Sentencing Project reports on "Incarcerated Women and Girls, 1980-2016"

The Sentencing Project has this notable new fact sheet with details on modern trends in the incarceration of women and girls under the title ""Incarcerated Women and Girls, 1980-2016." Here is how it gets started:

Over the past quarter century, there has been a profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal justice system.  This is the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to reentry that uniquely affect women. The female prison population stands nearly eight times higher than in 1980.  More than 60% of women in state prisons have a child under the age of 18.  Between 1980 and 2016, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 700%, rising from a total of 26,378 in 1980 to 213,722 in 2016.