CAUSES OF VIOLATING PRISONERSʼ RIGHT TO A DECENT LIFE. ROMANIA IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

• Main Author: Simona MIHAIU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Sitech 2019-11-01
• Series: Social Sciences and Education Research Review
• Subjects: prisonersʼ rights; decent life; penitentiary; european standards; penal policies
• Online Access: https://sserr.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SSERR_2019_6_2_216_243.pdf

This paper presents a part of the results of a research project named "Prisoners’ Rights. Romania in the European Context", conducted at the Institute of Sociology of the Romanian Academy, between November 2015 and September 2017. Given the novelty of our study for Romania, we have considered an exploratory data analysis as a feasible methodology, able to objectively highlight and model our findings. Based on the perception of the sociological inquiry respondents (N = 557), the main causes of the violation of their right to a decent life in penitentiary were identified to be overcrowding, disinterest on the part of the state and old infrastructure of penitentiaries. From a statistical point of view, the Pearson’s chi square test indicated significant or highly significant associations between most of the causes of the breaching the prisoners’ right to decent living.