Profiling Women Prisoners: Findings from National Surveys and a California Sample

Abstract

As the number of women in prison in the United States continues to rise, existing descriptions of this changing population become outmoded. This article summarizes several national surveys of the current population of imprisoned women and provides preliminary findings from a larger study that profiles women prisoners in California's rapidly expanding state prison system. California's female prison population increases cannot be attributed to the incarceration of more dangerous women. In fact, the percentage of women in prison for violent offenses has decreased while the proportion of women in prison for drug-related offenses has increased substantially. Women prisoners are often economically and politically marginalized, and imprisonment tends to exacerbate this marginality. Community sanctions, which address the multidimensional problems faced by women in the criminal justice system, should be used more extensively.