Ideally
men and women should receive the same sentence for the same crime.
In today’s world that is not the case. A recent study by
Sonja Starr, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan
found that men receive sentences that are 63% higher than their
female counterparts.
The
gender gap in sentencing is 6x higher than the racial gap between
white people and people of color. Furthermore women are 2x as
likely to avoid incarceration after a conviction. This is
clearly an area where science and reason are absent from the
institutions that govern us. In many states we spend
twice as much on each woman in prison as we do on each man. To
achieve real gender equality discrimination against men and women
must be identified and remedied. Neither gender should have to
do more time in prison because of their biological sex.
What
is the resolution to this problem?
Certainly
non-violent drug offenders and wrongfully convicted people should not
have to do prison time. Defendants often do not have enough
resources to defend themselves properly. Efforts should be made
to make our legal system more equitable.
Since
1973 the prison system has grown by more than 2 million people. Why does the Land
of the Free have more people in prison than any other nation?
For
more information regarding this issue you can check out these
articles from the University of Michigan and the Huffington Post:
No comments:
Post a Comment