Female Offenders
Aarron Eilers
February 22, 2010
Female Offenders
The number of women incarcerated is growing at a rapid pace. This calls for a reevaluation of our correction institutions to deal with women’s involvement in crime. Increasing numbers of arrests for property crime and public order offenses are outpacing that of men. The “War on Drugs” has a big influence on why our prisons have become overcrowded in the last 25 years. Women are impacted more than ever because they are being convicted equally for drug and other offenses. Female criminal behavior has always been identified as minor compared to Male’s criminal behavior. Over the years women have made up only small part of the offender populations. There is still only a small portion of the inmate population that is female but it is increasing at a high rate. Women are participating in more violent crimes and being convicted of crimes that were historically reserved for men. The Bureau of Justice Statistics which reports a yearend report of number of females incarcerated reported that there were 26,300 females behind bars for violent crimes after the year of 2002. Violent crimes in women prisons accounted for thirty-three percent of the population. The overall female population also increased 2.9 percent from 2003 to 2004.
People have recently started paying much more attention to women who commit violent crimes. Women most times have a plan and a target when committing a crime like murder. The target is usually someone very close to them such as a spouse or their children. The reasons for committing the murder range from jealously to self defense. The female usually has been a target of violence somewhere in her past as well. Research that has been done shows that a female who commits murder tends to be older than a one who commits a petty crime. The Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that most women who commit such a crime as murder did so while they were alone with the victim. Only
February 22, 2010
Female Offenders
The number of women incarcerated is growing at a rapid pace. This calls for a reevaluation of our correction institutions to deal with women’s involvement in crime. Increasing numbers of arrests for property crime and public order offenses are outpacing that of men. The “War on Drugs” has a big influence on why our prisons have become overcrowded in the last 25 years. Women are impacted more than ever because they are being convicted equally for drug and other offenses. Female criminal behavior has always been identified as minor compared to Male’s criminal behavior. Over the years women have made up only small part of the offender populations. There is still only a small portion of the inmate population that is female but it is increasing at a high rate. Women are participating in more violent crimes and being convicted of crimes that were historically reserved for men. The Bureau of Justice Statistics which reports a yearend report of number of females incarcerated reported that there were 26,300 females behind bars for violent crimes after the year of 2002. Violent crimes in women prisons accounted for thirty-three percent of the population. The overall female population also increased 2.9 percent from 2003 to 2004.
People have recently started paying much more attention to women who commit violent crimes. Women most times have a plan and a target when committing a crime like murder. The target is usually someone very close to them such as a spouse or their children. The reasons for committing the murder range from jealously to self defense. The female usually has been a target of violence somewhere in her past as well. Research that has been done shows that a female who commits murder tends to be older than a one who commits a petty crime. The Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that most women who commit such a crime as murder did so while they were alone with the victim. Only
Cited: Hickey, Eric. (2003). Encyclopedia of murder and violent crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Why Women Are Committing More Crimes, (2000, July). Retrieved February 22, 2010, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_4_98/ai_63291519/pg_2/?tag=content;col1 Women coming home: long-term patterns of recidivism Women & Girls in the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from National Criminal Justice Reference Service Web site: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/wgcjs/Summary.html Women in the criminal justice system Retrieved February 22, 2010, http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/womenincj_total.pdf Women offenders, (1999, Dec). Retrieved Feb 21, 2010, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/press/wo.pr Zaplin, T Ruth. (2007) Female Offenders: Critical Perspectives and Effective Interventions, Second Edition Sudbury, MA. Jones.