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Women now represent a significant proportion of all offenders under criminal justice supervision in the United States. Numbering more than 1 million in 2001, women offenders make up 17 percent of all offenders under some form of correctional sanction. To improve policy and practice regarding women offenders in corrections, the National Institute of Corrections undertook a 3-year project-titled Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders-to collect and summarize multidisciplinary research and practitioner expertise on gender-responsive strategies. The final report summarizes the following: • The characteristics of women in correctional settings. • The ways in which gender makes a difference in current criminal justice practice. • Multidisciplinary research and theory on women's lives that have significant implications for managing women in the criminal justice system.

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At 17%, women represent a significant proportion of all offenders under criminal justice supervision in the US. Drawing on the findings from their report, “Gender‐Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders,” the authors maintain that public policy has ignored the context of women's lives and that women offenders have disproportionately suffered from the impact of ill‐informed public policy. This discussion of the implications of gender within the criminal justice system is based on a simple assumption: responding to the differences between women and men in criminal behavior and to their antecedents is critical to gender‐responsive policy. Building on the pathway theoretical perspective, we find that in addition to the gendered impact of the war on drugs, policy changes in welfare reform, housing, and other social policy arenas combine to create a disparate impact on drug abusing women and women of color. Key policy areas affecting the lives of women offenders and their children include welfare benefits, drug treatment, housing, education, employment, and reunification with children. We conclude that addressing the realities of women's lives through gender‐responsive policy and programs is fundamental to improved outcomes at all criminal justice phases. A blueprint for gender‐responsive policy development is described through six guiding principles and their policy implications.