Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 26
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Many new minimum sentencing regulations have resulted in harsher sentences for drug-related offences than for crimes such as rape and murder. Such sentencing regulations result in gendered disparity as regards incarceration. For example, in Ecuador, in one year 77 per cent of women in prisons were incarcerated for drug-related offences, compared with 33.5 per cent of men. An ironic consequence of such sentencing regulations is that women who commit relatively low-level drug crimes find themselves serving prison time while more serious offenders often escape imprisonment by entering into plea-bargaining deals, which involve giving "substantial assistance" to the prosecution. Women are usually unable to provide such "assistance".
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Non-negotiated soft law
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Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences