Research Article

Psychological Violence Against Women: Experiences of Women Imprisoned For Murder In Uganda

Abstract

Majority of women in prison report a history of multiple forms of violence. Much as there is considerable research on the history of violence amongst women imprisoned for murder, no research has so far been conducted in Uganda and, elsewhere, most of the studies have paid attention to physical and sexual violence. To fill this gap, I carried out a study to investigate the experience of psychological violence in the life history of women convicted of murder in Uganda. Drawing from a purposive sample of 30 women, this paper includes data from interviews with 20 women who experienced psychological violence at different stages of their lives. The study employed the qualitative tradition of phenomenology. Data were collected using face- face-to-face in-depth interviews and analysed using NVivo 12 software. Interviews with women revealed that they were subjected to psychological violence during different stages of their lives which included; during childhood, in intimate relations and during arrests and trials. Psychological violence was manifested in different ways that included among others; women being scared, insulted, yelled at and called all sorts of bad names. Perpetrators were reported to be family members, police officers, lawyers and judges.

Keywords: Psychological violence, Women convicted of murder, qualitative study, Phenomenology, Uganda