Le sexisme dans la guerre contre la drogue

Les femmes constituent actuellement la part de la population qui s’accroit le plus dans les prisons aux Etats Unis. Cependant, ceci n’est pas la conséquence d’un plus grand nombre de femmes usagères de drogues, mais plutôt celle de changements dans la détermination des peines aux Etats-Unis. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

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One glance at the mass of black and brown faces locked in prison on nonviolent drug charges and it’s clear that the so-called War on Drugs has deep roots in racism. But what about the drug war’s impact on gender? While not as widely discussed as racism, sexism infiltrates every aspect of drug policy, even within the reform movement itself, impacting how women who use drugs are viewed, treated and punished.

The staggering increase in the number of women in prison does not reflect larger numbers of women using drugs, but rather, changes in criminal sentencing.

Women are currently the fastest growing segment of the U.S. prison population. According to the ACLU report “Caught in the Net,” over the past three decades, the number of females in prison has increased at twice the rate of their male counterparts—even more so for women of color. From 1977 to 2007, the female prison population grew by 832%, while the male population grew by 416%. Two-thirds of these women are serving time for nonviolent offenses and more than three-quarters are mothers.

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