Why Are So Many Women In Prison? NYC Arrests Of Females Soar While More Men Avoid Jail Time

Arrest rates for men are on the decline in New York City, but the same can’t be said for their female counterparts, according to a report released Thursday.

In the report, published by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in conjunction with The New York Women’s Foundation, researchers analyzed the role of gender within the criminal justice system and the differences women face during imprisonment following their arrests compared to men. Not only were arrest rates for males decreasing at a higher rate than women, but males were also more likely to have prosecutions declined than women.

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Of the 314,595 arrests made in New York City in 2014, 57,119 were women, the report said. The number of female arrests was up to 18.2 percent that year compared to the 17.8 percent of arrests women made up in 2010. Conversely, arrests of men in New York City, which accounted for 279,663 in 2010, dropped by 9.9 percent in 2014 with males only accounting for 252,104 arrests that year.

Although women were reportedly less likely to be charged with felonies than men in New York City, in 2014, female misdemeanor arrests accounted for 75 percent of arrests for women, compared to male misdemeanor arrests, which only made up 70 percent of men's arrests.

There was also a difference in the number of cases dismissed based on gender, the report said. In an instance of disposition at an arraignment, a person who has been arrested may have their case dismissed, adjourned in contemplation of dismissal or may enter a guilty plea, which is accepted by a judge. More than 44 percent of men facing charges were granted disposition at arraignment in 2014 while only 37 percent of women had their cases dismissed at arraignment in New York City, according to the report.

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“As the number of women involved in the justice system continues to increase in New York City, we must develop a multifaceted gender-specific strategy that not only connects them to the care and services they need, but that diverts them from entering the system in the first place – allowing them to live safely and productively in the community with their families in their home communities. This exhaustive report lays out a roadmap for a system that is both fairer and more effective, and one that will reduce recidivism and improve the prospects of justice-involved women,” Ana L. Oliveira, President and CEO of The New York Women’s Foundation, who was involved in the study, said in a statement.

The findings seemed to be in line with a separate report by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said women imprisonment population was increasing nearly double the rate of male incarceration across the U.S.