Women And Criminal Justice - Criminology

Women and Criminal Justice

Corston, Baroness Jean, “The Corston Report: A Review of Women with Particular Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System” 2007

Three categories of vulnerabilities for women:

1. Domestic circumstances and problems such as domestic violence, child-care issues, being a single parent

2. Personal circumstances such as mental illness, low self-esteem, eating disorders, substance misuse

3. Socio-economic factors such as poverty, isolation, and unemployment

There needs to be a fundamental re-thinking about the way in which services for this group of vulnerable women, particularly for mental health and substance misuse in the community are provided and accessed

Men and Women; Equal Outcomes Require Different Approaches – The Need for a Distinct Approach

• April 2007, government started having statutory duty to take positive action to eliminate gender discrimination and promote equality under the Equality Act

• Equality does not mean treating everyone the same

  • Equality must embrace not just fairness but also inclusivity

• Fundamental differences between male and female offenders and those at risk of offending that indicate a different and distinct approach is needed for women:

  • Women with histories and abuse are over-represented in the CJS and can be described as victims as well as offenders

  • Proportionately more women than men are remanded in custody

  • Women commit a different range of offences from men

    • Commit more acquisitive crime and have a lower involvement in serious violence, criminal damage, and professional crime

  • Relationship problems feature strongly in women’s pathway into crime

  • Mental health problems are far more prevalent among women in prison than in the male prison population or in the general population

  • Women prisoners are far more likely than men to be primary carers of young children and this factor makes the prison experience significantly different for women than men

Alternative Sanctions – The Need for a Proportionate Approach

• More is needed by way of alternative sanctions and disposals, which are gender specific and in which sentencers have confidence

• Much more needs to be done to divert low-level offending women not just from court but also from prosecution

  • E.g. need more flexibility around breaches of community orders

• Problems that lead to offending (drug addiction, unemployment, unsuitable accommodation, debt) are all far more likely to be resolved through casework, support and treatment than by being incarcerated

• Community sentences which are already available to sentencers could be used more widely and effectively for women

• There is a distinction to be drawn between serious breach of licence and poor time-keeping

Prison Without Walls – The Need for a Holistic, Woman-Centred Approach

• Women’s community centres like Asha and Calderdale have found the right way to treat women and that their work must be extended and built on as a real alternative to prison

• Broad approach: treat each woman as an individual with her own set of needs and problems and to increase their capacity to take responsibility for their lives

• Recognise the impact that victimisation and isolation by disadvantage can have on a woman’s circumstances and behaviour

Women’s Health and Well-Being – The Need for an Integrated Approach

• Prison is being used to contain those for whom there is no proper provision outside prison, or who have already been excluded from society – and prisons are being asked to do this on the cheap

• Clear that mental health services in the community are failing to adequately address the mental health needs of women

Female Offender Strategy 2018

The case for change:

• Criminalising vulnerable individuals has broader negative social impacts

  • Coming into contact with CJS can undermine the ability of women to address the issues that have caused their offending

  • Many have difficulty maintaining employment and accommodation whilst in the CJS

• Short custodial sentences do not deliver the best results for female offenders

  • Over of women sentenced to custody receive sentences of fewer than 12 months

  • 56.1% of adult women released from custody between April and June 2016 reoffended within a year, with 70.7% of women reoffending following a short custodial sentence (<12m)

  • Persuasive evidence that short custodial sentences of less than 12 months are less effective in reducing reoffending than community penalties

• Good community management works

  • Many female offenders could be more successfully supported in the community, where reoffending outcomes are better

  • Community orders also offer the opportunity to support female offenders to engage in employment, and secure stable accommodation

Parliamentary vision and strategic priorities:

• Fewer women coming into the CJS

• Fewer women in custody (especially on short-term sentences) and a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully

• Better conditions for those in custody

Our commitment

• Invest 5 million of cross-Government funding over two years in community provision for women

• Work with local and national partners to develop a pilot for “residential women’s centres” in at least five sites across England and Wales

• We are committed to reducing the number of women serving short custodial sentences

Booth, N et al “Can the Female Offender Strategy Deliver?” 2018

Strategy ought to have clearly outlined the specific pathways, resources, and changes to lead to improvements in the current system – various areas of concern

• Tone and language used in certain instances is disappointing:

  • E.g. concept of “productive citizens” reinforces negative images of women

• Poorly evidenced assumptions from the male estate regarding intergenerational offending are being regurgitated with little consideration to the application to maternal incarceration

• Strategy is vague – e.g. does not provide the mechanics for how it will be operationalised, with ambiguous proposals that strive to be both “locally-led”...