While men make up the largest numbers in the prison equation, women end up behind bars as well. And, their imprisonment and rehabilitation has a ripple effect also felt in the greater community.
A leader in the study of women in the criminal justice system says that gender matters when it comes to addressing women, recidivism and rehabilitation. Doctor Marilyn Van Dieten is a Toronto-based clinical psychologist who has spent her professional career working in issues involving the criminal justice system – and most recently women in the system.
Van Dieten was in Milwaukee earlier this month to mark the 40th anniversary of the Benedict Center, which provides community-based alternatives to prison for women.
She tells Bonnie North that until very recently, there was little research regarding women and incarceration.
