Women are now the fastest-growing population in the criminal legal system, yet policy, practice and public understanding continue to lag behind that reality. On this episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Stephanie Akhter, director of the Women’s Justice Commission at the Council on Criminal Justice, about why women’s involvement in the system is rising, how their experiences differ from men’s, and what meaningful reform actually requires.
Akhter brings a perspective grounded in direct practice and national policy work. Trained as a social worker, she began her career working with people returning home from prison before moving into state-level reentry policy, philanthropic criminal justice reform, and ultimately the launch of the Women’s Justice Commission. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes that women entering the system are often driven there by circumstances—trauma, poverty, housing instability, untreated mental health needs and coercive relationships—rather than by violent criminal behavior.
The discussion explores why women are not simply a smaller version of men in the system. Akhter explains that women experience higher rates of trauma and victimization, are more likely to be primary caregivers, and generally present lower public safety risk, yet are processed through a system largely designed without them in mind. As a result, reforms that have reduced incarceration for men have often failed to benefit women, even as women now account for roughly one-quarter of all adult arrests nationwide.
The episode also looks forward, examining where change is possible. Akhter outlines the Commission’s focus on reducing women’s system involvement where safely possible and improving outcomes when women do enter the system, from pretrial decisions to sentencing and reentry. The conversation highlights trauma-informed, gender-responsive approaches and growing recognition among justice professionals that real public safety depends on helping people leave the system healthier and more stable than when they entered it.
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