School of Media Studies

This Friday: Invisible Targets – Women and Drugs in the Criminal Justice System

Current feminist movements such as the Women’s March and the viral #MeToo call attention to the mistreatment of women and other forms of gender inequalities. Yet, there is one particular group of women who you won’t see widely supported at any protest or trending on social media: Women in the War on Drugs.

What’s at stake for these women?

Globally, more women are incarcerated for mostly non-violent drug offenses than for any other crime. In Latin America alone, they account for 70% of women in prison. In the United States the incarceration of women rose by nine-fold (1977-2013) due in great part to harsh drug laws.

Drug use, for women, often jeopardizes their liberty, reproductive and parental rights. Routinely silenced by stigma due to their drug use or involvement in drug-related economies, these women face some of the harshest sentences for minor infractions.

On Friday, March 1st, from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm learn more about the seen and unseen inequalities these women face in the criminal justice system. To RSVP click here.

Unable to make it? Watch it here.

Speakers:

Erin Cloud, Esq., The Bronx Defenders, Team Leader and Supervising Attorney in the Family Defense Practice

Jeanne Flavin, author, and Professor of Sociology, Fordham University

Kassandra Frederique, New York State Director at Drug Policy Alliance