Women\'s Issues in the Criminal

¶ … Women's issues in the criminal justice system [...] gender equity in sentencing and the negative impact of sentencing guidelines. Gender equity in sentencing was created to make sentencing equitable between men and women, regardless of gender, but unfortunately, it has resulted in the disenfranchising of mothers, wives, and women, and has also resulted in increased incarceration rates for poor, minority women. It also results in overcrowding in America's prisons, and places more of a burden on many local social services agencies.

Gender equity in sentencing came about in 2005 after an outcry that women offenders in the criminal justice system often received lesser prison sentences because they were mothers, wives, and women. Feminists also felt that women were not being protected adequately from crime, and many urged the updating of laws regarding women in prison. One feminist writer notes, "The law continues to differentiate between protecting women inside the home and outside the home" (Pope, 2002). The feminist view of the legal system is that it was created by men, and so is prejudicial to women from the start, and that it is inherently unfair to women. Gender equity sentencing was meant to address these concerns, plus the concerns of many others who believed that women actually received more lenient sentences because they were women. For example, many women often received probation rather than a prison sentence if they had children they had to care for (Travis and Visher, 2005, p. 222). After gender equity in sentencing, these same women often received prison sentences, leaving their children to the care of relatives or the local social welfare system. Author Pope continues that these decisions are made in a cold and calculating manner, with little regard to families and others dependent on the female prisoners. She notes, "In applying these cold and reasoned calculations that are devoid of any human element, legal thinking embraces the 'ethic of justice'" (Pope, 2002). Thus, there is no longer any margin for empathy or compassion in sentencing, or even basic understanding, and many more women crowd the nation's prisons because of this.

Studies indicate that there are more poor women in prison than ever before, and this puts women at risk to become mothers younger, and to have more instability in relationships and family life as their relationships progress. Authors Travis and Visher continue, "Imprisoned offenders are disproportionately from impoverished backgrounds, which places them at greater risk for early and nonmarital parenthood. Early transitions to parenthood are clearly linked to later instability in marriage and relationships and welfare dependency (Travis and Visher, 2005, p. 222-223). Thus, incarcerating more women is putting more families at risk, and creating a vicious circle of poverty, despair, and hopelessness that can simply lead to more criminal activity and incarceration. In addition, this leads to overcrowding of prisons and higher costs for the criminal justice system that must now administer and support more females in prison, rather than on probations, which is what many received before the sentencing guidelines were put into effect. Finally, this "equity" in sentencing also affects the social welfare system, which must care for more children of mothers sentenced to prison.