User:Atiredgemini/sandbox

Hello, I'm a female and I go by "she/her" pronouns. I'm currently in a course, WGST 199, teaching me how to edit on Wikipedia. I have interests in many women's and gender studies topics, specifically topics associated with dress codes, the LGBTQ+ community, and more.

Topics I'm Interested in Studying

• Dress Codes in School Systems
• Gender and Crime
• Women's Sexuality
• Women in STEM
• Gender and Child Abuse

Although this is not my cat, I have a cat named Ted who looks like this.

One resource that looks like it will be useful in discussing the incarceration rates of women in Australia and New Zealand is Samantha Jeffries and Greg Newbold's article titled "Analysing Trends in the Imprisonment of Women in Australia and New Zealand."

MLA: Jeffries, Samantha and Greg Newbold. "Analysing Trends in the Imprisonment of Women in Australia and New Zealand." Psychiatry, Psychology & Law, vol. 23, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 184-206. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13218719.2015.1035619.

Annotated bibliography for work on incarceration of women

Jeffries, Samantha and Greg Newbold. (April 2016). "Analysing Trends in the Imprisonment of Women in 

Australia and New Zealand." Psychiatry, Psychology & Law. vol. 23 no. 2: pp. 184–206 – via 

EBSCOhost.

In "Analysing Trends in the Imprisonment of Women in Australia and New Zealand", Samantha Jeffries and Greg Newbold scrutinize the international rise of incarceration rates of women across the globe, with a specific interest in Australia and New Zealand. Both Greg Newbold and Samantha Jefferies are well respected college Professors in New Zealand and have special disciplines in Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work, Criminology and Gender Studies. Using statistical analysis and police records, Jeffries and Newbold hypothesize why the rise of incarceration rates is occurring in both countries and compare if the reasons are the same. Jeffries and Newbold do a good job of explaining the trends of imprisonment in each country while also relating the reasons. Their claim is that women’s crime rate is not increasing, rather, the criminal justice system is changing and starting to increase attention in areas of minor offences, which women are statistically more likely to commit. This source will help me especially in my research as it presents multiple explanations as to why the imprisonment rate of women is rising with a special interest in New Zealand. I will use this source to help describe why the imprisonment rate of women is increasing under my New Zealand subsection. (3)

Incarcerated Women and Girls - Sentencing Project. Nov. 2015. 

In the PDF Incarcerated Women and Girls, the Sentencing Project presents various data tables and charts exemplifying the imprisonment rates of women and girls around the world, especially in the United States. As the Sentencing Project states on their website, they were “founded in 1986, and they work for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration”. The main claim of the spreadsheet is that there has been a significant rise in the imprisonment rates of women and girls between 1980 to 2014 by providing data to support this. Although this article does not specialize in New Zealand, it does have major claims involving the rate of women imprisonment and lays out a lot of data supporting these claims that can be helpful as supporting details. I will use this article to help provide important statistical data and numbers to support the claims of other sources throughout my work. (1)

Newbold, Greg. Crime, law and justice in New Zealand. Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2016.

In his book Crime, Law and Justice in New Zealand, Greg Newbold, the respected professor from document one, observes the crime, social, and political trends in New Zealand from the end of the twentieth century to the present (2016). Newbold describes the crime rates in New Zealand while also examining why they occur according to various factors such as economy, legislative developments, and gender. The main claim of this book is that the incarceration rates in New Zealand prisons are changing in accordance to the changing of the criminal justice system in New Zealand. For my piece, the chapter about gender and imprisonment rates will be especially helpful in describing New Zealand’s imprisonment rates of women. This book is also very helpful as it is the only book about crime that specializes in New Zealand. I will use this book in my piece by using statistics from it concerning when incarceration rates fluctuated in New Zealand and why. I will also be using this source to descried characteristics of global incarceration rates as well. (2)

Norris, Adele N. (July 2017) “Are We Really Colour-blind? The Normalisation of Mass Female 

Incarceration.” Race and Justice. pp. 2-4- Retrieved 3 October 2017.

In her exploratory case study, “Are We Really Colour-blind? The Normalisation of Mass Female Incarceration”, Adele N. Norris observes 13 peer-reviewed articles discussing color-blindness regarding female imprisonment in New Zealand. Norris is a respected professor at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand who specializes in the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sociology Social Policy, and Women’s and Gender Studies. This article concludes that the lack of understanding of the forms and acts of racism supports the massive criminalization of the Indigenous people that in turn normalizes mass female incarceration. Norris’s article offers multiple recent resources and case-studies that analyze imprisonment rates in New Zealand concerning racism. I will use this source by adding a section onto my New Zealand Subsection about the incarceration rates or not only women but indigenous women as well. (8)

McIvor, G. (2010). “Women and Crime: The Rise of Female Imprisonment in Western Jurisdictions”. In 

M. Herzog-Evans (Ed.), Transnational criminology manual (volume 2, pp. 553-570). Nijmegen: 

Wolf Publishing.

In her published research report, “Women and crime: The rise of female imprisonment in western jurisdictions”, Gill McIvor describes her research, conducted through information gathered from academic sources, in 2010. Gill McIvor is not only a published writer but also a professor in Criminology at the University of Stirling. Here she makes the claim that asserts that the rise of female incarceration rates in New Zealand is not due to the increasing severity of crimes committed by women in New Zealand. McIvor also claims that New Zealand women are overrepresented of those convicted of less serious types of crimes such as theft and fraud and underrepresented in those convicted of more serious crime types such as crimes of violence. I plan to use this source to support the claim made by Newbold in his book Crime, Law and Justice in New Zealand, that is that the incarceration rates in New Zealand prisons are changing in accordance to the changing of the criminal justice system in New Zealand. (4)

Carson, E.A. Prisoners in 2014 - Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). 2015.

