Description

Prisoners of War: Black Female Incarceration at the End of the 1980s

The authors assesses black female incarceration and drug arrests in the 1980s. The study reveals that proportionately more black women were incarcerated for drug offenses than were white women and that black women incarcerated for drug offenses were substantially less likely to have been involved in the criminal justice system than were their violent offense counterparts. Consequently, the War on Drugs served to punish Black women drug users, not to punish criminals.

prison, Black female incarceration, African Americans — prisoners, crime and criminals — drug use, women — prisoners

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 29, Nos. 1-2 (2002): 131-143