Female Punishment

Evaluating Female Punishment Approaches Name Class Date Professor

Female Punishment

Evaluating Female Punishment Approaches

In the past women were rarely responsible for crimes in society but all that changed in the 1960s when the women movement was in full swing. During the Civil Rights Movement minorities and women were fighting for rights in society but during this time the crime rate also began to increase when women sick of the structured life of the 1950s began to commit more crimes. By the 1990s women were responsible for well over half a million crimes in the country. Despite the steady increase in women crimes in the country sentencing guidelines current sentencing polices are created based on the behavior of men in society not women.

Despite the fact punishments are based on the behaviors of men women are provided separate facilities if not separate prison sentences. The most common approaches to punishment for women gender equal, gender neutral, open family, and special needs. Gender neutral approaches are the most common approach in the criminal justice system with one law and sentencing guideline established for both sexes. In one area where there is less gender neutrality is in the actual sentencing by the court and the programs women receive in the women prison environment.

The Women in Prison Project (WIPP) is a program received by female prison offenders designed to address the right of women prisoners and ensure they have access to a prison conditions that are humane. WIPP goes as far as to conduct inspections of female prisons and advocates for better conditions and access to programs that will assist the women in successfully reintegrating back into society. The Women in Prison Project is designed to identify the reforms that need to be made in the womens prisons and creates effective polices WIPP also engages in

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community organizing, conducts public education and works with the media to raise awareness about critical issues facing incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women (Covington, 2003).

The goal of the criminal justice is to ensure all citizens are treated fairly and equally and are never denied the due process rights afforded in the constitution. In order to ensure the criminal justice system is equal the justice system has taken a gender neutral approach in the punishment of all criminal offenders and has established one set of laws to address the crime not the person who commits the crime. No matter the race, gender, ethnicity, disability of the citizen, or even age all criminal offenders tried in the adult criminal justice system are subject to the same laws. For example if a women or a man commits a first degree murder the sentence for both would be death, depending on the state, or life in prison.

The Women in Prison Project (WIPP) is not gender neutral but has been an effective program in addressing the plight of females incarcerated in prison. WIPP has been effective in establishing policies allowing women greater rights and greater access to programs and services designed to make them more productive members of society. There are similar programs available to male prisoners ensuring a gender neutral approach to punishment even if in the punishment the criminal offender becomes rehabilitated. While the program began as a response to women recently released it now encompasses many different aspects within the prison environment.

The gender neutral approach has not always been effective because despite the goal to ensure equal justice through gender neutrality judges are far more likely to give a female offender committing the same crime as a male offender a lighter prison sentence. A judge is far more

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likely to sentence a female inmate on the low range of the sentencing guideline while sentencing a male offender on the high end of the sentencing guidelines.

The program is guided by the goal of successfully reintegrating female inmates back into society to ensure they never reoffend and most importantly can be reunited with their family. When female inmates go to prison in many cases they leave behind their children. The program has fought for the female inmates right to spend time with their husband, children, and family to ensure they have the necessary support upon leaving prison and ensure women prisons have access to advocates upon their release. This is known as the open family approach to incarceration.

Unlike in the male prisons women do not commit as many crimes and many of their crimes are nonviolent. The womens program finds by ensuring the female prisoner is not isolated from their family they will have a far greater likelihood of changing their criminal behavior and being better members of society. In New York the WIPP program has resulted in a major drop in the female prison population resulting in the closure of nine prisons. The two key reasons for the drastic drop in the recidivism rate in New York is due to allowing female inmates to maintain family ties and successful reentry programs, like WIPP (Elijah, 2013). The opposite is true for the males prisons in the state which are overcrowded.

The Women in Prison Project (WIPP) does not only help women when they get out of prison but has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing female inmates. When women are not isolated from their families they have a far greater chance of becoming more productive members of society over when they are isolated in the prison environment. The WIPP program provides women with the tools to overcome their criminal behavior and become more productive

Female Punishment

members of society including addressing the special or unique needs of the female inmate. The special needs approach to punishment looks at the causes of female crime and takes steps to address the problem in the female prison environment.

The Women in Prison Project (WIPP) is a gender specific program meeting the unique needs of the female inmates. Female prisons are different from males inmates and have different needs. Most inmates are nonviolent with substance abuse or mental health problems as well as poverty, domestic abuse, and single motherhood (Bloom, 2008). By recognizing the unique needs of the female inmate the prison system can be effective in reducing crimes being committed by women and reducing the female recidivism rate.

In California the program has been less successful as in New York but the prison rate has not increased since 1998. This is due to the fact that only 20% of female inmates released from California prisons are a part of the program or any recidivism program. The Women in Prison Project (WIPP) has been successful for female inmates provided with access to the program but have been effective in ensuring female inmates are treated humanely. California prisons have recently been deemed inhumane by the Supreme Court but this ruling involved the male prisons in the state. There has been no similar lawsuit by female inmates.

Gender directly impacts the criminal justice system and the approach to punishment for females. While all laws are created gender neutral and designed to be equal female inmates receive far better treatment from the courts and correctional system over the male inmate. Many criminal justice systems recognize the unique and different needs of the female inmate and offer greater opportunities to make positive improvements in their lives. While the New York WIPP

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program has been helpful in reducing the recidivism rate in New York budget cuts have reduced the womens access to the program in California.

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References

Bloom, B. & Covington, S. (2008).Gender-Specific Programming for Female Offenders: What is

it and Why is it Important? Retrieved August 12, 2013 from

http://www.stephaniecovington.com/pdfs/13.pdf

Covington, S. & Bloom, B. (2003). Gendered Justice: Women in the Criminal Justice System.

Retrieved August 12, 2013 from http://www.stephaniecovington.com/pdfs/4.pdf

Elijah, S. (2013). Bayview and Beacon closures may mean lost opportunities for women in

prison. Retrieved August 12, 2013 from

http://www.correctionalassociation.org/press/nys-prison-closures-may-mean-lost