Description
Women represent one of the fastest-growing groups among incarcerated people in the
United States. Although prison populations have decreased since 2011 as local
jurisdictions and state departments of corrections have implemented legislation and
other strategies (Carson 2022),these decreases have been less notable for women.
Research has shown that there are gendered pathways to criminal legal system
involvement and that women are more likely than men to commit crimes in response to
trauma and victimization (Bloom, Owen, and Covington 2003; Swavola, Riley, and
Subramanian 2016). Researchers and practitioners have developed gender-responsive
prison programming to address incarcerated women’s unique experiences, including co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (which hey are more likely than men to have) (Fedock and Covington 2017), the challenges of parenting minor children while incarcerated, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma. In this brief, we provide an overview of gender-responsive programming, share program examples and evidence-based outcomes, and suggest considerations for effectively implementing this type of programming.
Source
Language
English
Authors
Olivia Stuart, Evelyn F. McCoy
Publication
Urban Institute
Date
2023
