More than 200,000 women across the Unites States are living behind bars. Most women are in prison for non-violent crimes, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. According to the Justice Policy Institute and the Sentencing Project, the sentences for U.S. prisoners tend to be longer than in other industrialized nations. Below are the stories of some of these female inmates today and the stories of the women they used to be. The photos on the left are what the women looked like before they were incarcerated, and the photos on the right are what they look like in their prison photo.
Tune in to "A Nation of Women Behind Bars," a Diane Sawyer "Hidden America" special, Friday, Feb. 27 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
I'll be watching this when it airs. It sounds like many of these women had really difficult lives before committing crimes. It's sad to think what they could have been if it hadn't been for the abuse they suffered.
...I didn't know you could get first degree murder if you weren't actually the killer.
Yup. I can't remember, but I what state exactly, but I want to say it's Indiana, where four teens committed a robbery, and the homeowner shot and killed one of them. The three teens where charged with murder, and sentenced to life, IIRC. The town and parents do not feel it's right, and have been trying to get the ruling overturned.