Female criminal vulnerability and character analysis

The scenario of female criminality remains largely unexplored and there is a scarcity of data when compared to studies focused on the male population. Gender specificities must be taken into account when it comes to incarceration, as well as the particularities of women's historical development in the social context, in an attempt to understand the circumstances or motivations for criminal practices. The condition of women in prison is one of invisibility, and existing public policies do not meet the specific needs of this population. In an attempt to establish an understanding of female criminal vulnerability, we sought to analyze character according to the psychology of Austro-Hungarian analyst Wilhelm Reich, in order to understand women in their diverse contexts, identifying the stages of evolutionary development, family and emotional relationships, and the conscious and unconscious processes of the human personality, in which biological, psychological, sociological, political, and educational dimensions are articulated.