Women In The Criminal Justice System
Women and The Criminal Justice System
University of Toledo
Women represent the fastest growing segment of the criminal justice system (PEW Center, 2008). With more than one million women behind bars or under the control of the penal system the incarceration of women has nearly doubled the rate of men since 1985. Most of these female offenders are guilty of nonviolent drug-related crimes and should be held accountable-but for whom prison is an injudicious sentence. Most female offenders are victims of their own environment, some having a considerably turbulent upbringing, poor education, little employment experience and a history of abuse ranging from childhood through adulthood. Much of their substance abuse
University of Toledo
Women represent the fastest growing segment of the criminal justice system (PEW Center, 2008). With more than one million women behind bars or under the control of the penal system the incarceration of women has nearly doubled the rate of men since 1985. Most of these female offenders are guilty of nonviolent drug-related crimes and should be held accountable-but for whom prison is an injudicious sentence. Most female offenders are victims of their own environment, some having a considerably turbulent upbringing, poor education, little employment experience and a history of abuse ranging from childhood through adulthood. Much of their substance abuse