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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:46 am
Time: 2:46 am
Results for female offenders (europe, central asia)
1 results foundAuthor: Iakobishvili, Eka Title: Cause for Alarm: The Incarceration of Women for Drug Offences in Europe and Central Asia, and the need for Legislative and Sentencing Reform Summary: This report sets out to answer two basic questions. 1. How many women are in prison for drugs in Europe and Central Asia? 2. What proportion of the total female prison population do these women comprise? It represents the first attempt to collate such figures for the whole region, and the answers highlight a growing problem. Namely that too many women are in prison for non-violent drug offences in the region. The answers also raise numerous other questions that beg further research. Every year, an increasing number of women come into conflict with the law. There are now more than half a million women and girls in penal institutions around the world.1 It has also been estimated that over 100,000 women are incarcerated in European prisons on any given day.2 Harm Reduction International’s research of fifty-one European and Central Asian countries suggests that there are over 112,500 women in prison across the region. Of these, 28% – or 31,400 women – are in prison for drug offences.3 This represents more than one in four incarcerated women in the region, demonstrating the impact of drug laws and drug enforcement on rates of imprisonment of women. In fact, drug offences outstrip by a considerable margin all others as the reason for women entering prison. This percentage, however, hides considerable national variation. In a few countries, less than 10% of women in prison are serving sentences for drugs. But in others this figure is between 40—50%, and in some cases reaches as high as 70%. It should always be remembered, however, that behind these statistics are real individuals; women whose individual circumstances and lives are masked by the top-line numbers. The vast majority are in prison for non-violent drug offences, for which women are disproportionately imprisoned. In some countries, many are ‘drug mules’. They are mostly women from socially and economically marginalised backgrounds, whose crimes are driven by poverty. A large number struggle with mental health or drug dependence issues, or both. Low literacy levels are all too common, as are histories of sexual and physical abuse. Many are also mothers. This report is intended to shed light on these problems, beginning with the influence of drug enforcement on female prison populations. Given the high percentage of women incarcerated across the European and Central Asian region for drug offences, it is clear that legal and sentencing reform is an urgent requirement. Details: London: Harm Reduction International, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2013 at: http://www.ihra.net/files/2012/03/11/HRI_WomenInPrisonReport.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.ihra.net/files/2012/03/11/HRI_WomenInPrisonReport.pdf Shelf Number: 129206 Keywords: Female Drug OffendersFemale InmatesFemale Offenders (Europe, Central Asia)Sentencing |