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Female Offenders: A Case Study

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In the 1980s, prisons began to see an increase of women being arrested due to drug related offenses that were committed more among women than men. Today, we can still see the increase of women being arrested for drugs because they become addicted and never receive the proper treatment after being released from the correctional facility. After female offenders are released they tend to return back to the lifestyle of using drugs since treatment was never given nor offered in most facilities. Since men are the most populated individuals in the system this lowers the opportunity for female offenders to receive treatment since all the attention is directed towards the male population.
An enormous rise of women addicts has led to facilities offering …show more content…

This shows society that being arrested, convicted, and sentenced for drug related crimes focuses more on punishment instead of the possible help needed for the addictive disease. A serious issue of taking women from the community for a long period of time for drug abuse can make it difficult for them to later adjust back to society. Due to the increase in women offenders in the system being mothers, community treatment programs are put in place for children to live with the mother. This provides help for not only drug treatment problems, but can help build parenting skills as well. The system has created this type of program for female offenders since the mother is the primary caregiver and doesn`t want the child to become traumatize by not being able to see …show more content…

Upon entering the offender knows the real cause of what led them to be incarcerated. Mental health and trauma is a huge problem when it comes to women offenders getting stuck into the justice system. These health problems lead women to alcohol abuse and drug use as a way to medicate themselves. This is a big issue in the justice system for women offenders since they are not getting the full treatment the first time. Instead of always focusing the treatment programs based on drug use it could rely also on mental counseling or being prescribed medication to treat certain mental disorders. If women received the extensive treatment regarding their drug use and mental health issues, the likelihood of them reentering would be much lower. This can be the reason for drug courts to be so effective for those women battling drug addiction. The increasingly high number of individuals being arrested for drug related crimes is costing the state and government a huge portion of money. This money goes towards housing and engaging women offenders in the few treatment programs offered with little effective outcome. Drug court programs are not only highly effective, but they are cost efficient as well. According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, due to highly effective standards drug courts can help save money, reduce crime, ensure

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