What Takes Women into the Prison System

What Takes Women into the Prison System

The majority of the people in prison usually are males; however, there is a huge rise in the population of females entering the prison system. Women are sent to prison for a lot of minor offenses, drug charges, etc

I intend to review some of the core reasons as to what leads to, or starts them down the long bumpy criminal road. The problems usually begin from: having an abusive relationship, a past history of a dysfunctional life from childhood and possibly drug addiction. With drug addiction, they need a way to feed that addiction which requires money, therefore resulting in criminal activity.

A lot of women are victims of their surroundings, some having had a very turbulent upbringing, filled with physical, mental, and emotional abuse. Very often women just can't handle the torture, the violence, the outrage for one more day, they end up just "snapping". It's interesting to watch the television show "snapped" on the oxygen channel. Snapped shows stories about women who end up killing their husbands, lovers, or live-in boyfriends. It shows all the trials and tribulations of their chaotic and sometimes abusive lives. It seems that everything leading up to the killing of men or lovers in this show stems from jealousy, anger, sadness and terror. Many feel abandoned. There are sometimes mental and emotional issues also. Too often abused women return to and stay loyal to their abuser.

There are so many women that are dependent on their husbands to define who they are, they rely on his salary, what he wants and needs, and this is why so many women lose themselves. They don't know who or what their purpose is in life anymore.

In todays' world there are a lot of single, low income, women trying to make ends meet. They have no help from their children's' father, or he is totally out of their lives, not in the picture at all.

Women mostly commit crimes that have to do with drug related type crimes. They steal to get the money they need for their drugs, they commit forgery, embezzlement, fraud type crimes. No, it is not always for a drug habit, often it is just to have enough money or food to take care of their kids. Welfare only goes so far. A lot of this sad cycle of the drug issue story is self-imposed, but there are those occasions when females are pushed or threatened into it by an abusive partner who is dealing the drugs.

Unfortunately, there is a huge population of women who turned to prostitution or the sex industry in some way. Female prostitutes in jail or prison face rape, sexual assault, and repetitive mental and emotional abuse, but they rarely report it. Sexism and a "don't care" attitude by police and courts, means that few rape cases end up in a conviction, and for that matter, hardly any female prostitute feels worthy of saying a word about it. They deal with the fact of public opinion about them.

Prostitutes do not all have a drug problems. It's for some the only means to survive, they don't know what else to do, or it's what they have been around their whole lives. Some females are told that it's all they are good for or good at, so they hear and know only one means to an end. It's a way to stay alive.

The largest portion of females in prison for drug charges or prostitution are poor, uneducated and come from an abusive family background. They have many mental problems and health issues also. They have suffered shame, degradation, and humiliation their whole lives. Prostitutes suffer extreme guilt and shame their whole lives for what they do for a living. There are some who just don't care if they live or die and don't care what people think. There are many women who are sexually abused from the time they are little girls and don't know or understand what's going on, some just think their abuse is normal, or its love, or the only way they have known to feel love. A lot of female children (and boys) are never held or touched by their own mothers, never talked to; there was never any loving caring bond or connection. When these females get older into young adulthood, they start to realize and feel emotions and flashbacks, this also leads to emotional trauma, and some turn to ways to run from the pain by acting out, rebelling, and escape which leads to crime, then jail or prison, when really most just need some mental help and therapy.

There is a flood of emotions and feelings that open up. The women know that something is wrong in their houses; with their father or uncle or step-brother perhaps. It's a time bomb going off. The women are confused, angry, bitter and scared.

The percentage rates for females who are in prison show a very high probability that most of these women suffered sexual abuse, drug addiction, violence, violent acts, acting out in school, and yes, some will become abusers themselves. They suffer emotional outbursts, sometimes for no apparent reason. They deal with extreme mood swings and erratic behavior exists all through their lives into adulthood, only to come to surface in other ways when they become adults. It exhibits in destructive ways. Generations are raised to believe "private" troubles are to be left in the home, which means they really bury and hide the problems most of the time.

Guilt and self-pity feed the sadness that has become such a huge part of their world. Abuse and neglect in childhood promote a criminal type of mentality or behavior, you can end up being very destructive and that gets you into nothing but bad choices, and bad circumstances. Abuse is shown to interfere with normal mental and emotional development.

Women that suffer domestic violence are highly like to suffer PTSD and major depression; they are ten times more likely to use drugs and alcohol than other people. Cultural backgrounds can influence reporting sexual abuse and violence among husbands, or a father. Marital rape is more violent and more repetitive. It is rarely reported, as mentioned earlier with prostitutes or the sex industry, females will not use mainstream social services because of social position, possible, or a social status in the community, some are scared that their kids will be removed from the home or they will suffer a ;more violent retaliation if they do report it. Immigrants fear deportation and do not report being sexually assaulted for this reason.

There is a group of women labeled "harmed and Harming Women"; they are females who had suffered neglect, physical and sexual abuse as children, who were deemed out of control as adults. Emotional and psychological damages show an inability to cope with difficult situations.

Why do all these women use drugs? Possibly reason for drug abuse could be boredom, escape