If you want an easy to understand and concise source of information about female incarceration within the U.S. and the throughout the world, then this report is for you. It is a must read for correctional professionals, policymakers, advocates, and community members. "We already know that when it comes to incarceration ... the United States incarcerates 716 people for every 100,000 residents, more than any other country. Worldwide, and within the U.S., the vast majority of those incarcerated are men. As a result, women's incarceration rates are overshadowed and often lost in the data. As a first step in documenting how women fare in the world's carceral landscape, this report compares the incarceration rates for women of each U.S. state with the equivalent rates for countries around the world." Sections of this report including a few of the findings are: introduction; outpacing the world-while the U.S. has only 5% of the world's female population, it holds close to 30% of the world's incarcerated females, very close to the total in Thailand, twice that of China, and four times that of Russia; World Women's Incarceration Rate if Every U.S. State Were a Country" infographic-the top 44 jurisdictions are states in the U.S.; outpacing our peers-among NATO countries the U.S. incarceration rate is eight times that of the closet ally Portugal, with Rhode Island with the lowest female incarceration rate in the U.S. is still twice that of Portugal and overall 15th in the world; outpacing ourselves; and conclusion. "The statistics revealed by this report are simple and staggering. They suggest that states cannot remain complacent about how many women they incarcerate. Women should be a mainstay of any state policy discussions on the economical and effective use of incarceration if we hope to incarcerate fewer women."
