Women_In_Prison

Women In Prison Women in the California State Penitentiary System In the mid 1980’s mandatory sentencing laws took effect, thus rapidly increasing the female population in California prisons. The incarceration rate for women still pales in comparison to the male prison population, but the rates for women are steadily increasing. According to the Criminal Justice Consortium of the California Department of Corrections, in 1996 77.6 percent of women in California Prisons were incarcerated for non-violent offenses. Most crimes are drug related or property crimes, such as check forgery and illegal credit card use. Of those charged with violent crimes, the majority of women were either defending themselves or their children. In California there are over 600 women incarcerated for killing in self-defense. The average sentence for killing a husband is twice as long than for killing a wife. Nationally, women prisoners are usually minorities, with African-American making up 46 percent of the female prison population, while they only make up 13 percent of California’s females. Hispanic females make up about 14 percent and Caucasian women about 36 percent of females incarcerated nationwide. Racism is also profound in the judicial system when it comes to sentencing women. African-American women are twice as likely to be convicted women, california, prison, percent, female, prisoners, one, prisons, inmates, females, children, care, about, women’s, time, state, security, program, opened, killing, incarcerated, facility, designed, services, sentencing, programs, population, medium, likely, imprisoned, housing, four, department, day, crimes