Drug offenses draw higher incarceration rates for Ohio women
The number of women in Ohio prisons continues to trend downward but studies show women are still more likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses compared to men.
Over the past two decades, the number of incarcerated Black women fell by 70% after reaching record highs, but incarceration rates for white women increased by 12%.
Why rural women are facing harsher punishment
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, co-director of research for The Sentencing Project, said prison sentencing reforms have mainly focused on urban areas, leaving rural women caught in the drug trade or addicted to drugs themselves, facing harsher punishment.
“There are not that many treatment options,” Ghandnoosh pointed out. “Prosecutors in particular, and sheriffs, are much more likely to rely on incarceration to deal with that problem in those areas.”
Ghandnoosh noted women are also less likely to have information they can share with authorities to help reduce their sentences. She stressed even with reforms, Black women are still imprisoned at nearly twice the rate of white women.
The impact on children
About 60% of all incarcerated women nationwide are mothers, and most have children under age 18. Research shows their children are more likely to experience chronic disease, mental illness and have a shorter life expectancy.
Ghandnoosh argued drug laws and policies are harming families and increasing the likelihood children will be caught up in the criminal justice system as adults.
“There’s such an abundance of evidence to show us that this is an approach that’s not solving the problems,” Ghandnoosh contended. “But in some ways, exacerbating them.”
Ghandnoosh added efforts in Congress to expand mandatory minimum sentences in response to the opioid overdose crisis will only send more parents to prison, continuing a vicious cycle.
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