SOC-410: Women and Prison

This course will examine the causes and consequences of women's incarceration. We will use sociological and criminological theorizing to understand why and how women's incarceration rates have increased over the last three decades. We will examine the impact this trend has on individuals, families and communities. Key topics within the course include: women's pathways to criminal involvement; the relationship between women's physical and sexual victimization and their incarceration; the impacts of women's incarceration on children and families; and current efforts to re-integrate women into society post-incarceration. Although we will focus mainly on incarcerated women in contemporary culture, we will also consider other historical contexts, such as the origins of women's "reformatories" and the evolution of women's incarceration over time. To deepen our understanding of these issues, we will also apply an intersectional analysis to focus on how marginalized women are impacted by the criminal justice system and mass incarceration.