New York’s War on Drugs and the Impact on Female Incarceration Rates

Prior literature suggests that drug legislation in the late 1970s and 1980s caused the rapid increase in the female incarceration rate. Empirical investigations focused on the female incarceration rate specifically may provide important information to further our understanding of the factors that contributed to this increase. The purpose of this study is to determine how much of the change in the female incarceration rate in New York can be attributed to the introduction of the 1973 Rockefeller Drug Laws. These laws were introduced prior to most war on drugs legislation and, therefore, serve as a unique case study for this type of investigation.