Rise In Women Prisoners Has Led To Mass Incarceration

Coyle, A., Heard, C., & Fair, H. (2016). Current trends and practices in the use of imprisonment. International Review of the Red Cross, 98(903), 761-781.

In this journal, Coyle and Heard discusses about the rapid increase in the imprisonment leading to the overcrowding of the prisons which has drawn attention from all over the world. The rationale of the research lies in the fact that the research aims to contrast an imprisonment as a potent tool of criminal justice policy with the ever-increasing phenomenon of remand imprisonment. Women forms a major percentage in the remand prisoners across different nations from all over the world. The immediate dire consequences of the prisoners have led to ill-treatment meted out on the prisoners leading to a traumatizing experience for the prisoners. The author has documented the harrowing experience that the prisoners have to go through in such a poor occupancy level of the prisons. Further, there is no international standard in allotting a standard space for the prisoners which has made life of prisoners extremely terrifying. The research has used secondary sources and vital information collected from Red Cross Society. The research is limited as it doesn’t have any primary sources of data neither there is any survey done to capture the emotions of the prisoners which can reflect the true picture and ground realities of the actual situation. The major findings from this article encompasses the vital information about how the justice policy has become inadequate and redundant as the data suggests due to excessive delay in legal and justice process the prison. Despite these limitations, the relevancy of the research cannot be ignored as the it records the of mass incarceration from several nations including Asia, Brazil, China, India as well as many countries facing this grave issue.

De Giorgi, A. (2015). Five theses on mass incarceration. Studi sulla questione criminale, 10(2-3), 151-182.

The purpose of this research is to focus on the increasing rate of the of women prisoners which has resulted in to mass incarceration. The changing attributes towards criminal behavior, as stated by the author in this article, the result of increasing women prisoner rates on the mass incarcerations can be found around the world today. According to the author, prison admission, in 2014, increased in 18 states, despites the ongoing debate on the prison crisis and the bipartisan initiatives to deal with the flourishing cost of mass incarceration. There has been rapid growth in the women prisoners over the last few years. The reason behind the changes in the criminal behavior of the women are the crime types, for example the crime types like drug use and shoplifting were considered as less serious. There has been an increase in the seriousness of these crime which has resulted into an increased rate of female incarcerations. This research was based on secondary data collection method. No sample was taken during the research. Descriptive research design was adopted for the purpose of this paper. The research finds that women are the fastest growing part of the prison population in us since 2010. In between 2000 and 2014 the women jail population increased by at least 18%, which led into an increased rate of total population in the jail by 1.8%. In the view of the author, there were a number of limitations in spite of the well-planning, such as the availability of resources. This article has mainly emphasized on the mass incarceration leaving behind the contribution of women in it.

De Giorgi, A. (2015). Five theses on mass incarceration. Studi sulla questione criminale, 10(2-3), 151-182.

Gross, K. N. (2015). African American women, mass incarceration, and the politics of protection. Journal of American History, 102(1), 25-33.

The author has demonstrated how the black women were discriminated under the law which resulted into this situation. According to the author, black women were exposed to the discrimination in the U.S prison system. The author has highlighted the possible reasons of increasing rate of mass incarceration especially in case of African women. They were discriminated and excluded from the protection of law, however they could not escape the punishment. The data for this research was collected secondarily after studying various reports. This research does not include any sampling technique. There are three types of research designs, which are descriptive, exploratory and the explanatory. Among them the descriptive type research design was used in this research to understand sand develop the stages of the research. Though the article helped in evaluating the impact it had on the women prisoners but less importance was given to the issue of the way it was becoming a result of mass incarceration.

Lobuglio, S. F., & Piehl, A. M. (2015). Unwinding Mass Incarceration. Issues in Science and Technology, 32(1), 120.

