The numbers of women offenders involved in the correctional system are quickly growing. Drugs, Women, and Justicegathers 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 Drugs, Women, and Justice symposium at the Jane Addams Substance Abuse Research Collaboration.

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'.

This work investigates how the cultural representations of women drug users have defined America's drug policies in this century. It demonstrates the importance that public opinion and popular culture have played in regulating women's lives.

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.

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.