NCJ Number
238950
Editor(s)
Becki Ney,
Rachelle Ramirez,
Marilyn Van Dieten
Date Published
April 2012
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews 10 truths about "justice-involved" women that were drawn from research over the last few decades.
Abstract
These truths must be implemented in order to manage female offenders, achieve greater reductions in their recidivism, and improve public-safety outcomes. The first of these truths is that women are a fast-growing criminal justice population; yet they pose a lower public-safety risk than men. Second, women have distinctive pathways into crime and present risk and need factors that signal different intervention needs. Third, women's criminal behavior is often related to their relationships, connections, and disconnections with others. Fourth, traditional criminal justice policies and practices have largely been developed through findings derived from the management of male offenders. Fifth, justice-involved women often report histories of sexual victimization and trauma, and they continue to be vulnerable to such victimization within correctional settings. Sixth, traditional prison classification systems tend to result in unreliable custody designations for incarcerated women. Seventh, gender-responsive assessment tools can improve case management efforts with justice-involved women. Eighth, women are more likely to respond favorably when criminal justice staff adhere to evidence-based, gender-responsive principles. Ninth, incarceration and reentry are particularly challenging for justice-involved mothers or minor children. Tenth, the costs of overly involving women in the criminal justice system are high. These include the financial costs of incarceration, the costs of addressing the needs of their children while the women are incarcerated, and the costs of habitual offending due to ineffective and irrelevant delivery of services. 85 references