Framställningen av fängelsedömda kvinnor: en diskursanalys av könsskillnader i svensk offentlig debatt

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and analyze the discourse on female prisoners in Sweden. To be sentenced to prison requires severe criminality and the lifetime sentence is the most severe conviction to criminal acts. Female prisoners are a small group (six percent of all convicted individuals in 2017) and for that reason there is limited research about these women. Therefore, this dissertation is going to contribute to research in the field. The existing tension in the public debate, clarify the importance of analyzing the discourse of female prisoners. The question that has been asked is: How can a possible discrepancy between female and male prisoners in the public debate be explained? To answer this question, the method that has been used is a discourse analysis of twelve newspaper articles and eight governmental reports. The discourse in the public debate clarified that women are being mistreated in Swedish prisons, but even the contrary has been shown as well as it doesn’t exist any difference in the debate between female and male prisoners. The theories of hegemonic masculinity and Fairclough’s legitimating, have been applied due to explain this complex situation. Development of knowledge is important to understand the real context in prisons and to work out interventions to solve the reigning problems.