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County Dependence on Monetary Sanctions: Implications for Women’s Incarceration

  • University of Washington
Research Output:
Contribution to journal
Article
Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

Although men’s incarceration rates have declined in the United States, women’s have stayed steady and even risen in some areas. At the same time, courts have increased their use of monetary sanctions, especially for low-level offenses. We propose that women’s incarceration trends can be partially explained by county dependence on monetary sanctions as a source of revenue. We suggest that monetary sanctions expose female defendants to processes that increase their likelihood of incarceration, especially in counties more reliant on monetary sanctions as a source of revenue, and where women’s poverty rates are high. Using data from Washington State, we find county dependence on monetary sanctions is positively associated with rates of women sentenced to incarceration. Although rural counties’ rates are higher, they depend on monetary sanctions no more than nonrural counties do.

Sustainable Development Goals

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
    SDG 1 No Poverty

Bibliographic Information

Output type

Research Output:
Contribution to journal
Article
Peer-review

Original language

American English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 157-172

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

RSF (Volume 8, Issue 2)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 01/2022

Publication status

Published - 01/2022

ISSN

2377-8253

Publication IDs

  • Scopus: 85123174964