R Street Institute
Analysis

Confronting the Women’s Incarceration Crisis: Police Encounters and Prosecution

by Jillian Snider
Oct 2, 2025
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issues: Alternatives to Arrest, Community Supervision, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, Policing, Pretrial, Prosecution, Reentry

This is part of the “Confronting the Women’s Incarceration Crisis” series, where we examine what is driving more women into the system and explore ways to reverse the trend. Read the introduction and view other posts here.

The rise in women entering the criminal justice system is one of the most overlooked trends today. Over the past four decades, the number of women behind bars has grown at twice the pace of men, and the factors driving their involvement are distinct—rooted in victimhood, trauma, poverty, and survival. While some policy changes have reshaped parts of the system, the earliest points of contact—police encounters and prosecutorial decisions—remain critical yet under-examined gateways.

This post focuses on those front-end experiences. It explores how gender gaps in policing, rigid policies like dual arrest, and outdated prosecutorial tools and practices push more women into the justice system and highlights commonsense solutions already working in some jurisdictions.

Why Initial Response Matters

A woman’s first police contact—whether she is seeking help, under investigation, or being arrested—shapes everything that follows. In 2020, over 20 percent of women in the United States had encounters with law enforcement. Currently, fewer than 14 percent of all sworn officers and less than 9 percent of police chiefs are women, with hundreds of agencies employing no full-time female officers at all. Not only does this perpetuate a male-dominated culture, it also critically weakens the system’s ability to engage and protect women, particularly around gendered violence and trauma. Women are statistically more likely to be both survivors and primary caregivers, yet their distinct perspectives are excluded from day-to-day policing and policy formation.

Research has found that women officers have more empathy, fewer use-of-force incidents, and stronger responses to domestic violence and other sensitive incidents. However, without sufficient representation in law enforcement or trauma-informed, gender-specific training, traditional, masculine-centric practices remain poorly equipped to recognize coercion, support survivors, or prevent wrongful arrests— particularly for marginalized women.

Mandatory and dual arrest policies pose special threats. With “dual arrest,” responding officers often lack training to distinguish primary aggressors from survivors and may arrest both parties, thereby increasing the criminalization of women. National data shows dual arrest rates up to 30 percent higher among same-sex couples than heterosexual cases, and estimates find over a quarter of same-sex domestic violence cases result in dual arrests. Racial bias compounds these risks, as women of color are less likely to be classified as “perfect” or “ideal” victims and are more often arrested in mutual violence incidents.

For women detained pretrial—often on lower, nonviolent charges—the harm is immense. Roughly 60 percent of women in local jails are unconvicted, with detention rooted not in risk but in their inability to post bail. The median annual income of women who cannot afford bail is approximately $11,000; the average bail amount is $10,000.

This economic mismatch leads to women being jailed for poverty, not public safety concerns. The consequences are severe: job loss, housing instability, loss of custody, and long-term family disruption. Many women in jail are mothers or trauma survivors, meaning detention destabilizes not just them but their children as well. Even a few days in custody can pressure women to plead guilty simply to go home, regardless of actual culpability. This drives deeper system involvement and compounds economic and social harm.

Gaps and Opportunities in Policing and Prosecution

At the front end of the justice system, law enforcement and prosecutorial decisions carry enormous weight in determining whether women fall deeper into the system or connect to supportive alternatives. Deflection and diversion offer critical alternatives to arrest, particularly for women charged with nonviolent, survival-driven offenses. These approaches connect people to housing, treatment, and support and break the patterns of churn that destabilize families.

Yet women remain underrepresented in these pathways. Rigid eligibility criteria, lack of child care or housing supports, and insufficient trauma screening too often limit their participation. Systemic blind spots compound this problem. Law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices often lack trauma-informed training and may misinterpret signs of survival, stress, or past abuse as resistance or guilt. Though evidence suggests that gender-specific training improves referrals to support services and strengthens victim satisfaction, such training remains rare.

Risk and needs assessments highlight similar shortcomings. Most tools were validated on men, and as a result, judges and prosecutors often rely on a one-size-fits all model that undercuts fair bail and release decisions. Prosecutors do not consistently account for trauma or parenting responsibilities when making charging or diversion recommendations, even when these factors are central to a woman’s justice involvement.

Taken together, these gaps illustrate how a lack of gender-responsive practices not only excludes women from alternatives like diversion but also perpetuates decisions that increase detention unnecessarily. By contrast, jurisdictions that integrate trauma-informed approaches achieve higher rehabilitation rates, stronger family stability, and safer communities.

Commonsense Solutions

Research and real-world practice point toward the following achievable steps:

Best Practices: Programs and Tools that Show Real Results

Conclusion

Women’s entry into the justice system is shaped at the earliest points of contact. Yet those systems remain built on outdated, male-centric models that too often overlook trauma, caregiving, and survival realities. Not only does this design criminalize victimization, it also destabilizes families and communities.

Strengthening front-end practices by expanding women’s representation in law enforcement, advancing trauma-informed training, modernizing risk assessments, broadening diversion, and ending harmful arrest practices offers a practical path forward. These solutions balance public safety with accountability while addressing the specific drivers of women’s justice involvement.

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