The Experiences of Black and Colombian Female Offenders With the Police in Ecuador: Understanding Minorities’ Intersecting Identities

• Author: Andrea Romo Pérez
• DOI: 10.1177/1557085117744875
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085117744875

Feminist Criminology

2019, Vol. 14(3) 330 –348

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085117744875

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Article

The Experiences of Black

and Colombian Female

Offenders With the Police

in Ecuador: Understanding

Minorities’ Intersecting

Identities

Andrea Romo Pérez1

Abstract

Female offenders’ experiences with the police in Ecuador have been very diverse but

also have been largely overlooked. This article attempts to provide a more nuanced

understanding of the relationship between minority female offenders and the police,

by examining how the intersected identities of Black and Colombian female offenders

shaped their experiences during the arrest process and while in police custody. It also

looks at the police’s views and perceptions of the aforementioned groups of women.

The study is based on 51 oral testimonies from female inmates and 50 in-depth

interviews with police officers.

Keywords

intersectionality, female, offenders, discrimination, stereotypes, police

Police officers perform a critical role in the criminal justice system (CJS); their deci-

sions and actions are essential to determining who will be admitted into the system and

regarded as a criminal (Young, 2011). It has been shown, however, that the power

police officers possess has negatively affected historically marginalized ethnic, racial,

and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) groups, as well as certain groups

of immigrants, unemployed persons, and youth (Alvarez, 2015; Brunson & Miller,

2006; Gabbidon, Higgins, & Potter, 2011; Lam & Ávila, 2013; Salcedo, 2014; Smith

1Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Andrea Romo Pérez, Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin,

Rüdesheimer Str. 54-56, 14197 Berlin, Germany.

Email: andrea.romo.p@hotmail.com

744875FCXXXX10.1177/1557085117744875Feminist CriminologyRomo Pérez

research-article2017

Romo Pérez 331

& Visher, 1981; Solis, Portillos, & Brunson, 2009; Stinson, Liederbach, Brewer, &

Mathna, 2015; Visher, 1983; Young, 2011).

The police have been accused of constructing stereotypical beliefs about the crimi-

nality of certain ethnic groups (Chan, 1997). Stereotyping, as Reiner (2010) noted, “is

an inevitable tool of the suspiciousness endemic to police work” (p. 121), but it can be

dangerous, as it may result in prejudice and discrimination.

Societal negative stereotypes about different social groups persist in Ecuador, with

many detrimental consequences in a range of settings. This research indicates that the

multiple identities of some women made them prone to stereotyping, stigmatization,

and discrimination by police officers during the arrest process in this country. Many

women who reported a negative experience with the police were, in fact, members of

those marginalized groups that officers tend to describe as the most violent and as

more inclined to commit criminal activity. These groups comprise Colombian immi-

grants and refugees as well as Black people. More importantly, this research shows

that the stereotypical views of women who belong to the aforementioned groups are

negative and, in certain cases, uniquely based on the combination of their gender with

their race, ethnicity, or nationality. These negative stereotypes subjected these women

to police suspicion and, in certain instances, adversely affected their experiences with

the officers.

Using an intersectional approach, this article will address two questions. First, how

did the intersected identities of Black and Colombian female offenders shape their

experiences during the arrest process in Ecuador? Second, how did police officers

describe Black and Colombian female offenders, and is there a relationship between

officers’ perceptions of these women and the treatment women experienced during

their arrest process and while in police custody?

This study is divided into four parts. The first part explains the theoretical frame-

work of the study and provides contextual information regarding the common stereo-

types that link Blacks and Colombian immigrants and refugees to crime in Ecuador.

The second part briefly describes the methods and participants of the study. The third

part focuses on the findings. It reviews the oral testimonies of female prisoners,

specifically Colombian and Black women, regarding their perception of and experi-

ences with the police. It also looks at the police’s views and perceptions of these

women based on their different identities. In the fourth and final part (“Discussion and

Conclusion”), connections are drawn between the views of the officers and the

discrimination experienced by the aforementioned groups of women during and

following their arrest.

Conceptual Framework

Intersectionality and Police Stereotyped Views of Minorities

Intersectional theory contends that systems of power, such as race, class, and gender,

and others do not work alone when shaping our experiences but rather these “are mul-

tiplicative, inextricably linked, and simultaneously experienced” (Burgess-Proctor,