All month, I’ve been writing about the conditions that make women executable in America — the narratives, the stereotypes, the erasures, the silences. Today is different. Today is about the women themselves. Lisa Montgomery. Wanda Jean Allen. Kimberly McCarthy. Frances Newton. Karla Faye Tucker. Ethel Rosenberg. Six women across different eras and circumstances, pulled into… Continue reading Six Women the State Learned to Kill: The Standard Changed. Ask Why
Category: Women Behind Bars
Profiles, trends, and challenges for women who are accused or convicted of crimes
Before America Could Execute Women
It Had to Decide Which Women Were Women America has never been entirely comfortable executing women. Not because women are incapable of violence.Not because the legal system is merciful. But because female execution disrupts something deeper in the American imagination. Before the state can kill a woman, it often has to make her something else… Continue reading Before America Could Execute Women
Good Women Don’t Do This
Gender, Judgment and the Stories We Need Women to Fit There are some crimes society expects from men. Violence, brutality, rage — however uncomfortable those realities may be, people tend to view them as familiar. Disturbing, but unsurprising. The cultural script already exists. But when a woman commits a violent crime, the reaction often feels… Continue reading Good Women Don’t Do This
Condemned Twice: They Were Never Just the Crime
Opening a Month-Long Series on Women and the Death Penalty In March, I told you this post was just the door. I said we would go deep— into the history, the data, the race, the cases, the faith questions that don't have easy answers. I meant it. May is here. The door is open. There… Continue reading Condemned Twice: They Were Never Just the Crime
Women Behind Bars: Seen, Named and Not Yet Free
This month we have shed light on women. And illuminating, if we are not careful, can become its own way of looking without seeing. When Michelle Alexander sat down to write what would become one of the most important books of our generation, she did so in the shadow of a historic moment. A Black… Continue reading Women Behind Bars: Seen, Named and Not Yet Free
Beyond Mercy
Women, the Death Penalty and a Story We're Just Starting to Tell We talk about capital punishment as if it has always been a man's story. The numbers suggest otherwise — but only if you know where to look. In 1632, Jane Champion became the first woman executed in the new colonies. She wasn't a… Continue reading Beyond Mercy
Women, Motherhood, and the State
The Punishment of Care: How Motherhood Shapes Women’s Experience in the System Motherhood is traditionally celebrated as care and nurturing. Yet within the criminal legal system, it paradoxically becomes a source of punishment and control. The system weaponizes motherhood to regulate women’s bodies, identities, and behavior, reinforcing social hierarchies and perpetuating systemic inequality. The system… Continue reading Women, Motherhood, and the State
The Gendered System
When a Courtroom Built for Men Tries to Process Women Every March, we celebrate Women’s History Month by lifting up women who shaped movements, broke barriers, and carried communities on their backs. Yet there’s a group of women whose stories rarely make it into commemorations — the women living inside the criminal legal system. Their… Continue reading The Gendered System
Bridging the Gap – Trauma-Informed and Culturally Competent Care for Incarcerated women
Incarcerated women face unique and complex health challenges that are often overlooked within correctional healthcare systems. Among the most critical gaps is the limited access to trauma-informed and culturally competent care, which is essential for addressing the deep-rooted trauma and diverse cultural needs that shape these women's health outcomes. This post explores why these approaches… Continue reading Bridging the Gap – Trauma-Informed and Culturally Competent Care for Incarcerated women
Behind Bars, Beyond Healing: The Invisible Wounds of Women’s Mental Health Crisis
Correctional healthcare systems were never designed with women’s needs in mind. This gap is especially devastating when it comes to mental health care. For many incarcerated women, jails and prisons have become default psychiatric institutions—places where mental illness is punished rather than healed. Correctional facilities have become the largest providers of mental health services in… Continue reading Behind Bars, Beyond Healing: The Invisible Wounds of Women’s Mental Health Crisis
On (In)justice 