The Criminal Justice System For Two Reasons

For the last forty years, women have been steadily increasing the prison populations. The United States has one third of the world’s female prison population. Incarceration rates for females have increased more drastically than for males since the early 1970s. By 2010, the women’s incarceration rate ascended twice as fast as the male prison population. One of the biggest reasons women have become

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

women has increased significantly, increasing at a rate double to the rate of male incarceration since 1980 (Covington & Bloom, 2006). Braithwaite, Treadwell and Arriola note that incarcerated women have historically been a forgotten population, and despite the rapid growth of the population, their needs have continued to be ignored (2005). In addition to the stigma that comes with being or having been incarcerated,

his paper examines multiple factors that help determine reasons for why there is such a great amount of people relapsing back into criminal behavior once released, which only leads them into a federal or state prison. Recidivism can be perceived into different category’s based upon the why factor. Criminal acts that result in rearrests, and reconviction or return to prison with or without new a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner’s release is considered recidivism. There are many different reasons why a person goes back into prison once being released, whether by choice or force or even just nature of habit. Many studies have been conducted to find a pattern or reason on why recidivism is so common. Available

Very little work has focused on studying recidivism by offenders after punishment and how prevention measures may improve recidivism rates and affect cooperation. “National recidivism rates are at an estimated amount of 73% and of the whole jail population 42.5% are women” (Berenji, 2014, p.131). As you can see about half of the inhabitants of the jails are women; so recidivism is an ongoing issue that needs to be solved. Recidivism is a growing distress in the U.S today, not only with men but women as well. Not many studies have been steered towards women reverting back to crime as there are men, but it is a concern. It is impossible to make this issue disappear fully, but with fundamental changes the

It is no secret that the United States’ criminal justice system is majorly flawed in more ways than one. We hear of all of the injustice that many civilians face on a day to day basis, which mostly surrounds the problems related to men, but what about women? Why don’t we hear about the tribulations and sufferings that our women undergo on a day to day basis within our criminal justice system? As mentioned in an article from the American Jail Association, investigation in fields ranging from subjects of general and mental health, substance abuse and addiction relating to drugs and prescriptions, and physical violence against women combined with examination and practice in the criminal justice field, have discovered that women offenders experience challenges that are not only different from their male counterparts, but also greatly influence their involvement in criminal justice systems, including jails and prisons (Ney, 2014). This information alone provides a basis to why imprisoned women should be more of a topic. This literature review will examine the several ways in which women who are incarcerated experience emotional trauma; and in some ways, abuse. My hypothesis is that most of the trauma encountered by incarcerated women majorly branches from preceding events and occurrences that happened prior to becoming imprisoned, and that they worsen as a result of improper treatment and resources within

The system unable to adapt for such a small number in comparison to men, incarcerated women are expected to fit into an institution developed by men for men, resulting in worse conditions, less familial contact due to fewer facilities, and more rules as if the women were children, all direct reflections institutionalized sexism and HM both in and out of the corrections arena. Additionally, due to the Madonna-like factor, women who are convicted have a farther fall from grace within society and do not have the luxury of the “good old boy” connections for defense and protection. While gender roles and expectations are assigned by society, believing women should be equal to men demands the acknowledgement that women can offend like men (Pearson, 1998) and therefore should be incarcerated not ‘like men’ but in an equalized manner. Perhaps, rather than revamping institutions developed to house and rehabilitate women, we first investigate the standards currently in play for the policing, convicting and sentencing of men as the foundation of creating a nonsexist criminal justice

Mass incarceration not only takes a toll on adults but on children as well. Along with the men, women are also being incarcerated, in the last ten years the rates of women being put behind bars has increased. According to Court Services and Offender Supervision

Like many issues in America, the conversation is yet to be had about the mental health of women in prisons/jails. As stated by Hatton and Fisher, identifying these pathways, creating programs, and aligning this issue with political parties and major organizations (1306), this issue can finally be on the road to recovery, helping to break the cycle of reentry into prisons/jails and bettering the lives of individuals as well as their

The question for this research survey is the following: are women offenders more likely to be successful if they participate in a gender-response program versus a traditional, non-gender specific program? Women often respond to incarceration and related issues with criminality in a way that is far different from men. With that in mind, the question asked here is one that is in need of answering in order to determine what can be done to help women move forward with their lives and avoid becoming repeat offenders. Without asking the right questions, a survey will not provide true insight (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011). Additionally, the "how" of the issue is often the most important concern when one is conducting a survey that can be used to improve lives in the future (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011). In other words, it is not just about why something needs to be changed, but about how it could be changed in order to provide the highest level of benefit to those who use it (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011).

