Plus ça change? Women and the criminal justice system
| Author | Nicola Carr |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505221082861 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Plus ça change?
Women and the
criminal justice system
This issue of the journal contains several articles that focus on women in the criminal
justice system. These traverse a range of different geographical contexts, including
Lithuania, Catalonia, the United States and England and Wales, and explore issues
ranging from probation staff perspectives to women’s experiences of victimisation.
and stigmatization. A common theme of many of the contributions is the pervasive
impacts of systemic failures that mean that the criminal justice system becomes the
point of recourse for addressing social needs. This is a longstanding refrain
echoed in a plethora of research on women and the criminal justice system, so
much so that that is has become depressingly familiar. So too are responses that
situate the solution within the purview of the criminal justice system.
The National Audit Office has just published a report on the outcomes for women
in the criminal justice system in England and Wales (NAO, 2022). The report cites
familiar data regarding the profile of women in the criminal justice system, including
the fact that while the female prison population remains relatively low (4%), the pre-
ponderance of custodial sentences are for less than 12 months (77%), and reoffend-
ing rates on release from custody remain stubbornly high. 71% if women reoffended
following custodial sentences of less than 12 months in 2016 (NAO, 2022).
Notwithstanding the wealth of evidence regarding the harmful effects of custody
and the ineffectiveness of prison sentences in reducing offending, the government
has recently committed to the expansion of the prison estate. In 2021 the Ministry
of Justice announced plans to expand provision by building up to 500 additional
prison places for women at an estimated cost of £200 million. This forecast expend-
iture contrasts with just £9.5 million allocated by the Ministry to fund services for
women in the community between 2018 and 2022, and an allocation of £4.8
million in 2020–2022 towards developing five planned Residential Women’s
Centres (RWCs), which are intended to reduce the numbers of women remanded
into custody (NAO, 2022).
The National Audit Office’s analysis of this imbalanced expenditure, which they
assess in light of the government’s own policy commitments set out in the Female
Offender Strategy, (MoJ, 2018) makes for stark reading. The Female Offender
Strategy included plans to reduce the number of women entering the criminal
justice system by providing support in the community at an earlier stage; have
fewer women in custody (especially for short sentences) and utilise community sen-
tences to a greater degree, where appropriate, and to create better conditions for
women in custody, including increased supports on release (MoJ, 2018).
Editorial The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2022, Vol. 69(1) 3–5
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/02645505221082861
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