Report: MS justice system fails women as victims and defendants

A new report found the justice system is failing women at nearly every turn, from when they are victims of crime to when they become defendants.

Researchers said the system often overlooks the trauma and abuse which can lead women to commit crimes.

Sarah Anderson, associate director of criminal justice and civil liberties at the think tank the R Street Institute and the report’s co-author, said the issue is particularly acute in Mississippi, where the female incarceration rate has skyrocketed.

“The justice system really fails women at both ends because women quite often meet the system first as a victim of crime and then later as defendants themselves,” Anderson explained. “Their trauma, abuse, economic hardship and unique sort of pathways women take into the criminal justice system that differ from men’s, are rarely considered in courtrooms.”

Anderson pointed to Georgia’s recently passed Survivor Justice Act as a model for other states, allowing evidence of trauma to be used as a mitigating factor in sentencing. The report noted without such policies, women who commit crimes under coercion, such as sex trafficking victims forced into prostitution or fraud, face harsh mandatory sentences.

Anderson pointed out Mississippi’s female incarceration rate has grown nearly tenfold over the past 40 years, a rate triple the national increase.

“Mississippi also stands as the 16th highest incarceration rate in the country for women, at 160 women per 100,000 residents,” Anderson reported. “Which is also about triple the national average of around 50 women per 100,000 incarcerated.”

The report credited Mississippi for passing the Dignity and Safety for Incarcerated Women Act in 2021, a law to ban the shackling of pregnant women and improved visitation for mothers in prison. While the report’s findings on the link between victimization and female incarceration are widely supported by research across the political spectrum, some critics warned reforms based on trauma could risk undermining accountability for criminal acts. Others argued the proposed changes do not go far enough to dismantle systemic issues within the justice system.