NCJ Number
137573
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1992) Pages: 218-221
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A survey of 301 sentenced female prisoners in 4 English prisons was used to describe the ethnicity of female inmates in relation to several other characteristics of the female prison population. The data collected covered ethnic origin, address at time of arrest, current and previous convictions, and length of sentence.
Abstract
Black women accounted for 20 percent of the total number of sentenced female prisoners in the U.K. However, when women resident overseas were excluded from the sample, the percentage of black female prisoners fell to 13 percent. Many of the excluded sample were from West Africa; their presence in England has coincided with the escalation of drug use within the U.K. and is not taken in account by official prison statistics. In terms of female drug offenders, 83 percent were white and 13 percent black. Despite the limitations of the sample, the results indicate that, by not including nationality data, prison statistics overrepresent ethnic minorities in the overall female prison population and particularly within the subgroup of drug offenders. 3 tables and 9 notes