Law and Gender Commons^™

The Prison Rape Elimination Act: Implementation And Unresolved Issues, Brenda V. Smith

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In September 2003, the United States Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The Act was the culmination of a collaborative effort between human rights, faith-based, and prison rape advocacy. The aim of the Act is to create zero tolerance for prison rape by using a variety of tools or mechanisms including data collection; grants to the states; technical assistance to the states to improve their practices; research; the development of national standards; and the diminution of federal criminal justice assistance to states who fail to comply with the standards. This article aims to provide a brief background …

Women In Federal Prison: Pathways In, Programs Out, Kim White

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

One of the fastest growing populations in most correctional systems is female offenders and the impact of these rising numbers is significant. The author speaks to the rising female population numbers, the types of crimes and behaviors that lead to their incarceration, the characteristics of female offenders, the impact their incarceration has on their families and children, and how gender responsive programming is pivotal to their effective and successful reentry into society.

Hard Labor: The Legal Implications Of Shackling Female Inmates During Pregnancy And Childbirth, Geraldine Doetzer

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Despite international human rights guidelines that prohibit the practice, thirty-eight states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons currently allow corrections officials to shackle pregnant inmates during the third trimester of pregnancy. Of these, twenty-three states and the Bureau also allow restraints to be used during active labor. Only two state legislatures, Illinois and California, have addressed the issue of using physical restraints on pregnant inmates; the vast majority of states rely on corrections officials to craft policy.

This article analyzes both states' justifications for shackling policies as well as the Constitutional and human rights arguments that have been posed by …

The Caged Canary, Elizabeth Alexander

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The United States has experienced an explosion in the number of people in prison, an explosion that cannot be attributed to changes in the crime rate, but rather reflects changes in public policy, particularly sentencing policy regarding drug crimes. These changes have had a devastating impact on African-American communities. The changes have also adversely affected the social, economic, and political culture of the nation as a whole. The rate of increase in incarceration for women prisoners has been disproportionately high, although women are generally imprisoned for non-violent crimes and have lower recidivism rates than men. Once in prison, women are …

Women In Prison: International Problems And Human Rights Based Approaches To Reform, Jenni Gainsborough

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The growth in prison populations is a world-wide phenomenon, and within the overall growth rate, many countries are seeing a disproportionate rate of increase among women. Despite differences in culture and resources, women everywhere face similar problems in prison systems, which have been designed primarily by and for men. These include sexual abuse, lack of appropriate medical care, loss of children and breakdown of families. The United States leads the world in both the overall size of its prison population and its rate of incarceration. Advocates for reform are increasingly turning to international human rights laws, standards and norms to …

Women And The Death Penalty: Racial Disparities And Differences, Harry Greenlee, Shelia P. Greenlee

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The death penalty in America has been studied, discussed, and written about extensively. The vast majority of researchers, however, have focused their study of the death penalty, or capital punishment, on male prisoners. This article examines the data related to women on death row since 1973, with particular attention to similar problems that have been documented for men, while highlighting racial differences and/or racial disparities where found. The subjects were 157 women who received death row sentences, forty-nine women currently on death row, and the eleven women executed since 1973. The data demonstrated that some racial disparities do exist with …

Public Policy, Women, And Confinement: A Plea For Reasonableness, Peter M. Carlson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This veteran correctional administrator reviews the explosion of numbers of female offenders confined in the United States today. The article explores the myriad causes and effects of this shift in public policy and notes the negative impact of today's policy outcomes on individual offenders, correctional systems, and our society. The author argues for a modification of policy to a more rational approach to judicial sentencing.

Unusual Suspects: Recognizing And Responding To Female Staff Perpetrators Of Sexual Misconduct In U.S. Prisons, Lauren A. Teichner

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Despite the general public's ignorance of this issue of sexual misconduct perpetrated by female prison staff against male inmates, such stories are remarkably familiar to those who study or work in the world of prisons. The Prison Rape Elimination Act ("PREA") of 2003 mandated that the Bureau of Justice Statistics ("the Bureau") undertake new studies of sexual violence in prisons. Accordingly, the Bureau released a report in July 2006 revealing some groundbreaking data. Of the 344 substantiated allegations of staff-on-inmate sexual violence made in federal, state, and private prisons in 2005, 67% of the overall victims were male inmates and …

Reforming, Reclaiming Or Reframing Womanhood: Reflections On Advocacy For Women In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

I was asked to present one of the keynote addresses for this important symposium, Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Women and Their Families, sponsored by the Women's Rights Law Reporter at Rutgers University School of Law in Newark. I am happy to write the introductory essay for this meaningful publication which arose from that symposium. This is a particularly hospitable and appropriate environment for this publication given Rutgers University's important place in feminist scholarship and discourse - both in its graduate and undergraduate programs and in its publication arm - Rutgers University Press. Historically,the Women's Rights Law Reporter …