From The Council on Criminal Justice:
Key Takeaways
The incarceration rate for women in U.S. prisons and jails has trended upward over the past several decades.
While there are significantly more men than women incarcerated in the U.S., women in the criminal justice system face distinct challenges and have a unique set of needs that frequently go unaddressed.
Women’s pathways to criminal justice system involvement differ from those of men. Most system-involved women have experienced some form of childhood abuse or trauma. Many are at high risk for experiencing violent victimization by an intimate partner, and women in jails and prisons consistently report higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders than their male counterparts.
While racial disparity in imprisonment persists, the gap between Black and White women shrunk considerably between 2000 and 2020, largely due to increased admissions for White women for drug offenses.
Women are four times more likely than men to self-report sexual victimization by other incarcerated people in prisons and more than twice as likely in jails.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual women are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and are far more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to report sexual victimization during confinement.
Women in prison are disciplined at higher rates than men, often for small infractions such as disrespect, disobedience, and being disruptive.
More than half of women in prisons are parents to minor children, and estimates suggest that at least three out of four women in jails are mothers. Prior to their incarceration, mothers were more than twice as likely as fathers to be the sole or primary caretaker of their children.
Women have specific health-related needs that prisons and jails struggle to address, ranging from the provision of menstruation supplies to pregnancy and menopausal care and the treatment of women’s higher reported rates of mental health and substance use disorders.
Gender-responsive programs, services, and diversion strategies exist, but more research is needed to establish their effectiveness.
During the reentry process, women face distinct parenting, health, and financial challenges that affect their success after release.
Read the full report here.
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