In Breaking Women, Jill McCorkel reveals a systematic disempowerment of women that takes place within the penal system in the form of privately run drug treatment programs. McCorkel shares her findings by
beginning with a 1990s political climate that focused on the "get tough" campaign regarding the U.S. penal system. She points out that the gender constructs within our society lead to two approaches to "get tough": Men
are presented as rational actors who intentionally commit crimes while women are viewed as mentally unfit victims who are vulnerable to risky men and poor relationship choices. The author reports that many prison
officials refused to acknowledge "get tough" as a reasonable method with respect to female offenders since it does not appeal to the nature of their gender construct. This attitude resulted in the use of privately led
rehabilitation programs for women as opposed to the strictly controlled environments encouraged for male offenders.
While use of rehabilitative efforts might make it appear that female offenders have a more hopeful future in comparison to male offenders, McCorkel intends to prove that these privately run programs
perpetuate a control over women by "breaking them down." McCorkel identifies this process as the feminine version of the "get tough" crusade. The author explains her theory through the examination of influential
decisions made by state actors, the prison resource crisis, and psychical dilemmas within prisons. A careful evaluation of damaging "habilitative" control strategies and the consequences of this new correction method
exposes a mechanism that continues the insubordination of women.
The every day life of the institutionalized has always been a source of fasc...
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... arenas upon their release from
prison.
The biggest irony of this book is not that the women described here fail, or remain at the bottom--sex discrimination within societal structure has already been doing that since the beginning of time. The most
astonishing revelation is that these privatized programs, which appeared to instill more promise in female offenders, and "go easy" on them in comparison to male offenders did just the opposite. These degrading,
haphazardly designed programs pointed female offenders back in the misguided direction that they originated from while only achieving a political goal of temporarily alleviating the prison population problem. Politicians
were rewarded with a "cure" to the prison overpopulation problem created by their own foolish and boastful legislative language--and female offenders were the ones who paid the price.
Not only does Carter explain the horrible mistreatment of women throughout the world, he presents a “call to action” that can help stop the madness. Men always establish themselves to be above women and women have been mostly forgotten about. Today, things are much different and a lot of women play the dominant role in society. Women are continuing to propel in the work force and prove that they can do what men do.
Facing sexism and mistreatment at the hands of oppressive men is one of the biggest challenges a woman can face in contemporary and traditional societies. All challenges animate life, and we are given purpose when we deem it necessary to overcome said trials. Post-completion, life’s tests let us emerge with maturity and tenacity that we could not find elsewhere. Janie and Hester were dealt unfair hands in life, yet instead of folding and taking the easy way out, they played the game. They played, lost, and played again, and through this incessant perseverance grew exponentially as human beings.
Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person
Cross-gender staffing can bring up previous victimization the female offenders endured (Zinger, 2006). Many female inmates have a troubled past with males, and correctional officers’ may make prison a difficult (Zinger, 2006). There are also instances of sexual assault in regards to cross-staffing (Parkes & Pate, 2006). Many female offenders are assaulted by their superiors, however, they fail to report is since they are afraid (Parkes & Pate, 2006). This becomes a major challenge to female offenders since it can cause further victimization, making it difficult for them to rehabilitate. In turn, this complicates the offender’s ability
Looking beyond women's issues and questioning basic humanity, we find a deceptive, unstable yet somehow egotistical governmental department. With an organization like this in control, there is no hope of rehabilitation for the prisoners as was discovered throughout the inquiry performed on Correctional Services Canada.
However, this disparity is more of a perception, as the differences of how the actual crime was committed, mitigating factors, and the victims change the overall treatment of female sex offenders and male sex offenders through the criminal justice system. These perceptions cause a belief that female offenders are treated differently than male offenders. These perceptions are unfounded, as they do not include the factors that affect the outcome of proceedings. Because no two cases are similar, a conclusive answer to “fairness” may never be found. Works Cited Center for Sexual Offender Management.
Although, some prisons do have some rehabilitation programs for the inmates that need it, the therapy sometimes does not help. More than half of prisoners reoffend within at least three years of leaving prisons. Those who reoffend tend to have more severe and more aggressive offenses than previously. A man by the name of Brandy Lee has shown that by having a very strict program in prisons with violent offenders in San Francisco jails reduced the amount of violence in jails. The program also helped to reduce the rate of violent re-offences after leaving the jail by over 50
American Bar Association. National Bar Association (2001). Justice by gender: The lack of appropriate prevention, diversion and treatment alternatives for girls in the justice system: a report. Retrieved from The Associations website: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/criminal_justice_section_newsletter/crimjust_juvjus_justicebygenderweb.authcheckdam.pdf
The violation of both cultural and gendered norms, results in women offenders to be labelled as mad, bad, or sad, and as the sexualised female offender, masculinised female offender, mad female offender, and the victimised female offender, by the criminal justice system and society to explain their criminality (Weare, 2013). The case studies of Tania Witika, Macsyna King and sex workers in New Zealand demonstrates how discrimination can impact upon women’s experience within the criminal justice system, as stereotypes determines which kinds of women are more likely to be arrested, found guilty, imprisoned or referred for psychiatric treatment (Carraine et al., 2012).
The incarceration rate for women has increased tremendously. Since 2010, there have been more than 113,000 females incarcerated in both state and federal institutions (corrections). The YouTube video, “Most Disgusting Female Prison in the World,” is a documentary on Detroit repeat female offenders. These women are incarcerated in the Wayne County Jail known as Detroit’s lost hope for female offenders. These female offenders are incarcerated for prostitution, drugs, and other violent crimes such as robbery and assault. The documentary also states that these women had a troubled past and are hard to control. In the beginning of the documentary, there is a white female offender who states that she had been shot numerous times, stabbed, and kidnapped
According to statistics from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, of the 455 criminals on death row in the state only 7 of them are women . This should tip us off to the manner in which we treat female criminals, even in the most pro-death penalty state in the country. Overall, women account for one in eight of people arrested for murder in America, but this ratio sinks to only one in seventy people currently on death row . This discrepancy must be a direct result of something, and is most probably attributed to society’s perception of women that place these female criminals as women first, killers second. “It’s a reflection of society’s view that women are less prone to evil than men are”, claims Jenni Gainsborough of the ACLU National Prison Project. We also seem to feel sorrier for women than we do men, and assume that if a woman has committed a crime it is because she has faced abuse in the past (usually inflicted by a man). This is true to some extent as it is claimed that 95% of women in prison were victims of abuse , but the point is that we generally stress the importance of female abuse while oftentimes neglecting abuse endured by their male counterparts.
Women in Prison. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics Varnam, Steve. Our prisons are a crime (reforming the prison system). Editorial. Christianity Today 21 June 1993
Erin G., 2010, A Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women: The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. vi, 202, Vol. 8(2)175.
In 2012, the total number of inmates incarcerated in the state and federal correctional system for was 1,571,013, of which 108,866 of those inmates were females. In the last two decades, until 2009, women were the fastest growing population within the state and federal correctional institutions. Since 2009, the number of inmates incarcerated in state and federal correctional facilities has slowly declined mainly due to public policy changes in both state and federal laws. California accounted for fifty one percent of the decrease in the overall population due to the Public Safety Realignment policy that mandated a decrease in the inmate population to alleviate overcrowding; this led to a 25.5 percent decrease in the female population in California alone. (Carson & Golinelli, 2013)
As women, those of us who identify as feminists have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at what cost do these advances come with?... ... middle of paper ... ... Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm Bidgood, J. 2014, April 8 -.