Economic Realities and the Female Offender

• NCJ Number: 72819
• Author(s): J R Chapman
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 244 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Ctr for Women Policy Studies
• Sale Source: D C Heath and Co
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Reviewing the information currently available about women convicted of criminal behavior and the treatment of them within the criminal justice system, this book describes and evaluates program resources for the economic rehabilitation of female offenders.

Abstract

Following a review of the history of the female offender in America, which concludes with the women's movement and new reform efforts, is a discussion of changing trends in female crime. Data on women and crime provide a current understanding of the issue and focus on definitional and reporting problems that have made data interpretation difficult. Correctional programs for women offenders are studied and emphasize offender needs, economic rehabilitation programs, and women's legal rights. The programs found to be most innovative and promising in providing rehabilitative services for women were in the community. This reflects the fact that most women offenders are on probation. Although most of the community-based programs derive the major part of their funding from public sources, the sources are essentially private nonprofit organizations. Programs tend to relate strongly to those major areas of need identified with socioeconomic rehabilitation. These programs include vocational rehabilitation and education. The most innovative aspects of the programs deal with parenting and independent-living activities. The most comprehensive programs tend to deal with clients as socially and economically distressed people in need of specific steps to improve their standards of living, status, and independence. While earlier reform methods relied more on moral persuasion, new reform movements take a legal approach. Therefore, it can be expected that necessary changes in the criminal justice system increasingly will come through court order. A landmark case in this regard is Mary Glover et al. v. Perry Johnson et al. (Michigan, 1979). In the Michigan case, the State was ordered to provide economic rehabilitation programs for women offenders and to redress the inequities in their treatment. The case might serve as a model for litigation in other States. Tables and chapter footnotes are provided. Appendixes include criminal offender data sources, an annotated bibliography of approximately 200 references, and a subject index.