Women gather outside a Goodwill store inside the Elmwood Correctional Facility in 2024 in Milpitas, Calif. A Council on Criminal Justice report warns that criminal justice policies are failing to address the unique needs of women, from arrest to incarceration. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A new report from the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice warns that policies and practices across the nation’s criminal justice systems are failing to address the distinct factors that drive women into the system — and in doing so, are harming families and undermining public safety.

The report, which was released early this month, calls on states and local communities to reconsider how they respond to women at the earliest stages of criminal justice involvement — from arrest and pretrial detention to charging and sentencing — and to focus more on prevention, treatment and family stability.

“Women are no less responsible for their actions than men, and should be held accountable,” said Stephanie Akhter, the director of the council’s Women’s Justice Commission.

“If we really want to stop crime and put people on a path to success, then we need to take an individualized approach and craft responses that are fair and in service of those goals,” Akhter told Stateline.

The report outlined four major policy recommendations: prioritizing alternatives to arrest, basing pretrial detention decisions on public safety and flight risk, considering women’s unique circumstances during charging and sentencing, and prohibiting sexual contact between law enforcement officers and people in custody.

The authors also urged state and local leaders to invest in research and data collection to better understand women’s experiences in the justice system and the factors that may contribute to criminal behavior, including domestic violence, economic instability, substance use and mental illness.

“We need to know more about what’s bringing them into the system,” Akhter said. 

The report comes as new federal data shows the female prison population is growing faster than the male population. The female state prison population increased about 5% nationwide between 2022 and 2023, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Most states saw gains of fewer than 100 women, with Texas being the only state where the number of incarcerated women rose by more than 500. 

Roughly 58% of women incarcerated in state prisons were parents of minor children in 2016, compared with 46% of men, according to a 2021 Bureau of Justice Statistics research brief.

The latest national FBI data shows a similar trend in arrests: Women accounted for 27% of all adult arrests in 2024, nearly double their 14% share in 1980, according to the council’s report. The share of violent offense arrests among women also has steadily risen, from 11% in 1986 to 21% in 2024. 

A separate report from the council’s Women’s Justice Commission examined how communities respond to women in crisis. The authors found that some crisis intervention systems are not designed to meet women’s specific needs, and that more research is needed to understand women’s experiences and long-term outcomes.

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

Men exercise in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kan. The prison population in Kansas rose nearly 5% between 2022 and 2023. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The nation’s prison population grew for the second consecutive year in 2023, reversing more than a decade of steady decline.

A new prison population report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, released before the federal shutdown, shows that 1,254,224 people were incarcerated in state and federal prisons on the last day of 2023 — an increase of 24,081 people from the year before, or about 2%. 

It follows a rise in 2022, which marked the first uptick since 2010, when prison populations began a gradual decline after peaking in the mid 2000s.

Even with recent increases, the prison population in 2023 was still about 20% below the 2013 level.

The latest figures show that women remain a small share of the prison population, but their numbers are growing faster than men’s. 

Between 2022 and 2023, the female prison population rose nearly 4%, from 87,800 to 91,100. The male population increased by nearly 2% during the same period. Thirty-eight states saw growth in their male prison populations, while 41 states reported increases among women.

New Mexico, Maine and South Dakota recorded the highest growth rates in their prison populations. 

Seven more populous states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin — added more than 1,000 people to their prison rolls during the same period. New Jersey, Alaska and Hawaii had the largest decreases in rates.

The growth comes as prisons are grappling with another demographic shift: a rapidly aging population. In 2023, nearly 1 in 4 prisoners were 50 or older. That trend is expected to continue, some experts say, with projections that by 2030 as much as one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over 50.

Correctional systems, many of which already face staffing shortages and overcrowding, are under growing pressure as prison populations rise. In recent years, some prisoner advocates and state legislators have pushed for measures such as “second look” laws or expanded parole eligibility that would release people deemed low risk for reoffending. Those could include older adults, people with serious medical needs and those convicted of nonviolent offenses.

The idea has gained traction as a way to lower prison operation costs and ease strain on correctional staff, but it remains controversial. Supporters say targeted decarceration can improve safety inside prisons and save taxpayer dollars, while opponents argue it could jeopardize public safety and that such releases may not significantly lower taxpayer costs. 

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.