Why are so many women in prison? • BRAVE NEW FILMS: JUSTICE #3
It's no secret that the incarceration rate in America has skyrocketed since the 1970's. But did you know the number of women behind bars has grown nearly twice the rate of men in recent years?...
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It's no secret that the incarceration rate in America has skyrocketed since the 1970's. But did you know the number of women behind bars has grown nearly twice the rate of men in recent years? Why are we locking up so many women? The War on Drugs has a lot to do with it. In the eighties, crack was the culprit. Thousands of African-American women were caught up in the system. Many because the so-called "girlfriend" problem -where a women will take the brunt of the charges when she unknowingly assisted a boy friend or relative committing a drug crime. But even as prison sentences for crack became less harsh, the number of women prisoners kept rising between 1980 and 2010. Why? The War on Drugs has a new found battlefield. Crackdowns o...
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It's no secret that the incarceration rate in America has skyrocketed since the 1970's. But did you know the number of women behind bars has grown nearly twice the rate of men in recent years? Why are we locking up so many women? The War on Drugs has a lot to do with it. In the eighties, crack was the culprit. Thousands of African-American women were caught up in the system. Many because the so-called "girlfriend" problem -where a women will take the brunt of the charges when she unknowingly assisted a boy friend or relative committing a drug crime. But even as prison sentences for crack became less harsh, the number of women prisoners kept rising between 1980 and 2010. Why? The War on Drugs has a new found battlefield. Crackdowns o...
