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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Pernicious 'War on Drugs' Is Behind America’s Staggeringly High Female Prison Population
Last edited Wed Oct 22, 2014, 07:26 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/pernicious-war-drugs-behind-americas-staggeringly-high-female-prison-populationWomen make up nearly 9% of the U.S. prison population and about a third of them are serving time for drug offenses, according to two recent studies. Moreover, with just over 200,000 women behind bars, U.S. prisons incarcerate a third of all female prisoners worldwide....
According to the report females compose 8.8% of the U.S. prison population.
In another study, The Sentencing Project reports that a third of the women who are in U.S. prisons are there for drug offenses, and the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses is increasing at nearly double of the rate for men. The organization says that the so-called war on drugs is behind why more women are being imprisoned today than ever before.
These women often have significant histories of physical and sexual abuse, high rates of HIV infection, and substance abuse, says the prison-reform organization. Large-scale women's imprisonment has resulted in an increasing number of children who suffer from their mother's incarceration and the loss of family ties.
According to the report females compose 8.8% of the U.S. prison population.
In another study, The Sentencing Project reports that a third of the women who are in U.S. prisons are there for drug offenses, and the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses is increasing at nearly double of the rate for men. The organization says that the so-called war on drugs is behind why more women are being imprisoned today than ever before.
These women often have significant histories of physical and sexual abuse, high rates of HIV infection, and substance abuse, says the prison-reform organization. Large-scale women's imprisonment has resulted in an increasing number of children who suffer from their mother's incarceration and the loss of family ties.
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The Pernicious 'War on Drugs' Is Behind America’s Staggeringly High Female Prison Population (Original Post)
KamaAina
Oct 2014
OP
samsingh
(17,602 posts)1. it's a failed repug war, we would be well served to run away from it NOW
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)3. Tell that to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
She apparently thinks the cops are too lenient with granny when she wants to smoke a joint to ease her chemo nausea, that the only problem with the war on drugs is not enough pot smokers in prison cells.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)2. The drug war is an expensive, cruel, life-ruining failure.
Time to put it to bed.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)4. Thanks. I was making this same argument this morning.
Initech
(100,129 posts)5. The War on drugs is really a war on personal freedoms.
gerogie2
(450 posts)6. No matter the sex...
putting people in prison for a non-violent crime is a waste of taxpayer money.