Piercing the Prison Uniform of Invisibility for Black Female Inmates

Abstract

For professionals working with the issues of women and criminality, the lean years of working without the support of solid empirical data are coming to an end. In the past, professionals working on women and crime toiled in the dark as there were few studies which focused specifically on women's criminality, and little empirical data existed to support theoretical approaches. Lawyers and women's advocates sensed that crime committed by women was different from crime committed by men and that each type of crime affected society in different ways. However, the only information available to support these beliefs was anecdotal stories. Today, a combination of factors gives women's advocates new tools to support their arguments that crimes committed by women are different than those committed by men. Not only do men and women follow different paths into crime,' but their crimes also cause different types of harm to society.2