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Have you ever wondered what you would do if you ever got convicted for a crime that you never committed? Understandably, you will freak out and call a lawyer, preferably a criminal defense lawyer, such as the Oykhman Criminal Defence Edmonton.
False allegations need to be dealt with immediately and cautiously. When it comes to crimes, we are more likely to associate the male gender with it. However, women are as much part of the jail system as their male counterparts. Read on to learn more about four facts about incarcerated and falsely convicted women that everyone should know about.
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Most Female Convicts Never Committed the Crime
You might be surprised to know that nearly 70% of jailed women have been wrongfully convicted and sent to jails. Their crimes include slight instances, such as accidents, and fabricated murders, and crimes which the female prisoners had never committed in the first place.
The Population of Women in Jails in Increasing Each Year
The percentage of jailed women makes up 10% of the entire jailed population in the USA. Albeit the smaller ratio of jailed women compared to their male counterparts, the number of women in the American jails is steadily increasing with each passing year. Their numbers are growing faster than their male counterparts. If we look at the statistics of jailed women between the 1980s and 2015, we see that the population inside female state prisons has grown by above 800%.
More Than Half of the Jailed Women are Seemingly Innocent
In 2019, more than 200,000 females were incarcerated, whereas nearly 100,000 were kept in local jails. Among these female “criminals,” more than 50% haven’t been found guilty of the crimes they have been charged with. Subsequently, these women were awaiting their trials. It has been analyzed that this higher portion of women, sitting in jails, and waiting for their trials, cannot afford to pay their penalty fees or bail themselves out of prison.
A Majority of the Convicted Females are Mothers
Now, this might come off as a shocker to many, but a majority of the incarcerated females in the United States are mothers and have children who are aged below 18. In contrast to the incarcerated male ratio in the US, the jailed women are mostly single parents or the primary caretakers of their families. This fact indicates that the incarceration of these females also impacts their children and extended families. Resultantly, a majority of the incarcerated women’s kids are placed in orphanages, and foster care.
Not to mention that the incarcerated women are more likely to be placed far away from their families and kids due to the fewer women’s jails that are spread sporadically across the United States. Subsequently, it gets difficult for the children and families of the jailed women to visit their mothers and see them in person. Also, it can be emotionally painful for the incarcerated women to have their children far away from them and having them placed in foster care.
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