NCJ Number
75094
Journal
America Volume: 142 Dated: (April 19, 1980) Pages: 339-342
Date Published
1980
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The problems of women convicted of crimes and sentenced to imprisonment are examined, and alternative methods of dealing with these women are suggested.
Abstract
The tremendous rise in crimes committed by women in the 1970's can be attributed more to increased arrests and prosecutions than to an increase in the numbers of crimes being committed. Actual increases have occurred primarily in the areas of economic and property crimes. Women convicted of crimes face crucial differences from men in incarceration. Separation from children is a major problem because 70 percent of incarcerated women are mothers, 21,000 children on any given day are affected, the majority of them under the age of 10. The separation has serious psychological effects on mothers and children, which can be exacerbated by the distance of women's prisoners from their homes caused by the relative scarcity of prisons for women. Restrictive visiting privileges (e.g., no contact visits) also add to the problem. Female prisoners develop dependencies on prison staff that men are much less likely to develop, while mental illness is much higher among women in prison than men, with no corresponding availability of treatment. Educational, job-training, and release programs for women are lacking or inadequate, due to scarcity of resources; also, the relatively small number of women incarcerated has led to an inequitable allocation of funds between correctional facilities for men and women. Special programs for uniting incarcerated mothers and their children and for training women for higher paying and nontraditional jobs are few and far between. There are less costly, more productive alternatives to the current scheme of incarcerating women, most of whom commit nonviolent crimes. Women could be incarcerated in small, community-based facilities to maintain familial ties and to provide ready access to work-release programs. Further, women convicted of nonviolent crimes could be assigned to public service jobs in lieu of imprisonment.