Gender Justice Pretrial Toolkit : A Model of Participatory Pretrial Justice for Women and Gender-Diverse People

By Erica King, Keilah Joyner, Alison Shames, Kristie Puckett, Darlene George, and Skye Adams

  As more jurisdictions across the country seek to improve their pretrial practices, reducing the number of women who are unnecessarily detained in jail pretrial is of utmost importance. In 2024, there were nearly 190,600 women and girls incarcerated in prisons, jails, and other carceral spaces in the United States.1 Nationwide, women’s state prison populations have grown 834% over nearly 40 years.2 834%--twice the pace of growth of the male prison population.3 Notably, more women are held in local jails—which are often outdated—than in state prisons. Moreover, of the 84,000 women in local jails, more than half (51,200) are presumed innocent and are detained while waiting the final disposition of their case.4 Most of those detained in jail pretrial are likely there not because they are deemed a danger to the community or a flight risk but because they do not have the financial means to satisfy a requirement to pay a relatively nominal monetary bond. This result should come as no surprise given that the median bond amount for a felony charge is $10,000 and the average yearly income for a woman who cannot afford to post bond is $11,000.5

Women who are held in local jails and are not convicted are largely there on accusations of nonviolent behavior: Less than a quarter of the 51,200 women held in jails pretrial (11,400) are charged with violent offenses. Rather, they are arrested for property crimes (16,200), drug offenses (15,300) and crimes against public order (8,000).6   xxxx

Kensington, MD: Center for Effective Public Policy  (CEPP), 2024. 48p.