WOMEN CRIME AND CRIMINALIZATION Chapter 9 Overview In the System The number of women who are serving time in U S jails and prisons on probation or otherwise caught up in the correctional system has increased dramatically in the past 30 years Criminalization is one of the most dramatic ways in which gender race and class position shapes women s lives Societal assumptions justify and reinforce the separation between women who are inside and women who are outside The National Context Get Tough on Crime The War on Drugs Prison Industrial Complex Initiated Interconnected under the Regan Administration Proponents argued it was to quell narco terrorism 3 strikes you re out requires life sentence for 3 time felons Pursued aggressively in low income Black American and Latino neighborhoods Truth White people are the majority of U S drug users and sellers relationships among private corporations the public prison system and public interests The increase in incarceration is big business Construction servicing of prisons and jails provide income for apprx 700 000 people Prisoners are the ultimate flexible and dependable workforce no minimum wage no worker s comp no unions Prisoners can only call collect White Collar Crime The greatest economic losses from crime are from white collar crime fraud embezzlement etc High income criminals are less likely to be incarcerated or considered hardened criminals Negligence disregard for the rules of governing financial institutions and other crimes committed by bankers mortgage lenders and hedge fund managers triggered the worldwide economic recession which started in the U S housing market 2008 The Bank Bailout Bill allocated 700 billion of public money to corporate banks This took money away from social needs Women in the Criminal Justice System 2010 More than 200 000 women were being held in U S jails and prisons 7 of federal and state prisons 2010 112 822 prisoners or 12 of local jail populations The majority of female arrests are for smallscale drug offenses Contemporary gender neutral prison policies mean that female and male prisoners are treated alike based on the male prison model Male prison guards may be assigned to women s housing units putting them under 24 hr male supervision In some instances medicating women is a routine way of managing them Disparities Race and Class Disparities in incarceration based on race and class are a consistent trend in U S law enforcement Incarceration rates per 100 000 white women 47 Black women 133 Latinas 77 Many crimes committed on Native American reservations are classified as federal offenses Studies indicate more punitive sentences for women of color Girls 2204 young girls accounted for 30 of juvenile detention populations Zero tolerance policies in schools have turned relatively minor offenses into crimes There are fewer rehabilitation and housing placements available for girls than boys girls spend most of the time waiting for placement Most juvenile detention facilities are not equipped to address girls emotional physical or mental health needs Resistance in Prisons Women may refuse to cooperate with guards as a personal act of rebellion and a way to retain some modicum of their own power Stormy Ogden a member of the Tule River Yokuts Kashaya Pomo and Lake County Pomo nations in northern California would change her label from other to AI Prisons typically classify people as Black Hispanic or other Women may also share information or set up educational resources to reduce the effects of dehumanization and alienation Criminalization as a Political Process Criminalization is a political process whereby people who do not fit dominant societal norms are labels as criminals and there circumstances and behaviors are defined as crimes it is a way of punishing certain groups Ideologies of nationalism patriotism racism sexism and heterosexism are all deployed to justify criminalization Ex Women and girls drug users gender nonconforming people homeless people immigrants people from enemy nations Because crime is politically constructed in a sense all incarcerated people are political prisoners Immigration Detention Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE can detain up to 33 400 people at a time 166 per person per day People in ICE custody are held in some 300 detention facilities 121 detainees died in ICE custody between 2003 2011 may from issues that required timely treatment 5 5 million children live with at least one undocumented parent Prison Reform Decriminalization Decarceration or Abolition Many legal scholars researchers and advocacy organizations argue for substantial changes to the punitive approach of law enforcement systems They challenge the logic of current policy that expects people released from prison with no new skills or resources to return to the same impoverished communities Advocates are pressing for health care drug treatment educational therapeutic and life skills programs Yet the colossal investment in new jails prisons eats up state funding in direct competition with education Many researchers and advocates challenge the idea that prisons can solve social problems that are rooted in racism poverty and inequality