December 12, 2007
With more than one million women behind bars or under the control of the
criminal justice system, women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated
population increasing at nearly double the rate of men since 1985.
- Nationally, there are more than 8x as many women incarcerated in state
and federal prisons and local jails as there were in 1980, increasing in
number from 12,300 in 1980 to 182,271 by 2002.
- Expanding at 4.6% annually between 1995 and 2005, women now account for
7% of the population in state and federal prisons.
- Between 19 77 and 2004, New Jersey 's female prison population grew by
717% with an average annual percent change of 8.8% per year.
- Th roughout the period from 1977 to 2004, New Jersey 's female imprisonment
rate was 33 female prisoners per 100,000 female residents.
- In 1977 there were 180 total female sentenced prisoners in New Jersey
- In 2004 there were 1,470 total female sentenced prisoners in New Jersey
The male to female imprisonment ration indicates the number of male inmates
to every female inmate
- In 1977, across the states, there were an average of 26 male prisoners
for every female prisoner; New Jersey 's 1977 ration was higher than average
with 29 male prisoners for every female prisoner
- In 2004, New Jersey 's male to female imprisonment ration (17:1) remained
higher than the average across states
Over the past 20 years the war on drugs has caused significant rise in
the number of women incarcerated and their access to adequate drug treatment.
- 40% of criminal convictions leading to incarceration of women in 2000
were for drug crimes
- 34% were for other non-violent crimes such as burglary, larceny, and
fraud
- 18% of women in prison have been convicted because of violent conduct
- 7% were for public order offenses such as drunk driving, liquor law violations
and vagrancy
Many women in prison have experienced physical or sexual trauma at the
hands of men.
- 92% of all women in California prisons had been “battered and abused” in
their lifetimes.
- It appears that no such study has even been conducted in the State of
New Jersey.
Women of color are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice
system.
- Black women represent 30% of all incarcerated women in the U.S, although
they represent 13% of the female population generally
- Hispanic women represent 16% of incarcerated women, although they make
up only 11% of all women in the U.S.
Among female state prisoners, two-thirds are mothers of a minor child.
- Over 1.5 million children have a parent in prison
- More than 8.3 million children have a parent under correctional supervision and
more than one in five of these children is under five years old.
Source List
Caught in the Net: The Impact of Drug Policies on Women and Families .
ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice & Break the Chains. April 2005.
Christopher
Hartney, National Council on Crime and Delinquency, The Nation's
Most Punitive States for Women Fact Sheet , July 2007.
Face the Facts: Women,
Girls & Prison – VDAY Ohio/Kentucky
Inserts (ACLU 8/2007)
Glaze, L.E., & Bonzcar, T.P. Probation and Parole in the United States , 2005 ,
Washington , DC : U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
November 2006, at 4, 6-8.
Snell, T.L. Women in Prison , Bureau of Justice Statistics, March
1994.
Mumola, C.J. Incarcerated Parents and Their Children , Washington
, DC : U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. August 2000.
Women in the Criminal Justices System , Briefing Sheets, May 2007 www.sentencingproject.org .
Women
in Prison Project, Correctional Association of New York , Imprisonment
and Families Fact Sheet , May 2007.
