Focusing on women in Illinois prisons, this study investigates women's crimes and punishments over the past century and a half. It examines a wide range of factors, including race and relative poverty, and points out that female prisoners have generally been treated as failures both in society and among other women.

Focusing on women in Illinois prisons, this study investigates women's crimes and punishments over the past century and a half. A wide range of factors, including race and relative poverty, are examined. While there have over time been changes in the perception and punishment of criminality among women, Dodge points out that female prisoners have generally been treated as failures both in society and among other women.