Developing Strategies to Tackle Discrimination against Justice Involved Women

Introduction

Women currently face discrimination in many aspects of human rights and social lives. The United Nation has resources set aside to deal with discrimination against women's human rights in most parts of the world. Challenges exist in the justice systems as women struggle in the quest for justice, empowerment, and gender equality. There is a need for certain strategies to achieve equality between men and women. There are dedicated institutions whose role is to advocate for women's access to justice and uphold the rule of law. The main question to tackle in this research is: what can change people's perceptions of women involved in the justice system so they are treated as equal members of society, with the same respect and opportunities as everyone else?

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Some of the areas where women face women face discrimination include employment, the housing of ex-offenders, ban for receiving educational financial aid for drug offenders, rights for incarcerated women, and female criminality, punishing, and sentencing. The main area that this paper will address is on the rights of incarcerated women and female criminality. It recommends various strategies to tackle discrimination against women in the criminal justice system.

Target Audience

The target audiences for this research are the legislators, police, and advocates. These are the major groups involved in the CJS. By proper adoption of the recommended strategies, the recidivism will reduce and equality shall be upheld in the justice systems. The research objective is also to bring regional and national awareness on dealing with justice-involved women.

Strategies

First, there must be a strategic litigation that helps civil societies to advocate for the rights of people equally. The equality approach must understand the nature of women and their natural needs as opposed to men, due to their anatomy. The international organizations such as the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) must actively organize for various conventions touching on the rights of incarcerated women. The criminal justice systems should adopt programs of declarations and actions to start dealing with the challenges of women in prison (Research Findings, 2013).

There is a need to incorporate a strong commission that tackles the status of women in civil, economic, educational and social fields. This body needs to make recommendations to the CJS on urgent issues that need prompt attention as pertaining women's rights. The commission should set meetings at least ones in a year and set priority themes and concrete recommendations to the government. The key role of the body is to promote women's rights that would ultimately contribute to international legal/policy instrument, for instance, elimination of the various forms of discrimination against women (Cluley, 2012).

The experiences that result in the incarceration of women are different from those of men. Studies show that most of the crime trajectories of women begin from abuse and proceeds to self-preservation behaviors (Cluley, 2012). They start drug trafficking, prostitution, and quitting schools among other criminal behaviors that lead to victimization in the CJS. Victims are also more vulnerable to additional mental issues. Owen et al (2008) found that that misconduct in women is commonly due to interpersonal relationships, culture, time, and place. Belknap (2010) states that there have been deficient responses to women under incarceration, which still exist currently.

Women in prison are less violent than men because of the nature of their crime. While men commit aggressive acts often, women tend to commit reactive/defensive offenses. Their crimes are not often calculated and predetermined (Owen et al., 2008). Also, women offenders are less violent in both the facilities of incarceration and in the communities than their male counterparts. Therefore, the disciplinary policies need to account for women's unique attributes and administer appropriate penalties. Harsh penalties should not be involved in behaviors like defiance, gossiping, and arguing.

Incarcerated females with mental health issues need appropriate mental care and social support. Today, adequate rehabilitation services of the inmates are either lacking or non-gender responsive. There is a need to integrate correctional interventions with mental and social needs of women (Belknap, 2010). In women's prisons and other correctional facilities, about 80% of them are convicted of mental health caseloads, for example, disruptive or self-harm behaviors (Belknap, 2010). Therefore, disciplinary interventions can be coined to help women to be safe in their communities.

The strength-based approach is very important in dealing with incarcerated women. Strength helps a person to cope with life and makes it more fulfilling both to self and others (Smith, 2006). The facilities must adopt this approach, because it is a standardized risk need assessment and used together with cognitive-behavioral intervention to enhance corrections (Smith, 2006). Criminology needs must capture all real-life issues of justice-involved women. This approach will lead to a balanced and fulfilling life and prevent or reduce recidivism in the community. The strength-based intervention model requires professionals realize that trauma, negative environment like poverty and abuse factors can have a negative influence on the lives of women. Once staffs understand the reasons for women to engage in the maladaptive behavior, they can work together to build adaptive responses and reinforce and affirm other alternative strategies.

Also, psychological developments should focus on both the genders differently because males and females have unique experiences. Once women's experiences and needs are understood, the awareness will help in breaking societal barriers of gender and play a critical role in the female development and improve approaches to discipline women sanctioned in various facilities. Research also shows that healthy human growth and development is connected to how humans relate to each other. Therefore, after understanding the psychological nature of women inmates as opposed to men, the practitioners' verbal and non-verbal attributes can shape behaviors, feelings, and thoughts of those they are trying to help. Therefore, women inmates should be built upon safety and respect to produce a healthy behavioral change, rehabilitation, and positive growth.

Evidence-based strategies should be utilized in correcting the female inmates. The professional corrections must enhance discipline, build skills, and motivate behavioral success with incarcerated women (Research Findings, 2013). The common traditional tactics cannot achieve the necessary results, and therefore, the correctional practices must be evidence-based, trauma-informed, and gender responsive. These strategies can be used to enhance sanctions and discipline with women inmates. For equality purposes, similar behaviors require similar response across shifts, the response must be proportionate to the nature of the crime, and rule violations should be responded to quickly. Every incarcerated woman deserve respect and a series of interactions that will offer an opportunity for her to learn her behavioral patterns, acquire new methods to address problematic issues and embrace self-maintenance to ensure a long-term success.

Conclusion

Finally, the justice systems need to help the incarcerated women to cultivate self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and skills to develop behaviors that are internally motivated rather than external. Personal control, healthy relationship, and self-efficacy are key factors that the correctional staff must instill in women inmates. These techniques will bring positive behavioral change in our criminal justice systems (Research Findings, 2013).

References

Belknap, J. (2010). "Offending women": a double entendre. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 1061-1098.

Cluley, E. (2012). Punishment and Reform: Effective Community Sentences. Probation Journal, 59(3), 277-279.

Owen, B., Wells, J., Pollock, J., Muscat, B., & Torres, S. (2008). Gendered violence and safety: A contextual approach to improving security in women's facilities. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Research Findings. (2014). Gender Responsive Discipline and Sanctions Policy Guide for Women's Facilities. Retrieved from https://bb9.govst.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1635050-dt-content-rid-14298084_1/courses/CJUS-4000-01_GNSX-4000-01_18SU/National%20Resource%20Center%20on%20Justice%20Involved%20Women.pdf

Smith, E. J. (2006). The strength-based counseling model. The counseling psychologist, 34(1), 13-79.