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Women’s History Month celebrates the strides that women have made around the world. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the work we still have to do, particularly for marginalized women like those served by the Innocence Project of Texas.
One of challenges many American women are now facing is: the rising rate of incarceration for women—especially, Black women.
Here are a few sobering statistics to consider from the state of Texas:
- The population of women in prisons has risen at more than twice the rate of men. From 1980 to 2018, the number of incarcerated women in Texas increased 908 percent, while the number of incarcerated men increased 396 percent.
- 81 percent of women in Texas state corrections’ system are mothers.
- While Black women make up only 6 percent of the overall Texas population, they comprise 26 percent of the incarcerated female population.
- A 2018 report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition found 58 percent of women in Texas prisons were sexually abused or assaulted as children, and 82 percent had experienced domestic violence.
- According to the National Registry for Exonerations, 63 percent of female exonerees were convicted of crimes that never occurred, three times the rate of male exonerees.
