Criminologists have not dealt with crimes committed by women in a long time. The lack of research on these crimes was frequently justified by the fact that official crime statistics counting crimes committed by women are extremely low. This gap in the research was extended due to the overwhelming power of men in guiding research in this area. In the last two decade, however, we have witnessed a prison paradox because the West has reversed the trend of growth in the number of incarcerated women. Slovenia has been among the countries with a high rate of female incarceration. This thesis highlights the area of punishment and enforcement of criminal sanctions, with a focus on how women are punished. In most cases, women commit non-violent crimes such as theft, writing bad checks, vulgarity, and property crimes. This study seeks to understand why the incarceration rate of women has increased in Slovenia and to determine the factors that have contributed to the increasingly punitive measures against convicted females. As penalties have increased, the use of alternative measures have decreased and more females have been sent to prison. Formal social supervision of the convicted individual attempts to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society. Modern social developments support refined criminal justice modes for female convicts, but, as yet, they have not been realized.
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