Abstract
Society has undergone an entire evolution in the field of criminal penalties, as people want to avoid, or ideally to extinguish, crime and consequent victimization. However, the human nature would hardly allow such utopian society to prevail. Hence, as individuals, we do have codes and bylaws that govern our society. The number of male prisoners is considerably higher in comparison to female prisoners. The aim of the present research is to analyze the sex inequality in the Portuguese criminal justice system, as well as to discuss the following questions: (i) Are men suffering from unjustifiable discrimination by the criminal system? Or, (ii) are there any physical and psychological differences between both sexes? A quantitative and qualitative approach was used. A legal framework was created regarding penalty enforcement, followed by a review of the literature approaching themes of criminology, victimization, and sex inequality. To enrich and empirically support this research, the statistics provided by the Directorate-General for Justice Policy of the Ministry of Portuguese Justice are presented, and a descriptive analysis on the evolution of the number of inmates in Portuguese prisons and juveniles detained in educational centers, between 2010 and 2019 was performed. Implications of this study are is discussed to highlight mediation in criminal cases as a neutral future.
Highlights
The impact of sex on crime show that women tend to perform less crimes than men (Acale Sánchez 2019)
By observing the statistical evidence, the following issues were raised: Are men wronged by the system? Aren’t women justly imprisoned? Have the crimes committed by women been classified differently? The numbers are significant and taking into account the possible consequences for the sustainability of the judicial environment and parity in other public administration areas, it is relevant for our society to understand the reasons for such difference and imbalance
Thereby, the aim of the present study is to analyze the sex inequality in the Portuguese criminal justice system and to provide the answers to the following questions: (1) Are men suffering from unjustifiable discrimination by the criminal system? Or, (2) are there any physical and psychological differences between both sexes? This leads to the reverse hypothesis that rather than discrimination against males in the criminal justice system, the disproportionate statistics of incarcerated males represent rather physical and psychological differences in the sexes
Summary
The impact of sex on crime show that women tend to perform less crimes than men (Acale Sánchez 2019). Juveniles detained in educational centers present the same tendency, where 89% of juveniles detained in educational centers are male while 11% are female. The existence of such a notorious disproportionality makes this phenomenon susceptible to scientific study. The term sustainability applied to the judicial environment has implications regarding the support of the prisons, prison financial resources, or maintenance of the prison system, and confidence in the institutions Such institutional sustainability applies for the prison system as much as it does for democracy as both can only operate in a viable away if participants, that is the citizens, agree and have a fair insight regarding its legitimacy. Both systems may turn unsustainable, tyrannous or anarchical (Pereia and Correia 2020)
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