Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

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Chapter One: Continued.Methodology and an Overview of the Work of the CommissionWe are especially grateful to the women’s associationsand membership associations within the variouscriminal justice agencies as well as organisationswithin the voluntary sector who facilitated thisprocess and the numerous individuals who gaveup their time to share their views with us. Therewas an overwhelming response to our work withover 500 questionnaire responses received.The evidence gathered by the Commission wasprimarily qualitative and the survey responses fromoffenders, victims, specialised agencies and workersin the criminal justice system have not been codedfor statistical analysis. Content analysis is focusedon broad themes and recurring concerns which areaddressed throughout the report. The focus in the texthas been on giving voice to the diverse experiencesof individual women. The emphasis is on “buildingknowledge from women’s lives – a commitment that,feminists believe, has wider implications that have thepotential to transform existing knowledge frameworks.” 1The Commission Model – a meansfor achieving real changeThese evidence sessions provided the Commission witha valuable opportunity to hear first-hand informationand to follow up issues which were of particularconcern to Commissioners. We would like to thankall attendees who gave up their valuable time toshare their experiences and expertise with us.Vera Baird QC MP, Solicitor General and BaronessJean Corston (Chair) at a meeting of the Commission on4 March 2009A key aim of this final report was to incorporate the voicesof women who have experienced the criminal justice systemas women accused or convicted of criminal offences;female victims of crime; women working within the variouscriminal justice agencies; and organisations working withfemale victims of crime and/or female offenders. Specificallydesigned questionnaires were distributed within theprison service, the police force, the legal profession, thejudiciary, the magistracy, the Crown Prosecution Serviceand the Probation Service as well as to organisations andindividual women via the internet and various networks.This is the final phase of our work. The use of aCommission model has proven particularly effective asit has enabled the work to go beyond a ‘one-off’ reportand we have not been confined in relation to the breadthof issues which we could explore. The five year durationof the Commission has allowed extensive follow-upwork to be carried out in order to track progress onrecommendations by the criminal justice agencies.Through authoritative research, high level lobbyingand media interventions, the Commission hasachieved a number of key changes.Successful lobbying for the introduction of a dutyon public bodies to promote gender equality:In its original report, the Commission recommendedthat legislation on gender should be brought in line withlegislation on race by introducing a positive duty on publicauthorities to have “due regard” to the need to eliminateunlawful sex discrimination and to promote genderequality. The gender equality duty was introduced in theEquality Act 2006, and came into force in April 2007.Page 14
Commissioners listen to evidence from organisations working on issues relevant to women and the criminal justice system.Improved treatment of women offendersThe Commission has led a change in the thinkingof politicians and policy makers about the need forwomen-specific community provision for womenoffenders, which has resulted in projects such as theTogether Women Programme (TWP). The Commissionwas also influential in making the link between femalevictims of violence and patterns of female offending.Improved provision for women victimsOur work has added to the exposure of the scandalof the ‘postcode lottery’ faced by women victims ofviolence. In the second annual review, the Commissionreleased figures that demonstrated the inconsistent rapeconviction rates between police areas ranging from 13.8percent in one police force area to 0.8 percent in another.We also called for an increase in the number of sexualassault referral centres and specialist domestic violencecourts and there has been progress in this regard.Better working lives for women withinthe criminal justice systemThe Commission influenced the decision to establishan independent Judicial Appointments Commission toincrease diversity in the judiciary and has also exposedthe barriers to the participation of women amongthe senior levels of the judiciary, the legal profession,the police, the prison service and the CPS.We would like to thank the funders who have generouslysupported the work of the Commission at varioustimes over the previous five years: The LankellyChaseFoundation; The Barrow Cadbury Trust; The EsméeFairbairn Foundation; The 29th May 1961 CharitableTrust; The Noel Buxton Trust; The Nuffield Foundation;The Home Office; Matrix Causes Fund and Garden CourtChambers. Without the generous support of these funders,the Commission’s work would not have been possible.Page 15
Page 1 and 2: Engendering Justice- from Policy to
Page 3 and 4: ContentsForeword 5Executive Summary
Page 5 and 6: ForewordFor the past five years, Fa
Page 7 and 8: Executive SummarySince 2003, Fawcet
Page 10 and 11: Executive Summary continuedon domes
Page 12 and 13: Executive Summary continuedFemale O
Page 16 and 17: The Five Years of the CommissionCom
Page 18 and 19: Chapter Two:Introduction - From Pol
Page 20 and 21: Chapter Three:Women and Justice - M
Page 23 and 24: [A woman] had admitted to an offenc
Page 25 and 26: Figure 3: Female Reoffending Rate b
Page 27 and 28: writing the Government had undertak
Page 29 and 30: equirement could be used to refer w
Page 31 and 32: given current funding allocations a
Page 33 and 34: I feel that women with severe menta
Page 35 and 36: Good Practice Example: Birth Compan
Page 37 and 38: Female offenders serving indetermin
Page 39 and 40: The Commission recommends that if p
Page 41 and 42: Moving TowardsCommunity ProvisionTh
Page 43 and 44: which can be developed in conjuncti
Page 45 and 46: Chapter Four:Women Need Justice - W
Page 47 and 48: that VAW is a relevant issue for ev
Page 49 and 50: Women also need to have clear infor
Page 51 and 52: Victims reported telling their stor
Page 53 and 54: However, Rights of Women told the C
Page 55 and 56: in the decision-making process is l
Page 57 and 58: continued commitment to joint worki
Page 59 and 60: It is also important for the CPS to
Page 61 and 62: He pleaded innocent, so I prepared
Page 63 and 64: isk assessments are not uniform. In
Page 65 and 66:
espect and sexual violence is a com
Page 67 and 68:
different needs and experiences of
Page 69 and 70:
managers. “Sometimes childcare is
Page 71 and 72:
local area, with women who have rea
Page 73 and 74:
her career, as these women may find
Page 75 and 76:
The key issue in my view is that th
Page 77 and 78:
Some magistrates noted that they fe
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for women to access development opp
Page 81 and 82:
Organisations sharing their views w
Page 83 and 84:
Institutional change needed:➤ A c
Page 85 and 86:
International example of good pract
Page 87 and 88:
➤ The Criminal JusticeSystem will
Page 89 and 90:
Key targets / indicators of success
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➤ Women working inthe criminal ju
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Key targets / indicators of success
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➤ Policy and practiceof all crimi
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➤The Judiciary and thesenior leve
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Appendix ACOMMISSIONERS:Baroness Je
Page 101 and 102:
Annexure BSummary of Recommendation
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not be means tested.• First night
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in circumstances where the Prosecut
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• Allocation to a particular cour
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EndnotesMarch 200985Questionnaire R
Page 111:
About FawcettThe Fawcett Society is
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Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

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