New Report: The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline

Posted by Georgetown University on July 20, 2015

Documenting the Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline

A new report from the Human Rights Project for Girls, Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, and Ms. Foundation for Women documents the criminalization of young women who experience sexual abuse. The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story argues that girls of color in particular are often funneled into the justice system after experiencing sexual violence such as abuse or trafficking. The report finds that girls in the juvenile justice system are four times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse than their male counterparts, and that they are much more likely to be incarcerated for “status offenses” like truancy or running away from home. The authors make a number of policy recommendations to close the “abuse to prison pipeline,” including changes in law enforcement training and broad reform of detention facilities.

https://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/poverty-inequality/upload/2015_COP_sexual-abuse_layout_web-2.pdf