Religious and rights activism, violent responses to domestic violence and drug-related crimes by the poorest in society have contributed to a sharp rise in the number of women in Chinese prisons, a U.S.-based rights group said in a recent report.

In 2013, there were more than 100,000 women serving time in Chinese jail, a rise of 46 percent compared with 2003, the Dui Hua Foundation said in an article on its website.

It said the number of women in U.S. prisons grew by 15 percent over the same period.

By mid-2014, 103,766 women were imprisoned in China, mostly for drug- and domestic violence-related offenses, and not including women held in unofficial detention centers or in pre-trial detention, it said.

"If current trends continue, China will imprison more women than the United States, often cited as the world’s largest jailer, within five years," researchers wrote.

It said crime by Chinese women is often linked to "gender-based violence and poverty."

Domestic violence plays a role in more than half of crimes committed by Chinese women and causes 80 percent of the violent crimes they commit, the article cited 2009 research by the state-run All China Women's Federation as saying.

"Crackdowns on civil and political rights also contribute to an uptick in the number of women in prison," the Dui Hua report said.


More here: Number of Women in China's Prisons Rises Sharply: Report