Johnson Jennifer E, Carney Tara, Kline Tracy, Browne Felicia A, Wechsberg Wendee M
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.
Subst Abuse Rehabil. 2012 Jan 28;3(Suppl 1):59-69. doi: 10.2147/SAR.S21351. eCollection 2012.
International research has suggested that women in the criminal justice system carry a higher burden of many illnesses than women in the community, especially mental health disorders, substance use disorders, sexually transmitted infections, and a history of violent victimization. Knowledge of these health disparities is often used to advocate for relevant screening and treatment services for women passing through criminal justice custody within US and European settings. However, almost all criminal justice health research has taken place in high-income countries, with little or no research taking place in other countries, especially in South Africa. This baseline analysis compares the health, substance use, and violent victimization of women who have ever been incarcerated to those who have not, in a cross-sectional sample of 720 young, vulnerable, substance-using women in Cape Town, South Africa. Results of univariate tests indicated that women who had ever been incarcerated had worse health, mental health, and sexually transmitted infection indicators and were more likely to report use of substances and to have been victims of physical and sexual assault than women who had never been incarcerated. Passing through the criminal justice system appears to be a marker for a variety of current and/or future health service needs among vulnerable South African women, suggesting that screening, prevention, and treatment referral efforts at the time of intersection with the criminal justice system may reduce health burden for these women.
国际研究表明，刑事司法系统中的女性比社区中的女性承受着更多疾病的负担，尤其是心理健康障碍、物质使用障碍、性传播感染以及暴力受害史。在美国和欧洲的环境中，这些健康差异方面的知识常被用于为通过刑事司法羁押的女性争取相关的筛查和治疗服务。然而，几乎所有刑事司法健康研究都在高收入国家进行，在其他国家，尤其是南非，很少或根本没有相关研究。这项基线分析在南非开普敦720名年轻、易受伤害、使用毒品的女性横断面样本中，比较了曾被监禁的女性与未被监禁的女性在健康、物质使用和暴力受害方面的情况。单变量测试结果表明，与从未被监禁的女性相比，曾被监禁的女性健康、心理健康和性传播感染指标更差，更有可能报告使用毒品以及遭受身体和性侵犯。对于易受伤害的南非女性来说，经历刑事司法系统似乎是当前和/或未来各种健康服务需求的一个标志，这表明在与刑事司法系统接触时进行筛查、预防和治疗转诊工作可能会减轻这些女性的健康负担。
