Donne rom e sinte ed esecuzione penale: un’analisi intersezionale

Research examining discrimination against Roma people in their relationship with the criminal justice system is still very limited and mostly analyzes the issue without adopting a differential approach, for example with regard to gender. Building on the gaps identified in the literature, this article aims to highlight the role of “race” and gender in the relationship between Roma people and the criminal justice system. We will present the results of two recently concluded studies, both adopting an intersectional approach, which focused respectively on Roma women serving community sentences and on the pre and post-release social reintegration processes of Roma and Sinti people. The two studies demonstrate how discrimination against Roma and Sinti women in the criminal justice system is the result of both the social construction of representations by legal and social workers, imbued with anti-Gypsy stereotypes, and structural processes that lead to their socioeconomic marginalization. A key element that emerges strongly from both studies is the need to shed light on data on “race” to highlight the existence of forms of discrimination.