Topics covered include the history of women's imprisonment, theories of female criminality, the changing nature of female criminality in Latin America, economics and criminality, and women in prison coping with AIDS and long-term imprisonment. Womens' rights are addressed from the perspective of legal reform and race and sex discrimination. Violence against women is presented as an abuse of human rights which needs to be addressed on the international human rights agenda. Because of existing myths regarding female victimization, their impact on supporting specific State actions is examined, and a community struggle in Trinidad-Tobago is reviewed in terms of the changes in a sexual offenses law. Immigration legislation is discussed as it impacts on women.