This report, Prisoners in 2014, was written by Bureau of Justice Statistician E. Ann Carson who has a Ph.D. in her field of study and works for the U.S. Department of Justice. This report really makes no claim but rather presents statistics of federal and state U.S prison populations according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Prisoner Statistics. One key highlight in this report that will be useful in my contribution is the fact they present which states that, “The number of women in prison who were sentenced to more than 1 year increased by 1,900 offenders (up 2%) in 2014 from 104,300 in 2013 to 106,200 in 2014”. I plan to use this source to describe some women imprisonment rates in the U.S. to add onto my characteristics subsection to provide a small description of what is happening to women’s imprisonment rates globally. (5)

Mauer, Marc, et al. Gender and justice: women, drugs, and sentencing policy. The Sentencing Project, 

1999. 

This report, Gender and justice: Women, drugs and sentencing policy, was written by Marc Mauer, Cathy Potler, and Richard Wolf. All are associated with the national organization, The Sentencing Project, which conducts research on criminal justice issues. Mauer is the Assistant Director of the Sentencing Project, while Potler and Wolf are both consultants to it.  This report uses Bureau of Justice Statistics as well as many other academic sources to highlight the effect the recent “war on drugs” has on the incarceration rates of women. They make the claim that the “war on drugs” is a “key factor” in the increase of women’s prison populations over the recent years (1991-1999). This is because, as they claim, the impact of criminal justice policy (the dramatic change in sentencing policies and practices when dealing with drug crimes) and the trend that women “use and abuse” drugs. I intend to use this report to help explain the numbers behind women’s prison sentences and what the main reasons are for their causes of arrest/main offenses. (7)

Triggs, Sue. From crime to sentence: trends in criminal justice, 1986 to 1996. Ministry of Justice, 1998.

In her book, From crime to sentence: Trends in criminal justice, 1986 to 1996, Sue Triggs analyzes the trends in criminal justice systems in New Zealand. When she wrote this, Sue Triggs worked as a senior Research Adviser of Criminal Justice Policy Group in the Ministry of Justice whose main aim is to provide “high quality statistical information” as stated by Colin Keating, a Secretary for Justice. Throughout this report Triggs uses data provided by multiple agencies including the New Zealand Police, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Courts. This report successfully combines statistics of enforcement, prosecution, sentencing, and prison populations to develop a picture of the criminal justice system in New Zealand. The biggest statistical finding Triggs makes in her book that I plan to use is from chapter three that states, “Fewer than one in five defendants in non-traffic cases were females.  On average females were prosecuted for less serious offences and had fewer previous convictions than males.  The number of cases involving females showed similar growth trends to males over the 1986-96 period, except that females showed a higher growth rate for offences against the person.” Overall, I plan to use this information to describe the characteristics of women incarceration rates compared to males. (6)

Contribution rough draft

Characteristics 

From the 1980’s to 2016, the number of women in correctional facilities in America grew by almost eight times what it previously was. Overall, in the United States, the increase of women incarcerated was more than 700%, expanding from 26,378 in 1980 to 215,332 in 2014. (5). The offenses that have caused women to be incarcerated are mostly considered to be minor infractions. The two biggest offences are crimes against property and drug offenses. (1) In their research report, Marc Mauer, Cathy Potler, and Richard Wolf claimed that the “war on drugs” is a key factor in the increase of women’s prison populations over the recent years (1991-1999). (7) 

Before the 1980’s, there was a lack of female representation in criminology around the world, making research in this area very difficult. This low level of representation was due to the fact that gender was not a large topic of debate. When studies would come up regarding the subject of criminology, most theories regarding crime were largely male modeled due to the significant portion of crime attributed to males. However, due to the feminist movement in the 1960’s, demand for information concerning female incarceration arose. Due to this growing demand that gained speed in the 1980’s, research in crimes committed by women has surged. (2)

History

New Zealand 

In New Zealand, the total number of convicted women increased by 111% between 1996 and 2005. (8). In 1963, women made up 7.7% of those convicted in New Zealand’s court system, with most causes of arrest being offenses against property and some offenses being crime against persons and/or assault. Then, in 1972, women’s incarceration rates increased to 11% in lower court systems. Again, with mostly the same two leading convictions . (2). As of 1996, prosecuted females on average had fewer previous convictions than prosecuted males in most first world countries such as New Zealand. (6) The number of women incarcerated in New Zealand peaked in 2010 and has decreased since. (3) As of 2014, the female conviction percentage is up to 23%. Crimes  against property make up a higher percentage of the total 23% female conviction ratio, at 33%. According to a 1991 study published by the Department of Justice, Greg Newbold notes that in comparison to women, men were twice as likely to commit a more serious crime. (2) 

Although the number of males far outweighs the number of females in the correctional facilities of New Zealand, the rate of increase of women incarcerated is growing at a pace significantly higher than that of males . Overall, the incarceration rate of women has been growing all over the world, not just in New Zealand. The most recent advocated hypothesis regarding why the rise is occurring is that women’s crime rates are not increasing, rather the criminal justice system is changing. This change has led to an increase in attention to minor offences, which women are statistically more likely to commit . (3) Gill McIvor, Professor of Criminology at the University of Stirling, supports this hypothesis with a research published in 2010 which confirms that the rise of female incarceration rates in New Zealand is not due to the increasing severity of crimes committed by women. As well as this, McIvor also makes the claim that New Zealand women are overrepresented in less serious types of crimes such as theft and fraud and underrepresented in more serious crime types such as crimes of violence. (4) 

Tabby cat