Shackling Laws in the United States Through the Lens of Narrative Policy Framework

• In Event: Policy Change: Impacts on and of Policing and Corrections

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase of incarcerated pregnant people in the criminal justice system in the United States; currently, five to ten percent of women in the criminal justice system are pregnant at the time of contact (Kramer et al., 2022). Through this research, I examine how policies and legislation represent and affect pregnant inmates in the criminal justice system. Specifically, this work focuses on anti-shackling laws using a narrative policy framework. Utilizing the techniques outlined by Shanahan et al. (2018), this work assesses how narrative components vary across the anti-shackling laws in 41 states. The results of this work hold implications for the well-being and reproductive rights of system-involved pregnant people.

Author

• Lillian H. Selznick, Northern Arizona University