Almost two decades ago Baroness Corston revealed the challenges faced by vulnerable women within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales. Her ground-breaking report called for widespread systemic changes in order to protect women not just from misery and trauma, but from the very real and significant threat of self-harm and suicide.
To date, the UK Government has not only failed to act on her recommendations, but has also introduced policies which run directly counter to the needs identified. The recent Government Prison’s Strategy aims to build more women’s prisons, aggravating challenges in an already malfunctioning system. This in spite of the fact that in the UK more women are already incarcerated than in any other country in Europe.
We are calling for an urgent debate, led by the evidence, with the aim of changing the way in which women in the CJS are treated. Our new report, The 'Special Case' of Women in the Criminal Justice System, provides one starting point for this conversation.
The report gives a detailed overview of women's experience as defendants and prisoners within the CJS. It also considers key issues impacting on women victims of crime and on women who work in the CJS. The situation is critical. Many women in prison are enduring mental health crises without adequate support. Women made up 22% of all self-harm incidents reported in 2021, despite representing only 4% of the prison population. Over half of those women imprisoned in our system report having experienced abuse as a child [1].
In contrast to common myths implying that women are treated with greater leniency within the CJS and that they have more positive outcomes, our detailed examination of the evidence suggests that the CJS is built for men and inflicts on women an unnecessarily damaging and counter-productive experience.
The key findings of our report are presented in an Executive Summary, which also sets out our recommendations for change.
Please read, share our work, and contact us at contact@openjusticeinitiative.com if you would like to join the conversation.
[1] Prison Reform Trust, 'Transforming Lives: reducing women’s imprisonment’
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