The Incarceration of Women

Research by Emily Thomas

Introduction

With International Women’s Day fast approaching raising awareness of the continuing injustice for women across the globe is key.

The number of incarcerated women in 2020 was nearly five times higher than that of 1980. That statistic sets the scene for the issues for women today. Women have one of the fastest growing prison populations with structural racism being prominent alongside it.

United Nations

According to a report from the United Nations, women are disproportionally affected by discrimination in justice systems across the globe, with barriers being significantly higher to access legal representation and support. Alongside discrimination in detecting and sentencing of crime, with the system being predominantly male dominated, the needs of incarcerated women are quickly forgotten. The UN has called for action to be taken, including new laws in line with international standard which enforce gender diversity amongst professionals and combatting gender bias. Whether these policies will go far enough to close the gap between incarcerated men and women, is perhaps the better question.

The suggestion by the UN to promote gender-responsive non-custodial measures which reduce the unnecessary imprisonment of women, is essential. A key issue raised by Helena Kennedy is that women face prison time for petty crimes, yet men generally serve time for more severe crimes. This UN idea is long overdue and could support the prevention of this inequality by enforcing legal reform, capacity building and raising awareness to develop a consistent scale for crimes resulting in prison time.?

Issues Faced by Incarcerated Women

In the US 60% of women in federal prisons are sentenced for drug offences (1), with rates being higher in many states. Further, most other offences committed by women involve non-violent crime, associated with poverty, partner violence and disadvantage. Men are often less likely to be sentenced for this lower-level crime. In the UK, women are subject to different rules and entrenched societal inequality has meant that “painting a female client as a paragon of traditional womanhood [meant] she would experience more mercy from a judge” (2). Equality would not mean equal statistics, but it would mean withholding judgement for women which their male counterparts are not subject to, including their types of clothing and parenting skills.

Kennedy states that a women’s sentence, when considering prison time or a community order, is based upon the perception which is made of her. Where there’s a hint that she could be a bad mother or emotionally unstable, her case is lost. This judgement is not even a consideration for the male counterpart, even though women are often the primary carers for their children and unnecessary separation is only furthering other issues in our society.

Summary

These issues of inequality raise the question of not only policy in the UK, but also worldwide. There are clear issues which must be addressed but the inequality for women at trial and once incarcerated raise serious questions over what equality really means in today’s society.

Research Links

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