Women, Crime, and Prisons in Colombia: A Study of Criminal Paths and the Role of Prisons in the Cycle of Violence

This project examines how exposure to violence influences women’s involvement in criminal activities and explores the economic and social consequences of female incarceration in Colombia. While existing research has highlighted the broad societal costs of violence, little is known about how different types of exposure—direct or indirect, domestic or community-based—shape women's pathways into the justice system and the challenges they face upon release. This proposal development grant will support the groundwork for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at improving reintegration outcomes and reducing recidivism
among justice-involved women. With support from the Ministry of Justice, INPEC, and local NGOs, we will carry out a set of exploratory activities to assess feasibility and inform intervention design. These include: (1) conducting interviews with government officials and NGO practitioners to identify key constraints in service delivery, access to data, and implementation of reintegration support programs; and (2) using these insights to draft a roadmap for qualitative fieldwork and co-design processes with key partners. Because incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women are a hard-to-reach and often overlooked population, this phase is critical for building trust and institutional relationships, understanding operational barriers, and defining a research and policy agenda responsive to their needs. By focusing on a structurally excluded group and generating policy-relevant evidence, this project contributes to broader regional and global conversations on how to create more inclusive and data-informed justice systems for women.