DRUG LAWS BLAMED FOR TREND

FEMALE CRIME: Experts say the substantive increase in convictions among
South Carolina women can be attributed to stricter drug laws and
enforcement.

COLUMBIA - Tougher drug laws and enforcement have sent more women to jail in
South Carolina, experts say.

The number of women convicted of drug charges, including drug trafficking
and possession, increased 37 percent between 1990 and 1996, according to the
U.S. Justice Department. Drug convictions for men jumped 25 percent during
the same period.

"Women have been swept up in the war on drugs, while legislators and
prosecutors ... often take an approach of 'If you can do the crime, you can
do the time,' " said Dana D. DeHart, who works with the University of South
Carolina's center for child and family studies.

DeHart said women's crimes differ from those by men because women often
commit crimes because of drug addiction or to retaliate against abusive
partners.

Richland County prosecutor Barney Giese agreed drugs are behind the increase
in women arrested.

"We might see some killings involving women, but they are usually domestic
in nature," Giese said.

The number of women arrested statewide has more than tripled during the past
20 years, according to statistics from the State Law Enforcement Division.

The number of men arrested increased by about half during the same time,
according to SLED.

In 1998, police in South Carolina arrested 54,131 women, compared to 17,004
women arrested in 1978, according to SLED. Police arrested 167,222 men in
1998, up from 113,990 men arrested in 1978.

The number of women sent to prison for felony convictions increased 42
percent from 1990 to 1996, federal statistics show. Felony convictions for
men increased 17 percent during the same period.

Lexington County Sheriff Jimmy Metts said women's crimes are changing with
the times.

He said women used to get money from prostitution, writing bad checks and
embezzling but that more women are breaking into homes and robbing people.

"Women are more independent ..." Metts said. "They are just as competitive
as men are. And crime hasn't left them out."

But Joann Morton, an associate professor at USC's college of criminal
justice, said most women involved in violent crime usually target people
they know. "The crime that frightens most of us is stranger-to-stranger
crime," she said. "Women don't tend to do those."