Women and Justice: Keywords

Domestic Case Law

Doe v. Corrections Corporation of America United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (2015)


Sexual harassment

Three female petitioners sued a state-managed prison facility after prison officials required them to verify that they were menstruating before bringing feminine hygiene products into a male prison when visiting inmates. One of the petitioners’ children was also forced to watch the mother being searched because prison rules require children be supervised at all times. The women cited violations of due process, invasion of privacy, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, unconstitutional seizures, unconstitutional search and a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court denied the prison’s motion to dismiss, noting that filing a case against an agent in his official capacity as well as the entity to which the individual agent is not legally precluded and that liability can rest on the individuals given that the actors at least knowingly acquiesced in the search and likely facilitated the policy that allowed it to happen.



Articles

Violence Against Women as a Cause and Consequence of Custody (2014)


Custodial violence

This paper explores some of the ways in which violence against women relates to the imprisonment of women. It focuses on the role of gender-based violence as a pathway to and consequence of women’s incarceration, as these connections have generally received less attention than violence against women as a prison condition. The paper also considers how these pathways and consequences implicate states’ international law responsibility to eliminate violence against women and offer suggestions for how states might more effectively realize that obligation.



Reports

Meeting Minutes: Expert Group Meeting on the Causes, Consequences and Conditions of Women's Imprisonment (2013)


Custodial violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence and rape

On May 14th, The Avon Global Center and the University of Chicago Law School co-hosted a meeting of experts on the causes, conditions and consequences of women’s imprisonment globally. About 35 experts from the U.S., U.K., Russia, and Argentina participated in the meeting, including policy advocates, impact litigators, scholars, service providers, and senior department of corrections officials.

El 14 de mayo, el Avon Global Center y la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Chicago organizaron conjuntamente una reunión de expertos sobre las causas, las condiciones y las consecuencias del encarcelamiento de mujeres en todo el mundo. Alrededor de 35 expertos de los EE. UU., EE. UU., Rusia y Argentina participaron en la reunión, incluidos defensores de políticas, litigantes de impacto, académicos, proveedores de servicios y funcionarios superiores del departamento de correcciones.



Women in Prison in Argentina: Causes, Conditions, and Consequences (2013)


Gender-based violence in general

Report by the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice and International Human Rights Clinic, University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, and the Public Defender's Office in Argentina finding that women and their families are disproportionately affected by the harsh penalties imposed for low-level drug offences in Argentina.

Informe del Centro Mundial para las Mujeres y la Justicia y la Clínica Internacional de Derechos Humanos de Avon, la Clínica Internacional de Derechos Humanos de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Chicago, y la Oficina del Defensor Público de Argentina que encuentran que las mujeres y sus familias se ven afectadas de manera desproporcionada por las duras sanciones impuestas por delitos de drogas de nivel en la Argentina.