“Rinse and Repeat”, A Woman’s Experience of Non-Custodial Measures in the United States (PID032)

3pm – 3.30pm EST, 19 February 2025 ‐ 30 mins

Parallel Workshops

This session will discuss women’s experiences with non-custodial measures from a US perspective, an academic perspective, and as someone who has lived these experiences. Women on non-custodial measures make up a unique aspect of the US correctional population. In the United States, 82% of the population of women under correctional supervision are under community corrections programs (probation, parole, drug court) (Prison Policy Initiative, 2019). Of those on probation, just over half successfully complete all sentencing sanctions, with recidivism and unsuccessful completion rates being higher for younger women (The Pew Charitable Trust, 2018). 
The majority of women on probation have committed nonviolent offenses: theft, fraud, public disorder, driving under the influence. These women often have a high comorbidity rate of mental health and substance abuse problems and are more likely to be prior victims of abuse. Non-custodial measures keep women connected with their family, community, and social anchors more than being incarcerated, but difficulties in managing these sanctions results in a large percentage of women failing to complete the sentence, or completing the sanctions, but getting arrested for something similar and put on non-custodial sanctions again. Consequently, non-custodial measures can sometimes feel like a “rinse and repeat” process, especially if it is not the first time the person has received a community sentence. Given that the US has a significantly higher rate of women on community sanctions compared to other countries, understanding the experiences of non-custodial sentences is necessary to address long-term desistance and rehabilitation.