A War On Women And Drugs Criminology Essay

A War On Wo workforce And Drugs Criminology EssayIn 1986 Congress passed required token(prenominal) dis layencing. Federal mandatory medicate meters take the decision away from the reckon and puts displaceences based on 1. The type of do doses 2. The weight or allege weight of the drug mixture and 3. The number of prior convictions. The rise of women in prison house seems to be cor cerebrate to with US drug laws and policies. Many researchers contest that the war on drugs has directly suffer a war on women. In 1999, the Bureau of Justice Statistics documented that 1 in 3 women were likely part duration for a drug offense in comparison to 1 in 8 women in 1986. Three reasons oft fourth dimensions determine the contact of women in the savage justice carcass, the first would be a history of ab use, the second issue is disrupted family and personal relationships and ultimately the third is drug abuse. Women that end up in prison obligate usually been step and/or b attered, atomic number 18 economically disadvantaged, arrive at abuse drugs, and/or argon squirtities. Due to the shapes just mentioned and stricter policies and laws regarding drugs the outcome is a drastic rise in the enslavement of women. If women be seen as victims of circumstance then they atomic number 18 basically adapting to the conditions of their lives and struggling to survive. The status of women in prison reflects their status in society they be marginalized by racism and sexism. Women in prison have been damaged by the oppression of patriarchy, economic marginalisation and the far-reaching effects of such short sighted and detrimental policies as the war on drugs and the over reliance on incarceration, (Owen, 2000).Female OffendersWomen have begin the new offender in the criminal justice system. Through the years the amount of women incarcerated has greatly risen. In 2000, there were much(prenominal) than 1 jillion women in the United States in prison, pr obation or pa quality, whereas in 1990 there were 600,000 in the similar situation. The rise in the incarceration of women toilette be greatly attri thoed to US policies and laws on drugs and drug related crimes. Women be usually minimally involved in drug crimes but ar severely penalise delinquent to the mandatory nominal laws in place. The war on drugs does non have laws laid out specifically for men and women, the laws ar worldwide and apply equally to both men and women. Drug laws were primarily k right offing for the male criminal and did non take into account the special cumulus in womens lives. These women that are organism penalise under the mandatory tokenish drug laws are the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughters and girlfriends of many law abiding citizens in society. These women become involved in drug crimes because of their dependence to their significant other, whether it is financially, because of fear or other extenuating cir cumstance. Women who become victims of mandatory nominal laws are incarcerated and force field to patriarchal sentences because the men in their lives coerced, obliged or scammed them into carrying drugs.Women in jails and prisons are oft oppressed and even victimized. in that respect are many break away and gender inequalities in the criminal justice system when it comes to addressing women and their takes. Women offenders are more likely to be incarcerated now than they were at any other time in the history of the United States. The legal system has become more giveing to prosecute and incarcerate women than at any other time in the history of the United States. mandate minimum sentencing policies for drug related offenses have increased the number of women incarcerated. According to the Sentencing Project, between 1986 and 1991 the population in state prisons for drug offenses increased by 828 part for African-American woman, 328 percent for Latinas, and 241 percent for white women (Mauer Huling, 1995).Guilt by AssociationDrug laws now in place punish not only the individuals who give the drugs, but also people who assist the drug dealer as healthy as people who merely know the drug dealer. Women are savvy at higher rates in reference to the war on drugs. In many circumstances women are arrested and sentenced merely for remaining with a significant other who is involved in the drug handicraft manufacturing. Women are more vulnerable than men for prosecution based on their associations earlier than on their behavior. Women who are involved in the drug trade are a great deal nominally involved and often only participate in the drug trade in order to be able to financially support their own drug habit. Some women are bullied into the drug trade because of abuse or out-of-pocket to financial instability.These mandatory minimum sentences are perhaps a good ex large of the law of unin tiped consequences. There is a respectable body of opinion wh ich believes that these mandatory minimums impose unduly harsh punishment for firs-time offenders particularly for mules who played only a minor role in a drug distribution scheme. Be that as it may, the mandatory minimums have also led to an inordinate increase in the federal prison population and volition require huge expenditures to pull in new prison spaceChief Justice William H. Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme speak to compulsory minimum sentences remove the discretion of the judge, thus not al starting timeing a judge to take into account mitigating circumstances that could reduce the harshness of the sentence. Mandatory minimum sentences require that low level offenders receive the required sentence required by statutes. Women can rarely assist in providing prosecutors with study that could assist in lessening their punishment because they are often mules, transporters and low level offenders and do no have access to valuable tuition acquireed by the prosecution. Also, many times women choose not to return what little information they do have because of the safety of their family and tikeren. Due to the mandatory minimum laws and the amount of information that women are able to get out they are often subject to harsher punishments than their male counterparts, who are often kingpins.Women who are sent to jail are often the primary headachegivers for their children and other family members. Children depend on their mothers and when they become incarcerated the children are left im mightily attended or in unstable temporary arrangements. Due to a mothers preoccupation with her children, women often neediness to speed up their case by entering a plea of guilt in order to receive a lesser fault and stay out of prison or reduce her sentence.Mandatory lower limit Laws and Their Effect on WomenPrisons are filled with violence therefore entrapping women in a world of cruelty and abuse that does not succeed in addressing the needs of women, such as their mental, aesculapian or economic needs. The dynamics that were just referenced are what originally contribute to a womans fight in the criminal justice system these dynamics are what originally created womens involvement with drugs. When a woman enters prison she is often times maltreat and revictimized therefore further damaging a woman.In prison women are often physically or sexually abused. When a woman is in prison she is unable to receive proper medical exam treatment. Research has storied that women in prison are subjected to physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse by guards and other inmates. Amnesty Internationals 1999 report, Not Part of My Sentence Violations of the Human Rights of Women in Custody, indicates that males staff, under the guise of correctional supervision, frequently watch women as they shower, use the bathroom, and dress and undress in their cells. Women are often sexually extorted go in prison for basic everyday necessities such as toothbrushes , soap, etc.A woman who is abused in prison suffers many consequences specially if she was abused in the past or suffers from any mental indisposition including but not limited to depression, bipolar disorder or if she is find from a drug addiction. Just like any woman who is abused, a woman who is abused in prison is left with severe imbedded psychological scars. Often women who are abused in prison are more severely scared than other women, some of the psychological scars that women who are abused in prison are left with are Post traumatic Stress Disorder, Rape Trauma Syndrome, prevalent fears, nightmares and flashbacks, these scars can egest to wickedness towards self, anxiety, depression, suicide and substance abuse. Women who are sexually assaulted while in prison are subject to sexually transmitted diseases and/or pregnancy which they great power not get medical treatment or prenatal care for.Both male and female prisons provide inadequate healthcare for its inmates. W omen have higher rates of medical issues than men. Women in prison receive poor medical treatment and do not receive needed medications for medical conditions such as heart conditions, depression, other mental health diseases, bronchial asthma and other medical conditions. Women often have to receive permission from guards to stress medical attention. Prisons do not have a full medical staff thus contributing to the lack of medical treatment obtainable to women.Women who enter the prison system on drug charges are often diagnosed with depression as well as drug addiction. Some of these women are also diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions which are not properly treated in prison. Prisons are not furnished to properly care for womens mental health conditions and do not have the finances to provide needed counseling services. Women that are prescribed psychotropic drugs are often not attached the medications correctly and instead they are given t he medications as sedatives. Incarcerated women that are unconnected from their children suffer a great deal of trauma, these women often become depressed. Women whose mental health conditions are exacerbated receivable to incarceration and have a past history of drug abuse may turn to drug use while in prison in order to ease the emotional pain.Children AffectedMany of the women in todays prison system have minor children. From 1991 through 1999, 98 percent of children in the United States had a mother who was imprisoned, (Bureau of Justice Statistics). It is estimated that most women in prison have two children and prior to incarceration the children resided with their mother. When women are sent to prison, children are often placed with other family members or in foster care. In terms of the War on Drugs, children are removed from the mother due to incarceration or because of a mothers addiction. If a woman is sent to a residential treatment program rather than to prison she is still separated from her children. Some residential drug treatment programs do not reserve children to visit and some have age restrictions. Although each child will react uniquely to extended separation from his or her mother, researchers report that when a mother and child are separated due to incarceration, the child often grieves as if the mother has died, experiencing a grief that is unique to children with incarcerated parents, (Bloom Steinhardt, 1993). Children with an incarcerated mother tend to suffer from fear, anxiety, grief and sadness and later in life these symptoms can lead to withdrawal as well as verbal or physical aggression. Many of the children whose mothers are in prison are sent to foster homes where they have an increased likelihood of being physically, sexually and emotionally abused.When a mother is incarcerated her day to day interactions with her children are altered and importantly changed. Correctional facilities do not aid women in having relationshi ps with their children and often due to the distance of the prison it is often times impossible for children to visit their mothers. see a parent in prison is very difficult for children and tour a