NCJ Number
97701
Editor(s)
C SchWeber
Date Published
1985
Length
138 pages
Annotation
This volume contains case studies which examine what happened after the judges ruled or after the legislatures spoke on four areas affecting women: corrections, battering in domestic violence situations, sexual assault, and prostitution enforcement.
Abstract
Three cases concerned inequitable treatment of women prisoners -- parole inequity in the Garnes in Washington, D.C., and sentencing inequities in the cases of Costello and Chambers in New Jersey. In Garnes, the discriminatory practices returned after 1 year, despite a court agreement; in New Jersey, compliance was institutionalized by statute. The ineffectiveness of restraining orders for battered women is discussed and recommendations for improving restraining orders are provided. It is suggested, for example, that procedures be streamlined and sanctions be strengthened. Changes that have occurred in Canadian rape law since 1975 are chronicled, and the lack of any meaningful changes is emphasized. Model rape legislation in Michigan is examined; analysis reveals that the law can be productively employed to combat problems such as high attrition and low conviction rates. The historical impact of the White Slave Traffic Act is also described. The Act's role in prosecuting people's ordinary and voluntary immoralities and in punishing the women 'victims' it was designed to protect is highlighted. Finally, prostitution arrest information for Buffalo, N.Y., prostitution arrest information for Buffalo, N.Y., is analyzed for 1977 to 1980 to determine whether New York's upgrading of its 'patronizing a prostitute' statute from a violation to a misdemeanor deterred prostitution and ended the disparity that existed between the prostitution and patronizing statutes. Included are 16 tables and a 52-item annotated bibliography.