More women than ever before are locked up in prisons and jails and are under various forms of correctional control. Rates of incarceration have risen faster

for women than for men during the last 20 years. The proportion of women out of the total incarcerated population has also grown. Women are generally incarcerated more often for less serious offenses, such as drug and property crimes; theirs are more often crimes of survival. For the most part, incarcerated women are low risk and high needs. The so-called War on Drugs resulted in skyrocketing numbers of women—mostly from poor communities—in prison for drug offenses. Women are more likely to be drawn into crime by their male partners’ influence than the other way around.

Corrections-involved women are significantly different than their male counterparts in myriad ways. Women more often have histories of abuse, they have pathways into the justice system that are distinctly different than those for men, they have more family responsibilities, and they are more stigmatized by prison. Their risks for offending are fundamentally different and are driven by a different set of problems and needs. Women of color have even greater challenges than White women. Women’s criminal behavior is poorly understood and only recently has become the subject of serious study. Prison tends to worsen chronic physical and mental health problems. Incarcerated women have much higher rates of victimization and trauma than do men. High rates of early trauma are coming to light as research in this area advances. Such trauma has a direct impact on later risky behavior and related lawbreaking.

Gender differences with respect to the law are already apparent in the youth population. Just as adult women, adolescent girls in custody have higher rates of serious physical and mental health issues than their male counterparts. Children, families, and other relationships are often powerful motivators for incarcerated women. A large segment of women in the justice system are mothers of dependent children. The children of incarcerated mothers suffer losses that affect their own risk taking and outcomes later in life. An integrated, holistic, and gender-responsive approach to problem solving that accounts for early trauma and victimization is a promising area for further study, policy development, and legislation.

• To understand the ways in which the corrections system does or does not address the needs of women.
• To gain a sense of the growth of incarceration of women in the United States.
• To be able to discuss at least five ways that girls and women have different experiences than men as regards the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
• To grasp the levels of physical and mental health problems prevalent among incarcerated women and girls.
• To understand how corrections-involved women’s unmet needs tend to compound and contribute to lawbreaking behavior.
• To comprehend the ways that children, family, and relationships are significant to women under correctional control.
• To gain a sense of what gender-responsive treatment is.
• To see how additional research on women and girls would enhance our understanding and improve correctional treatment for women and girls.