ABSTRACT

In the mainstream media and sociological research, the issues of police brutality and use of force have remained prevalent. However, in spite of the appreciable attention given to police brutality against male citizens in international headlines and scholarly research, female victims have been relatively ignored. The aim of this paper is to explore the experience of female offenders with the police from the point of arrest through custody. Using a mixed-method research design, participants were drawn from inmates of the Female Maximum and Medium Security Prison, Lagos. One hundred and eighty-six respondents completed questionnaires, while 27 interviews were conducted. Findings indicate that participants were subjected to a variety of physical, emotional, and sexual violence, including torture, sexual assault and intimidation, denials of essential needs, and unwarranted punishments. The pervasion of violence and abuse by police officers on female detainees is one of the consequences of the perennial deficiencies of Nigeria police to carry out intelligence-based investigation. The increase in well-trained female personnel, gender-sensitive treatment of suspects and offenders, capacity building on intelligence-based investigation, effective human right awareness, regulation and proper monitoring of officers, enhancement of professionalism, adequate funding, and provision of logistics and equipment are suggested.

摘要

在主流媒体和社会学研究中，警察暴行和使用武力的问题仍然普遍存在。然而，尽管国际头条新闻和学术研究对警察对男性公民的暴行给予了相当大的关注，但女性受害者却相对被忽视了。本文的目的是探讨女性罪犯从逮捕到拘留的整个过程中与警方的经历。使用混合方法研究设计，参与者来自拉各斯女性最高和中等安全监狱的囚犯。186 名受访者完成了问卷调查，同时进行了 27 次访谈。调查结果表明，参与者遭受了各种身体、情感和性暴力，包括酷刑、性侵犯和恐吓，否认基本需求和无理惩罚。警察对女性被拘留者的暴力和虐待行为普遍存在，这是尼日利亚警方长期缺乏开展基于情报的调查的后果之一。增加训练有素的女性人员、对嫌疑人和罪犯的性别敏感对待、基于情报的调查能力建设、有效的人权意识、对官员的监管和适当监测、提高专业性、充足的资金以及提供后勤和建议装备。