A unique interdisciplinary exploration of a pressing social issue The numbers of women offenders involved in the correctional system are quickly growing. Drugs, Women, and Justice: Roles of the Criminal Justice System for Drug-Affected Women gathers a distinguished group of researchers and policy analysts into one volume to explore the broad social and individual implications of current policy and practice pertaining to women in the criminal justice system. This valuable resource provides readers with a superb overview of the current state of knowledge and provides recommendations for new directions. Each top-notch chapter was originally presented at the 2005 Drugs, Women, and Justice Symposium, held on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and sponsored by the Jane Addams College of Social Work Substance Abuse Research Collaboration through a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Traditionally, criminal justice studies and rehabilitation programs have focused on male offenders. Recent studies reinforce the current evidence that females should have their needs addressed differently. This unique book presents the latest research and thinking in complex and still emerging areas of policy and treatment for women in the criminal justice system. Topics in Drugs, Women, and Justice: Roles of the Criminal Justice System for Drug-Affected Women include: characteristics of drug-involved women in the criminal justice system the negative impact on families of punitive drug laws and child welfare legislation assessing and managing the service needs of children whose mothers have been arrested influences of feelings of isolation on the course of rehabilitation demographic differences between women in drug treatment and drug-involved women in the criminal justice system service needs of women released from prison a program developed for women who have survived traumatic violence, working in the street economy, and the criminal justice system the direct and indirect impact of mass incarceration on women and more Drugs, Women, and Justice: Roles of the Criminal Justice System for Drug-Affected Women is essential reading for researchers, criminologists, sociologists, social workers, psychologists, clinicians, feminists, and policymakers in the areas of social welfare, criminal justice, and drug policy.

From the 1950s 'girl junkie' to the 1990s 'crack mom', Using Women investigates how the cultural representations of women drug users have defined America's drug policies in this century. In analyzing the public's continued fear, horror and outrage wrought by the specter of women using drugs, Nancy Campbell demonstrates the importance that public opinion and popular culture have played in regulating women's lives. The book will chronicle the history of women and drug use, provide a critical policy analysis of the government's drug policies and offer recommendations for the direction our current drug policies should take. Using Women includes such chapters as 'Sex, Drugs and Race in the Age of Dope'; 'Regulating Adolescents in the Postwar US'; 'Fifties Femininity'; and 'Regulating Maternal Instinct'.

Stephanie Bush-Baskette was astonished when she read that between 1986 and 1991, black women experienced the greatest percentage increase of any group, including black males, in imprisonment for drug offenses. Not only was she stunned by the statistic, but also that the impact of the war on drugs on black women is almost never discussed. As a legislator, attorney, and gubernatorial cabinet member, Bush-Baskette is familiar with the development and implementation of public policies as well as the enactment and application of laws. This obscure fact concerning the status of black women in the criminal justice system became her touchstone as she earned a doctorate in criminal justice. In Misguided Justice, Bush-Baskette uses her expertise in the law and the legislature to investigate and then discuss the affect of the war on drugs on the incarceration of black women in the federal system. She provides an overview of what the war on drugs is; how it has impacted women and black people in general, and then focuses on black women specifically. She provides background and context regarding how the laws were implemented and how they have affected the likelihood and length of incarceration of thousands of black women for more than two decades.

"This important new work by critically the acclaimed sociologist and author of Dangerous Society makes it clear that girls and young women have become a real force in the drug culture and in 1990s urban gang life. Girls, Gangs, Women and Drugs is based on a decade of field work undertaken in the city of Detroit by one of America's foremost gang experts and his team of researchers. In the course of this investigation, Taylor and his staff interviewed hundreds of girls and young women. Based on what they learned, Dr. Taylor has prepared this spell-binding account of drugs, money, sex, and violence. He commands the reader's attention as complex webs of female gang life and drug culture are unraveled." "Girls, Gangs, Women, and Drugs is a book about women, young and old; it is about gangs; it is a book about their survival in a society that has abandoned them; it is a book about women in the criminal justice system; it is about judges, attorneys, administrators of the court, and correctional officers; it is about the women who serve on the police force. It focuses on a large segment of Detroit's female population and how these women see what they are doing as committing acts of self-empowerment - the personal pursuit of their own version of the American Dream." "Girls, Gangs, Women, and Drugs takes a close look at the hard economic realities of life on the street and the women who must encounter them every day. Its message is clear: female involvement with drugs and gangs is yet another facet of America's decaying urban culture, one that commands our immediate attention."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Winner of the British Society of Criminology Book Prize, 2015 Fleetwood explores how women become involved in trafficking, focusing on the lived experiences of women as drug mules. Offering theoretical insights from gender theory and transnational criminology, Fleetwood argues that women's participation in the drugs trade cannot be adequately understood through the lenses of either victimization or agency.