Intersectionality and Criminal Vulnerability among Women Convicted of Illicit Drug Trafficking: A Qualitative Analysis of Prison Records

Abstract

Female incarceration for offenses related to drug trafficking poses legal and social challenges that require examining criminal punishment beyond the formal subsumption of conduct. The objective of this study was to analyze, from an intersectional perspective, the factors of penal vulnerability present in women sentenced for drug trafficking, based on a qualitative examination of penitentiary case files. The research followed a qualitative approach, with a documentary, descriptive-interpretive, and non-experimental design. Ten coded penitentiary case files, together with social and psychological reports, were analyzed through an operational extraction form and thematic content analysis. The results showed the concurrence of extreme poverty, low educational attainment, motherhood, female household headship, rural or urban-peripheral background, Indigenous language use, family dependency, anxiety, depressive traits, recruitment through economic need or deception, participation as drug couriers, and limited knowledge of the illicit operation. The discussion showed that these factors did not appear in isolation, but were articulated within trajectories of intersectional vulnerability that may be relevant for assessing culpability and proportionality in sentencing. The study concludes that penitentiary case files and expert reports constitute useful documentary sources for identifying conditions of penal vulnerability and for promoting a more individualized judicial response, without disregarding criminal responsibility or extending the findings beyond the analyzed corpus.