The Mission of the Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing (CGES) is to expose intersectional discrimination practices within the criminal legal system.

We seek to combat extreme sentencing by revealing the contradictions, injustices, and biases of these punishments specifically when used against marginalized populations including women, people of color, transgender individuals, poor people, trauma and abuse survivors, and those with disabilities.

The Problem

The issue of gender discrimination in sentencing is deeply urgent and profoundly misunderstood.

Although women are the fastest growing population of incarcerated people, perceptions that they receive preferential treatment from the criminal legal system abound.

+700%

In reality, women have suffered the most in the era of mass incarceration, with female incarceration increasing by 700% since 1980, more than double the rate of male incarceration for the same period.

1/39 compared to 1/59

For women of color, the punitive nature of our criminal legal system has been disproportionately harsh. Nationally, one of every 39 imprisoned Black women is serving LWOP (life without parole) compared with one out of every 59 imprisoned white women.

Complicating the urgency of these needs is the reality that very few studies have focused on these populations, creating a dearth of knowledge surrounding their needs.

The result is a prison system filled with the most vulnerable members of society, whose identities sit at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalization. Most have been victims long before they entered the system as perpetrators, yet were denied assistance and intervention when they needed it most. We believe in uplifting these individuals, because we understand that their lived experiences have the power to shed light on the cruelties and injustices of the criminal legal system. Their stories hold the key to transforming the system by moving it away from retribution and punishment and toward rehabilitation and healing.