Few people will be paying much attention to the House of Lords today, where the Crime and Courts Bill is trundling through its report stage, inching closer to receiving royal assent. But among the amendments being discussed today is one of crucial importance for the tens of thousands of women each year who go through the criminal justice system.
Women offenders make up less than a quarter of those sentenced by courts and less than one in 20 of those in prison. As a result, they often find themselves in a system which is designed around the needs of men. But women offenders are very different. They are much less likely than men to have committed crimes and are often sent to prison for very short sentences – more than half are facing terms of six months or less. They are more likely to be to be mentally ill or suffering addiction, and often have a history of abuse. Over half of women prisoners have been victims of domestic violence and a third have experience sexual abuse.
Despite their distinctive needs, these women often undertake community sentences in all male groups. They may be asked to undergo group counselling when they are the only woman. However, an amendment that the lords will consider today will demands that all probation trusts provide women offenders with support that is designed around their specific needs.
Women-specific support already exists in some parts of England and nef has been researching its effectiveness. Our new report, Women’s community services: a wise commission, looked at five charities working with women offenders, helping them explore the ways in which they create change for their clients.
Each of the services is different, responding to local challenges and their own resources, but comparing them, some common elements are clear. They all cut across the many different issues which clients may be facing – whether it’s addiction, mental illness or trauma – to look at the whole of their lives. The services all provide a safe, women-only space – vital when so many of their clients have suffered abuse or trauma. All the services seek to provide clients with the opportunity to develop supportive relationships – both with professionals and each other.
The services do not directly seek to reduce women’s offending. Instead they work on improving women’s well-being – their sense of meaning and purpose, their feeling of optimism, their ability to feel in control of their lives. These psychological resources have been shown to be the building blocks which allow women to make positive decisions in their lives – to move away from crime, to over come addiction and to rebuild relationships with friends and family.
Evidence about how effective these services are is hard to come by – often they are small, working with no more a few dozen women at once which makes their impact difficult to measure. But clients who use these services often credit them with helping turn their lives around.
There’s widespread public support for ensuring that Women Offenders get the help they need to move away from crime. A survey commissioned by the prison reform trust from YouGov, suggests that there’s widespread public support for women offenders to receive support with drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness. Women’s community services attempt to meet these needs holistically, by offering practical and emotional support.
Sadly, provision of these services is patchy and unstable. Without any joined-up strategy to meet the needs of vulnerable women, services are forced to balance many different funding streams, and are often struggling to stay open in the face of cuts. This amendment will go some way to ensuring that the existing women’s community services can keep doing their good work, and that women offenders in other areas will have the opportunity to access the support they need to move away from crime and start rebuilding their lives. Surely that’s worth paying attention to?
– source neweconomics.org