Nearly, 5% of the world 's population is represented by the United who possesses 25% of the world 's prisoners (Liptak, 2008). Approximately 2.2 million prisoners are awaiting pre-trial and 1.6 million post-trial inmates are incarcerated in city, state, and federal prisons throughout the United States, equating to 756 per 100,000 people incarcerated (Carson & Golinelli, 2013; Exworthy et. al., 2012). Nearly 700,000 men and women are discharged from prison yearly (Mallik-Kane & Visher, 2008). Recidivism places a strain on the prison by means of over crowdedness and lack of funds. Recidivism is defined as repeated arrest or incarceration. A report, by the Bureau of Justice states that over 2/3 ex-felons were re-incarcerated within three years of previous conviction; eight out of ten suffers from chronic health conditions (James & Glaze, 2006). Mental illness in the United States criminal justice system is significantly prevalent. The Bureau of Justice and Statics report that approximately 73% of females and 55% of males are in state prisons, while 75% of females and 63% of males are in local jails (James & Glaze, 2006). Within this population, female inmates represent a large portion of those incarcerated in federal prisons diagnosed with mental

Involvement of women in the criminal justice system has been notably increasing (Bottos, 2007). This increase has been astounding in the United States; women represented 12,300 of offenders incarcerated in state and federal prisons in the year 1980, that number has risen to 182, 271 as of 2002 (Grant, 2007). A study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that “drug offenses represented the largest share of growth in the number of female offenders” (Covington, p.2). It was also noted that 71% of all female arrests are for drug-related offenses (Grant, 2007), and of female offenders in Canadian Federal institutions 80% have substance abuse problems (Matheson, Grant, and Doherty, 2008). Therefore on the basis of empirical support it

Evidence-based interventions have proven to be an effective measure to decrease recidivism for incarcerated female inmates’ despite over the past years the incarceration rate had drastically increased. In-prison treatment programs are tailored to reduce risk of recidivism when released and to reduce disruptive behavior within (Bonta, Pang, & Wallace-Capretta, 1995). The risk-reduction model focus on recidivism; it identifies risk factors that causes the behavior and empirically shown to predict reoccurrences; whereas, the enhancement model focus on the psychological and physical well-being of the inmate; “it identifies improvement matters such as coping with physical or sexual abuse, parenting, and HIV risk (Schram & Morash, 2002), with the assumption that improved psychosocial well-being will ultimately reduce women’s likelihood of criminal behavior” (Sorbello, Eccleston, Ward, & Jones, 2002, p. 15).

This research paper will focusing on incarcerated female inmates in the US prison system. Mainly the systemacy, environment and also the ills which is hindering its advancement of this sector of the criminal justice system. Also, diving into the diversity, political affiliations etc.

The study will be done through qualitative line of inquiry. Qualitative data provides a prosperous, thorough picture to be built up about why people act in certain ways, and their feelings about these actions, which provides the researcher with a clear understanding of the data. Qualitative data is also useful for studying limited data in-depth; for the purpose of this study to be accomplished, the data needs to be studied in-depth. Thematizing meanings is one of few shared generic skills across qualitative analysis (Holloway and Todres, 2003). The epistemological position of qualitative research is interpretivist and this will be particularly helpful in attempting to understand the struggles faced by female ex-offenders when they re-enter society and how they move past this to get back on their feet (Bryman, 2012). Due to the nature of the research, secondary data analysis will be employed through thematic analysis. Thematic analysis will be particularly useful in understanding how the women desist from crime to sort out their lives and move on from a life of crime “focuses on identifiable themes and patterns of living and talk and aims to generate descriptions of strategies and behaviours” (Hammersmith and Atkinson, 1995). In addition, it will also assist in understanding how prison life affects women’s behaviour when they are released to enter back into society.