Gendered Justice in the American West

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Anne M. Butler's shocking study shows that the distinct gender disadvantages already faced by women within western society erupted into intense physical and mental violence when they became prisoners in male penitentiaries.Drawing on prison records and the words of the women themselves, Gendered Justice in the American West places the injustices women prisoners endured in the context of the structures of male authority and female powerlessness that pervaded all of American society. Butler's poignant cross-cultural account explores how nineteenth-century criminologists constructed the "criminal woman"; how the women's age, race, class, and gender influenced their court proceedings; and what kinds of violence women inmates encountered. She also examines the prisoners' diet, illnesses, experiences with pregnancy and child-bearing, and survival strategies.

Résumé
Deals with the ugly realities that made life in prison even more difficult for women in the American West, revealing lives and adding their voices and experiences to the saga of the American West.