The author stresses on the fact that US should take mandatory steps to curtail the mass incarceration haunting the country over last 40 years. It lists down the government policies undertaken to mitigate the issue which has been inadequate to completely address the problem. The policies undertaken to resolve the issue has not translated into a fruitful action as the ground realities does not seems to change at all. The prisoners suffer from mental and health challenges which aggravates their physical and mental condition thus slowing the process of rehabilitation. Women generally lose the mental stability which pushes them onto the street thus they end up shackling in the grievous poverty. The major findings of the research document the policies which has failed to address the situation to its core. Further, the policy makers, prison officials and the public health agencies need to align and synchronize their efforts to bring a remarkable change in reducing and controlling the rates of the incarceration. The research is limited has it has mostly delved deeper into the health and physical challenges and the solution provided to tackle the concern has far reaching ramifications coupled with political will to legislate something substantial on the concern. The research calls for major infrastructural transformation which will be difficult and a time taking process. The research methodology also confines to the repercussions of the mass incarceration which has been derived from the other research articles thus facts and figures cannot be that accurate or can also be distorted to some extent.

Stuart, B., & Brice-Baker, J. (2004). Correlates of higher rates of recidivism in female prisoners: An exploratory study. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 32(1), 29-70.

The author has expounded the dire consequences it has on the women who often undergo post traumatic stresses as they become potent victims of physical and sexual abuse. It also explores the possible reasons for the recidivism in female prisoners. One of the major reasons cited by the author is the increasing frequency of drug abuse by the women that push women to recidivism which has led to massive overcrowding of the prisons. This whole phenomenon is taking a huge toll on the mental health which has undoubtedly decreased the productivity of the prisoners when they are released. The prisoners find difficulty to assimilate in the mainstream society as they suffer from psychological disorder and stressed. The research had aided to determine the major reasons for the overcrowding of the prisons and also aims to contract how drugs can been a facilitating factor to increase the prisoners. The research has used a sample size of 60 voluntary participants from the correctional facility. The questionnaire aims to gauge the extent of the impact it had on the certain group of demographics. The different parameters were evaluated based on which the causes of recidivism were ascertained. The research has certain limitations as the sample size is small and more subjective than being objective. The significant findings of the research have more proponents to include and gauge the harrowing after effects of the women of the correctional facility. The correctional facility has also supplemented with important data that has validated the credibility of the research.

Lawston, J. M., & Lucas, A. E. (Eds.). (2011). Razor wire women: prisoners, activists, scholars, and artists. SUNY Press

Gross, K. N. (2015). African American women, mass incarceration, and the politics of protection. Journal of American History, 102(1), 25-33.

In this article, the researcher has observed that gender expectation, in the earlier days, had created a double standard for the criminal behaviour within the population. The discrimination was so high that people women who were charged with an offence, were labelled as fallen women. The major purpose of the author in this study was to observe and emphasis the conditions of women prisoner in light of the society. The author also observed from a study that 70 percent of the women who were incarcerated were black. The higher imprisonment rates of the women have left an impression of them that the women who have been to prison are hardened criminals and not normal. This study was based on a collection of data from various study published earlier. Secondary data were collected by means of various reports and articles that were available. No sample were used in this study as secondary data collection method was used throughout the research. There were some limitations as to the performing of survey from prison to prison as it was based on a secondary research. The research could not properly help in finding the impact of women imprisonment in the mass incarceration as the author focused entirely on the situational aspect of women criminals rather than the generalized aspect of the female criminals on the imprisoned population.

Elmendorf, B. (2011). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Fellowship, 77(1-3), 34.

