The Council on Criminal Justice released a study examining the costs and crime impacts of reducing prison sentences for women, utilizing data from Illinois and North Carolina. The study found that cutting women's time spent in prison by 50% resulted in a negligible effect on crime rates.

Early releases for women were projected to produce a 0.3% increase in annual arrests in Illinois and a 0.2% increase in North Carolina. The study indicated that nine out of 10 new arrests resulting from early releases would be for nonviolent offenses. Cutting prison time in half for women could result in cost savings of up to $94.1 million for Illinois and $102.7 million for North Carolina.

The female prison population in the United States has grown by over 600% since 1980. Imprisoning women costs as much as 75% more than incarcerating men. Keeping women in prison costs approximately $87,000 to $122,000 per woman each year, while keeping men in prison costs roughly $70,000 per man annually. Women's specialized healthcare needs, including pregnancy care, and smaller populations contribute to these higher per-person incarceration costs.

Female incarceration could cost as much as $34 billion per year by 2035. The loss of unpaid labor, such as caregiving, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning, when a woman is incarcerated is estimated to be $2.8 billion a year. Stephanie Kennedy, Policy Director, stated, "Incarceration for women is very expensive, and we are using this very expensive tool, prison, on what is, on average, a relatively low-risk group compared to men."

The majority of incarcerated women are mothers. Colette Payne, Director of the Reclamation Project, a mutual support and re-entry organization, noted, "We are primary caregivers and we leave small children behind." Payne previously served time for offenses including retail theft, forgery, and drug-related charges.