1990 was 44,000; the number in 2001 rose by more than 100% to 94,000. In spite of this large increase, the number of studies done on assessing adjustments in female inmates has been very limited. (Thompson and Loper, 2005, p. 715)."

Sample of Sources Used:

  • Abner, Carrie (2006). Graying prisons. State News. November / December 2006. Retrieved on 17 May 2009 from http://www.csg.org/pubs/Documents/SNnovdec.pdf
  • Aday, R. (2003). Aging Prisoners: Crisis in American Corrections, Westport, CN: Praeger Publications.
  • Aday,R.H., and Nation, P. (2001). A case study of older female offenders. Nashville: Tennessee Department of Corrections. 14-17.
  • Bean, T., Derluyn, I., Eurelings-Bontekoe, E., Broekaert, E. & Spinhoven, P. (2007). Validation of the multiple language versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-37 for refugee adolescents. Adolescence, 42(165), 51-52.
  • Beckett, Joyce (2003), Aging Matters: Growing Old in the Correctional System. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing (41),9, 12-18

Cite this Research Paper:

APA Format

Black Women in Prison (2012, January 01) Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/research-paper/black-women-in-prison-149792/

MLA Format

"Black Women in Prison" 01 January 2012. Web. 28 November. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/research-paper/black-women-in-prison-149792/>

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