The author in his study, provided an overview on how the native women were accused, prosecuted and incarcerated in a higher rate than the non-natives. It purported to ensure the non-acceptance of these convicts in the society. This study would help in detecting the women prisoner as a result of the increase stringent law. The author found that native women were prosecuted at a higher rate than the non-native women as they are less likely to be integrated in the mainstream society after they are released. It was used as a common method to give the nationals a higher priority and make the chances of rehabilitation of the native women weak. The data collection method used for this study was a secondary data collection method. It was based on the purview of other documents to gain an understanding of the topic. No sample was taken or used in this study as its secondary data were chosen. No survey or interview were conducted in the process. Descriptive research design was used in this process to explain the relationship of increased women prisoners and its effect on mass incarceration. The main finding of the research was that impact of racist structure of the society in the mass incarcerations. Non- violent offenders from the brown or black colored society were subjected to mass incarceration. The main limitation which was faced during the research was that the source used to create secondary data may not be accurate and new.

Hartney, C. (2006). US rates of incarceration: A global perspective. Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Christopher Hartney in his study has mentioned the fact imprisonment rate has increased in respect of women population all around the world as there has been a change in the regulation of parole, probations and other provisions. This is a real issue as pointed out by the author that has been contributed in mass incarceration. The author perceived that the rates of incarceration rate of women in US is as much as to be 123 per 100,000 of the female population in US, which is three times more than that of the other nations. No sample was used for this study. The study did not take a help of survey and interview also. The author expounded his view based on the report produced by the International Centre for Prison Studies which tabulated the number of the women prisoners all over the world. The major findings of the author were that the crime rates do not contribute to incarcerated rates and it is the sole result of changes in the crime control system. The limitation for this study was the vague probability of the data and confusion which resulted in decision making. The report sets out the fact the rates of imprisonment has become considerably higher as there is a perpetuate belief in the public that more imprisonment means better protection. The ignorable crimes are also being noticed which has increased the rate of women imprisonment.

Pitts, J. M., Griffin III, O. H., & Johnson, W. W. (2014). Contemporary prison overcrowding: short-term fixes to a perpetual problem. Contemporary Justice Review, 17(1), 124-139.

Pitts have documented his research on the how the overcrowding of prisons has been a major concern and importance of protecting the human rights of the prisoners. The findings of the research were that the prisoners were highly discriminated hence the rate of criminal behavior increased. They were subjected to several critics as they were not treated as normal. Women outside the bars were also affected by this situation. The research has added in understanding the major reasons which can be assessed and viable conclusions can be drawn to understand the lackadaisical approach in handling the prisoners. The author has examined and observed the condition of women in the contemporary eyes of law as a perpetual problem plaguing the society at large. They were the larger victim of racism, sexism and classism and they were treated as a subject of fear. The justice seemed to be undermined in such cases when the life of an innocent individual is kept in jeopardy. The research has helped to understand the agonizing situation of prisoners especially women which will further help the policy makers to frame appropriate strategies to resolve the dilemma. This research was solely targeted on the native women. It does not represent the incarcerated women globally. Hence, the article did not help in analyzing the global aspect of issue.

Wallace, D., Fahmy, C., Cotton, L., Jimmons, C., McKay, R., Stoffer, S., & Syed, S. (2016). Examining the role of familial support during prison and after release on post-incarceration mental health. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 60(1), 3-20.

The author opines a number of mental health issues which the women undergo due to mass incarceration which has triggered the criminal violence in the country. The author also stresses on the need of the family and moral support in order to overcome from the poor mental health encountered in an overcrowded prison. This has hampered and strained their personal relationship. Even after being released they find immense hindrances to mainstream in the society which the author has underlined throughout his research. Further analysis also reveals the consequences post release which has aided the research proposal to conclude on some awe-inspiring derivations. The research has not only examined the role of prison officials but also the community and health officials and how can they contribute towards improving the horrendous life of the prisoners especially the women prisoners. Despite this information the research is limited by as data is confined and a feedback mechanism has not been deployed to document how the policies have transformed their lives. However, the information of the research has been extremely productive to derive true conclusions on the major issue of rising mass incarceration. The research has aided to formulate a flawless strategy and implementation of which can be gauged by careful monitoring of the latter. Therefore, author establishes a profound understanding of the subject matter in a deeper sense.

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