mother in prison can be emotionally detrimental to children. Telephone calls from mothers to children while in prison can be very costly thus reducing the likelihood that a child will be able to speak to the parent via telephone.Few prisons passing family reunification programs for children. Incarcerated mothers and their children are not provided with counseling, parenting classes, skills training, overnight programs for mothers and children and other essential services, therefore hindering the relationship between a mother and her children. Establishing these programs in prisons would give women the luck to fulfill their roles as mothers and learn how to properly care for and displace their children.As more women are incarcerated due to Drug Laws the fate of children lies in the han ds of the welfare system. The child welfare system is not equipped to deal with the rising number of children left without a mother due to the increasing amount of women incarcerated because of mandatory minimum laws. Mothers convicted of drug crimes are dually penalise, they are punish by the judicial system and they are also punish by the welfare system who removes their children from their care and custody.The Outcome of the War on DrugsMinimum mandatory drug laws are destroying the lives of women. These laws are destroying families and childrens lives. Harsh punishment does not address the issues causing women to use drugs, to become addicted to drugs, to sell drugs, or to remain in abusive relationships with drug dealers. Many of the women arrested for drug charges are black women or poor women. Many of the drug related crimes that women are arrested for could be dealt with outside of the judicial system. The judicial system does not address the reasons why a woman becomes inv olved with drugs or why she risks her family in doing such. Drug dependant women should be treated rather than incarcerated. Incarcerating a woman who is dependant on drugs increases her chances of relapsing thus at the same time increasing the likelihood for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Women that become involved in the drug trade industry because of coercion or abuse are punished for not bend in their partner, the individual who is physically or emotionally abusing them. The judicial system does not address the needs of children who lose their mothers to prison nor does it assist women in building a relationship with their children. A womans incarceration can lead to permanent loss of her children and can prevent her from getting any presidency assistance upon her release.Instead of incarcerating women because of the mandatory minimum drug laws, we should provide them with the indispensable tools they need to assist them. Within a womans community th ere are many resources that can aid her in leaving an abusive relationship. A community also has resources to assist women in with drug dependency issues. Women need to be empowered to become successful and productive members of society. These women rather than being punished need to be provided with opportunities to infract their lives and with the proper tools to be better parents.ConclusionAs a society rather than investing gold in prisons, we need to invest money in community resources that will assist women with drug treatment and resolving the underlying reasons that led them to drug dependence. Women involved in drug crimes because of abusive relationships need to be provided with the detach resources to assist them in leaving that relationship and achieving financial independence as well as emotional stability. Women need to be provided with the skills and training essential to live productive lives in society.Rather than dealing with women in the criminal justice system as a nation we need to provide alternative resources. We have an obligation to save these women for themselves and their children. The underlying causes for womens involvement in drug crimes need to be addressed. Women need to be provided with services for drug addiction, health issues, mental health issues and abuse. Rather than placing women in prisons that were intentional for men for committing a crime that they were forced into through coercion or abuse, we should place them in treatment programs designed to meet with their unique needs. Treatment programs designed for women should incorporate mothers and their children allowing for mothers to receive necessary counseling and parenting classes while actively compassionate for their children.Mandatory minimum laws need to be reevaluated. Women need to be punished for their part in the drug crime, not for the overall crime that they did not play part in. A woman should not be punished because of association a woman should be pu nished and held accountable for her actions. A judge should be allowed to ultimately decide a womans punishment and her involvement in the drug offense being charged.Women that must be incarcerated because of their role in a drug crime should be granted the opportunity to visit with their children. Children should not be punished they are not the ones who connected the offense. To elaborate, a woman with repeated drug charges should not be allowed reunification with her children because after the first or second charge it should be notable that this woman does not wish to learn from her original mistake. Women who are punished under mandatory minimum laws unfairly should be granted ample opportunity for reunification with their children.There is no reason to why women need to be punished for drug crimes that they did not willingly participate in. Mandatory minimum laws were designed for kingpins and drug traffickers but obviously it is not serving its purpose. The people being aff ected most by these mandatory minimum laws are the people with the least involvement in the crime. Mandatory minimum laws need to be reevaluated and applied accordingly. The ultimate decision on punishment should be taken away from the prosecution and should lie solely in the hands of the judge.