Gender

The National Institue of Corrections (NIC) published a series of documents on Gender-Responsive Strategies for Women Offenders. As highlighted by these NIC publications, some communities are developing gender-responsive strategies to address the unique risks and needs of women defendants entering the criminal justice system. Women are often pulled into the criminal justice system for minor charges that are non-violent in nature and once pulled in, find it difficult to escape the cycle of arrests and involvement in the criminal justice system.  In some jurisdictions, where judicial officers took a close look or studied bail and its impact on women, women were less likely to satisfy the financial conditions.

The needs of women defendants are different from men in some critical ways. Women entering the criminal justice system are more likely to have a history of trauma (physical or sexual), mental health, substance abuse, poor health and nutrition. Involvement in the criminal justice system provides additional stress for women defendants who are the primary care givers. The uncertainty of child custody and care as a result of incarceration and involvement in the criminal justice system adds to the stress women face.

The challenge for pretrial programs is to identify the unique risks and gender specific needs that women defendants pose and to coordinate appropriate services.  Pretrial programs should be sensitive to the need for privacy when collecting information during the interview at the jail or in a supervision setting.  Screening tools that have been created to identify gender specific needs can be important tools to enable staff to quickly identify women who warrant additional in-depth assessment for risk and need.

The 2008 survey of pretrial practice coducted by PJI shows that only 6 percent of the programs have special procedures to supervise women defendants.  Nine percent of the programs use separate assessment tools to identify unique risk factors that create barriers for women defendants.