AbstractsWomens Studies

This project examines processes of capital of imprisoned and newly released women in Lebanon. Qualitative data, based on semi-structured interviews with people working closely with female offenders, offer retrospective reflections and current accounts that delineate many of the effects of imprisonment and the stigmatizing label that comes with it. Our research questions have been used to outline certain concepts and analyse various aspects of our research problem. In first question we look on what the citizenship status of women in Lebanon is and how the inequalities it holds, may affect criminal tendencies. In the second question we will give an overview of the different rehabilitation processes arranged for the women during their prison sentence. It will search to answer what the humanitarian projects do in order to prepare both the women and the society, for the women’s re-integration. In the third question we will analyze what kinds of barriers the newly released women face and how the label as a criminal affects their reintegration. Analyzing our data in the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu and Howard Becker, we conclude that imprisonment and being labeled as criminal remarkably decreases the social, economic, symbolic and cultural capital of female offenders after being released from prison. Nevertheless there are numerous NGOs that work with strengthening the women’s capital and recourses to enter the society with a criminal background.