This brief aims to analyze gender disparities in the criminal justice system and propose legislation to enforce equality. We find that sexism in criminal justice is an expansive issue affecting all gender identities and that policy solutions should target reproductive health, mental health, and intersectional disparities between LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals.

The criminal justice system aims to administer the law, ensure public safety, and provide justice to the offenders and the offended. The Constitution’s Bill of Rights guarantees access to due process and equal protection, which includes the right to be trialed fairly and impartially, negating the racial, sexual, socioeconomic, or ethnic identity of an individual or group. However, certain laws have made it nearly impossible to achieve true due process in its entirety, such as the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws of 1865, and the Sentencing Project amongst a few that seek to unjustly criminalize people of color. Apart from legal ordinance, racial stereotypes, personal biases amongst the law upholders, and institutional discrimination play a huge role that affect incrimination and sentencing procedures. This brief highlights the implications of the former and various other contributing factors on various stakeholders and how to improve it for the better good of all the citizens and institutional processes.

Our policy brief delves deep into the urgent need for holistic prisoner rehabilitation in the United States justice system, discussing the educational, resource-based, and psychological models that can strengthen prisoner reintegration into society.