Women Incarceration

The rate of women incarceration in the United States has been on the rise, and this is a serious matter because a majority of these women were primary caregivers of their kids before they were imprisoned. According to Sokoloff (2005), 70% of women that are incarcerated in US prisons are mothers of young children. Studies show that a majority of these women are detained for non-violent offenses, the most common being drug abuse and prostitution. Although the United States’ prison system perceives this to be a form of justice for crimes committed, there have been numerous cases where women have been treated differently compared to their male counterparts. Although either gender has the capability of committing the same criminal offense, in most
This is because their absence would be disastrous for wives and children that would be left behind (Hunt & Turner, 1989). According to the inspector, there were more women in reformatories than men because women that engage in the excessive consumption of alcohol become more reckless, which is dangerous as they are likely to neglect their duties are wives. Hence, more women were committed in reformatories in a move to prevent them from becoming reckless. Despite this explanation, one thing that comes out clearly is that women were treated harshly compared to their male
Unlike in the past, the current century has seen a sudden increase in the number of convicted women. This is due to the presence of stiffer drug sentencing laws. On numerous occasions, the US prison system has been under the spotlight for biasness in regards to the gender of prisoners. Studies have pointed out that although the department of justice is supposed to be at the forefront in advocating for gender quality, there have been numerous occasions where this it has made decisions that are against this policy. For example, there are more African American in US correctional facilities compared to whites despite the fact that a majority of US citizens are whites. In addition to the racial discrimination, a majority of women in prisons suffer from sexual abuse, usually from the male guards who use every opportunity they get to abuse them sexually. For example, correctional officers use the body search session to abuse convicted women by touching their breasts and genitalia sexually. Similarly, after establishing the Inebriate Act in 1989, it was expected that more men than women would be committed to the established reformatories considering the fact that there were more male drunkards than women. However, the outcome was different as a higher percent of females than males was committed to these