{"id":10230,"date":"2024-03-07T13:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copolad.eu\/?p=10230"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:54:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T15:54:27","slug":"rethinking-gender-sensitive-justice-women-drugs-and-criminal-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copolad.eu\/en\/rethinking-gender-sensitive-justice-women-drugs-and-criminal-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking Gender-Sensitive Justice: Women, Drugs and Criminal Alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Beatriz L\u00f3pez Lorca and Mario Germ\u00e1n S\u00e1nchez Gonz\u00e1lez are COPOLAD III experts in penal alternatives.<\/h6>\n

With a rate of 30 women deprived of liberty per 100,000 inhabitants, the female prison population rate in Latin America is the highest in the world. On International Women’s Day, it is essential to reflect on the unique challenges women face in the criminal justice system,<\/b> especially when it comes to minor drug-related offenses. Deprivation of liberty for such offenses has profound and often devastating repercussions on the lives<\/b> of thousands of those deprived of their liberty, both personally, as well as in their families and communities.<\/p>\n

In recent times, criminal policy on drugs has been characterized by a maximization of criminal law<\/b>, what does this mean? A greater use of criminal law as a tool to combat crime and guarantee social order, which in this case is materialized in the lack of proportionality in the treatment of minor drug offenses, the excessive use of pretrial detention<\/b>, and a clear commitment to prison as the main retributive strategy;<\/b> a space in which criminal alternatives are significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

This approach has also permeated the general population, conditioning its understanding of the drug phenomenon and associated crimes<\/b>, leading to demands for more control and security that ultimately translate into a reinforcement of drug interdiction policies and, of course, greater punitiveness and criminal populism.<\/p>\n

As for women, who represent 8% of the prison population in Latin America, their incarceration is on the rise; reporting a 56% increase of women in the prison population between 2000 and 2022,<\/b> compared to a 24.5% growth in the general prison population in the same period.<\/p>\n

The consequence: a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\ud83d\udccaIn Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru there is more than 30% women imprisoned for drug-related charges, compared to the percentage of men.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffeCOPOLAD III supports proportionality and penal alternatives in cases of minor offenses. <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfd\ufe0fBeatriz L\u00f3pez Lorca, PhD in Criminal\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/LF6FZDmm8O<\/a><\/p>\n

— COPOLAD (@ProgramaCOPOLAD) March 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n