據維拉司法研究所（Vera Institute of Justice）的最新報告顯示，美國監獄女犯的增長速度超過了男性。

1970年至2014年期間，女犯人數從8,000人增加到了近110,000人，其中多數因低級別犯罪或輕罪，正在等待受審或被判處較短刑期，包括與毒品或緩刑有關的犯罪。報告指出，這些女犯中約80%為單身媽媽，64%為有色人種女性。

女犯人數的大幅增加，主要來自美國較小的偏遠郡市。報告稱：“曾經女性入獄的情況很少，但現在幾乎每個郡都有女性被羈押——這與1970年形成鮮明對比，當時美國近四分之三的郡，監獄中沒有一名女犯。”

報告稱，被羈押的多數女性生活貧困，并且面臨精神健康問題。報告還表示，82%的被羈押女性存在某種程度的酒癮或毒癮。

參與該報告的一位研究人員利茲·斯瓦沃拉告訴NPR：“這些社區依靠監禁來處理有精神和行為問題的人。”但報告稱，多數女性出獄后的情況“比入獄前更糟糕”。

維拉研究所公布該項報告的目的是引發“有關如何控制美國監獄女犯人數增長的對話”。該研究所注意到，目前沒有太多人研究或關注監獄女犯的數量或對女犯的處理方式。報告稱，由于缺乏相關的研究，監獄不具備相應的條件，去解決女性在入獄之前和監禁期間所面臨的挑戰。

斯瓦沃拉告訴NPR：“我們必須考慮如何支持女性和幫助她們取得成功。現在的改革并沒有考慮到女性。”（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

The number of women in jails is growing at a faster rate than that of men, according to a?new report?fromthe Vera Institute of Justice.

Between 1970 and 2014,?the number of women in jailgrew from 8,000 to almost 110,000, with most of them awaiting trial or serving short sentences for low-level crimes or misdemeanors, including drug- or probation-related offenses. Nearly 80% of those women are single mothers and 64% are women of color, the report notes.

The spike in the number of women behind bars came primarily from smaller rural counties in the U.S. “Once a rarity, women are now held in jails in nearly every county—a stark contrast to 1970, when almost three-quarters of counties held not a single woman in jail,” the report says.

Most of the women in jails are poor and struggle withmental health issues, the report notes. And 82% have suffered from some kind of alcohol or?drug dependence, the report says.

“In those communities, they rely on incarceration to deal with people with mental and behavioral challenges,” Liz Swavola, one of the researchers who worked on the report,?told NPR. But, the report says, most of the women leave jail “far worse off than when they entered the jailhouse door.”

The Vera Institute conducted the report to spark “conversations about how to stop growing numbers of women cycling through U.S. jails,” noting that there’s little research or attention paid to the number or treatment of women in jail. Because of that lack of research, the report says, jails just aren’t equipped to handle the challenges women face before and during their stay.