Discrimination of women in criminal justice (Research Paper Sample)

Discrimination against women in criminal justice systems
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Introduction
Among the reasons behind the formulation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2011 was to promote respect for women's rights. There are a lot of concerns ranging from discriminatory to gender-specific reasons behind the detention.
Problem statement
First, taking a closer examination of the situation of girls and how they are treated in the criminal justice system, it has been considered that this issue has been overlooked and neglected over time. Besides, the capacity of parliaments to strengthen and promote human rights on their behalf was questioned. The main problem has been an unequal representation of women when in all sectors of the criminal justice department.
History of the problem
The situations under which women get involved in criminal offenses are quite different from that of men. A good percentage of women offenders find themselves in prison due to either direct or indirect discrimination from their parents, husband, and the community at large (Feinman, 1994). A good number of offenses carried out by women have been associated with poverty and a struggle to meet their children's basic needs. However, it is evident from research that women often commit petty crimes such as theft and fraud, and most of these crimes are due to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that these women undergo. Due to the low economic status surrounding most women, they cannot pay fines to the courts. Hence, a good number end up detained.
Since few women are under detainment worldwide, as per research, their rights and special needs are often left unattended for or left unacknowledged in the criminal justice system (Armstrong et al., 2007), is the case mainly because a lot of prisons around the world are primarily designed for men. This leaves a huge gap between those prisons meeting the specific needs of women prisoners and those that don’t. Up to date, international bodies have laid great emphasis on how women can access criminal justice when subjected to domestic and sexual violence. The main aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which discrimination against women has taken shape when it comes to criminal justice and the possible effects that have been experienced as a result of this problem, alongside the potential mitigation measures.
The extent of the problem
In many nations, studies have indicated that criminal sanctions applied in curbing sexual and immorality offenses such as adultery and gross violation of dress codes tend to punish women disproportionately (Covington and Bloom, 2003). Besides, studies have indicated that females charged with moral offenses are treated more harshly than men. In some other countries, women who have been subjected to rape with evidence end up being arrested for adultery. Similarly, detention for women subjected to rape is being used to secure and ensure that they testify in court against the offenders. This form of custody is unfair and against their social rights. Additionally, such detention will make other women fear reporting such rape cases.
Also, there is no interaction between the formal justice system and women (Sherman, 2002). However, women are more confronted by informal justice systems, which, according to society, are more legitimate than local courts and conform with the community's customs. However, it is not possible to practice equality of human rights through the application of informal systems of justice, which rarely provide for the equality of women's rights before the law. Many informal justice systems are on a large proportion comprised of community male elders who naturally tend to discriminate against women by eliminating them from decision-making processes.
On the other hand, the imprisonment of women has a close connection with poverty. Research shows that a large number of imprisoned women are from disadvantaged groups or communities. Such women imprisoned will often be characterized by a young age, low education status, and have dependent children. Because of women's discrimination in society, they are often deprived of economic resources. Hence, they have little to spend on law processes such as paying fines and meeting other financial obligations such as bail.
A good example of how women are affected by this discrimination is their vulnerability to sexual abuse. Women prisoners are at increased risk of rape, sexual assault, and humiliation. Women under imprisonment may be vulnerable to sexual abuse of all forms by prison staff, such as touching them during searches, watching them showering, stripping them naked, and in some instances, rape. Similarly, the dependent nature of prisoners on prison staff may force women to unwillingly give out their bodies for sex to receive favors in return. Women often find themselves at the crossroads of reporting such abuses since they fear retaliation and stigmatization.
Effects
Since female discrimination in the criminal justice department has been practiced over a long period in society, various negative outcomes have been witnessed in the community as a result.
First, increased immoral crimes such as rape and sexual abuse subjected to women in society have been committed. Studies have indicated that the number of these types of crimes in society is on the rise. One major reason why such crimes are on the increase is that the relevant authorities are