Women of Color and the Prison Industrial Complex

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the Rockefeller Drug Laws issue different punishments for usage of crack and cocaine, with the former more prevalent in communities of color and carrying a greater sentence. White women charged with drug use are viewed to have a problem that can be cured via therapy, whereas women of color are incarcerated for similar offenses. Drug-abusing pregnant mothers are discussed, as well as the differences between the private and public forms of justice that lead to racial inequality in the judicial system. Different court cases are integrated into the argument as means of proof. Behind bars, the gendered differences between male and female prison systems is discussed, as well as the constant abuse and sexual degradation experienced by female prisoners at the hands of male guards. The prison industrial complex is also compared to a modern institution of slavery.

From the Paper:

"The American legal system often targets women of color through unjust law enforcement and the prison system perpetuates systems of inequality found among non-prisoners. Women are mainly incarcerated for non-violent offenses and the circumstances in which their behavior is deemed "criminal" are influenced by racialized stereotypes and the manner in which gender roles are defined and distributed by our society. A majority of feminists have typically failed to address that violence against women by the state/and or military is a tangible enough dilemma and instead focus on domestic violence or violence initiated in the public sphere. Drug laws, in particular, target young and older women of color and their racially specific enforcement in the 'free world' manifests into the ultimate form of domination behind bars, a control that even transcends the color line."

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