Myths and Realities

There are many myths and negative stereotypes about criminalized women or women who come in contact with the criminal justice system. These myths and stereotypes need to be challenged and broken-down. By doing this work, we can understand the nature and extent of women’s criminal acts. We can also begin to understand the context of women’s criminality – that is, the things about women’s lives and about society that contribute to women committing crimes and to women’s acts being understood as crimes. Part of this work requires us to look at the ways that race, class and other identities are treated by society and by the justice system.  

“The legal system [can] reinforce sexist, racist, and, classist stereotypes of women while simultaneously legitimizing patriarchal notions of the need to socially control women. We must all commit to transforming the social and economic position of girls and women and adamantly challenge attempts to further subjugate women if we are truly interested in addressing violence in our communities.”1   

Sexism, racism and classism work together to restrict women’s choices and to control women. To understand the lives of criminalized women, we must understand the role that sexism, racism, classism and other forms of discrimination play in their lives.  

This article looks at some of the big myths about criminalized women and tries to take them apart.  

Myth: Women in Canada are committing more crimes and becoming more violent.

Reality: This myth is not supported by statistics. Overall crime rates have decreased dramatically in recent years. The number of reported crimes in 2004 was down by 12% and the number of incidents involving young people reported to the police was down too.  

Further, there has been no significant change in how much violent crime is committed in Canada or the patterns of violent and aggressive behaviour in Canada.2 What has changed is Canada’s response to violent and aggressive acts. Recently, everyone from the police to schools has embraced a so-called “zero-tolerance” policies. These policies have meant that the government is policing and prosecuting more forms of violence.  

While the overall number of ‘violent’ offences committed by women remains low, the number of women who are being criminalized is increasing. More women are being put in prison and more women are being criminalized. This contributes to the myth that women are becoming more violent.  

This is simply not true. The continuing cuts to social welfare and the reduction in the number and quality of program for women mean that more women are forced to struggle to survive and care for themselves and, if they have any, their children. Increasingly, it is women’s survival skills that are becoming criminalized.3  

It is important not to confuse crime rates and incidences of violence with the criminalization of women. Dictionaries define “criminalization” as turning someone into a criminal or treating someone as a criminal (Merriam-Webster online dictionary). By reducing social supports, the government is forcing women into more and more marginal existences. Most criminalized women in Canada are inside provincial jails and are being sentenced for crimes like theft, impaired driving, fraud, shoplifting, sex-work related offences, and other non-violent offences.  

Women are not becoming more violent, but they are being pushed to support themselves in ways that fall outside the law (like sex work or shoplifting). The increased number of imprisoned and criminalized women leads to the mistaken belief that women are becoming more violent. 

Myth: Every woman is equally at risk of committing a crime and is treated equally before the law.

Reality: The extent and nature of women’s ‘criminality’, the likelihood that particular women will be imprisoned, and how particular women are treated while incarcerated depends on women’s social location. Women of different races and classes and sexual orientations and abilities have different experiences. Gender and sex work with race, class and other social locations or identities to impact how a woman experiences the world.  

Many women are more at risk of coming in contact with the law and are not always treated as equals before the law. In particular, Aboriginal women (including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit women); racialized women; young women, in particular single mothers; women living in poverty; women who have experienced violence; women with mental health issues; and women with addictions are more likely to be criminalized. 

Myth: Women who are provincially imprisoned have it better than women who are federally imprisoned.

Reality: Every woman who goes to jail is impacted. Most women experience some form of stigma. All women who go to jail are separated for a time from everything that is familiar to them.  

Some women are impacted in more serious ways than others. According to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, 87.5% of provincially-imprisoned women in 2006-2007 received a sentence of 3 months or less and the average sentence for provincially-sentenced women was less than 2 months.  

These are short sentences compared to what women who are sent to federal institutions receive. But shorter is not always better – or easier. Whether a woman is sent to a federal institution or a provincial institution her life is disrupted. She may lose her job or her home. Her children may be apprehended by Children’s Aid or she may lose custody to a family member or other parent.4 Women may be ostracized by their communities when they return to them, and as a result, they may lose the support of their communities.  

Whether or not women are in a federal or provincial institution, their health may suffer. In the words of one woman reflecting on the experiences of women with HIV/AIDS who are placed in custody or incarcerated: “Continuity of care for women living with HIV/AIDS while in custody or incarcerated is a real concern as it really impacts their lives...For these women HIV/AIDS medication is provided (obligated to do so by law) but there is no consistency and this can be very damaging to the women. Sometimes doctors will provide only the medication they have available and not the medication that has been prescribed to the woman. Changing medication if you have HIV is a slow process which has to be done a certain way otherwise your body will reject the medication....There is a lack of understanding on the part of the legal system and other authorities as to how the process of criminalization has many impacts on the lives of women.” 

Myth: Women have access to adequate programs and supports while provincially incarcerated.

Reality: Because women are only a small minority of the population of imprisoned people in Canada, they do not receive the same amount of funding for programs within federal and, in particular, provincial institutions. As a result, women have limited access to programs and supportive services.   

The lack of supports for women who are in conflict with the law influences how provincial institutions (jails and detention centres) are used. A recent study on federally sentenced women across Canada conducted from 2004-2006 found that provincial jails are used as “holding cells” because there are few supports for women who are incarcerated there.  

As a result, some women request increased jail time so that they are sent to federal prisons where they will have access to more programs and supports. This means that women remain imprisoned longer than necessary.  

Myth: Women do not face any risks when reporting violence to the police or other authority figures

Reality: The decision to report violence to the police, criminal justice and social services depends on many factors. The statistics show that violence against women is under-reported because women do not feel safe enough to report violence. 

According to Statistics Canada (2006) the majority of victims of spousal assault and over 90% of sexual assault victims did not seek support from the criminal justice system.5 

A 2008 study documenting women’s experiences with the Toronto Police Services in domestic violence cases found that the most common reason why women did not want to call the police in Toronto was due to a fear of retaliation by the abuser, family or the community. Other reasons women did not want to report violence were that women did not believe that the incident was "serious". Some women feared that their partner would be arrested or deported. Some women faced language barriers. 

Women who felt that the police had minimized the abuse they experienced said they would be less willing to involve the police again. Women who were charged by police in domestic violence situations they said that they would not likely call the police in the future.  

In the words of one Aboriginal woman recounting her experiences with police officers:

“Overall, I have had bad experience with police...been lied to by police, police have conducted unauthorized searches...” 

Another woman describes her experience with the police: “I was arrested protesting...I was beaten up by the police and I suffered physical and psychological trauma...” 

While the needs of some women are met when they report violence to the police or authority figures, not all women have this experience. For the most marginalized women in Ontario, reporting violence to authority figures can put them in even more compromising situations. Some women are charged under “dual charging.” Women who do not have status in Canada may be reported to immigration. Some women will become involved with child protection authorities and may have their children apprehended.