Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
In 2014, many states revisited disproportionately high sentencing schemes for low-level property offenses. Voters in states across the country rallied in favor of reductions in penalties for low-level, nonviolent property offenses, such as theft, check fraud, and larceny. Bipartisan efforts to ease the financial burden of incarceration have lead to criminal justice reforms in states like California, Oregon, and Mississippi. Advocates for women in the criminal justice system have embarked on campaigns to frame reforms as not just a cost-cutting measure, but also as a moral imperative.
For many women, primarily women with little money, relatively low-value property offense convictions can lead to devastatingly disproportionate consequences, such as the trauma of incarceration and the marginalization that follows a serious criminal record. The tremendous sanctions that currently exist for low-level nonviolent property offenses have sparked a call among advocates for policy change. Women-centered campaigns argue for greater nuance in the justice system's response to women charged with property offenses.
Disciplines
Criminal Law | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Law
Recommended Citation
Amber Baylor,
Changing Punishments for Property Offenses, to Change the Lives of Women in Need,
The State of Criminal Justice 2015, Mark Wojcik, Jane Messmer & Kyo Suh (Eds.), American Bar Association
(2015).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4279
Comments
©2016 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.