Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

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Chapter Three: Continued.Women and Justice – Meeting the Needs of Female Offendersaid resettlement in the longer term (with a continuity ofeducation and medical care possible). The residential set-upof the unit also allows for the development of life skills.Models which have been adopted in Western Australiaand Northern Ireland, illustrate how risk can be managedappropriately with separate houses having differentrequirements depending on risk management needs. It ispossible therefore for the needs of short term offenders tobe met alongside the needs of offenders serving sentencesof two years or more.The Government Working Group on small custodialunits noted that some of the women prisoners consultedexpressed concerns about the increased likelihood ofbullying in a smaller environment. Bullying is a commonoccurrence among female prisoners. However, ratherthan being cited as a justification for not moving towardssmaller custodial units, steps should be taken to tacklebullying across the piece. Arguably, such steps would bemore effective in small custodial units, with staff better ableto monitor prisoner interaction in an environment whichis less based on control and with studies demonstratingthat bullying actually decreases as a sense of communitydevelops. 102The Commission recommends that alongside thepilot at Bronzefield, a pilot of a small custodial unit (ofapproximately 70 prisoners) is trialled in the Bristol area,working in partnership with Eden House.Good Practice Example: The Dóchas CentreThe Dóchas Centre in the Republic of Ireland holds womenon remand, women awaiting sentencing, sentencedprisoners, and women detained under immigrationlegislation. The women are accommodated in the prisonin seven separate houses, each house accommodatingten to twelve people except Cedar House, which canaccommodate eighteen women, and Phoenix, the prereleasecentre, which accommodates women in privaterooms or in self-contained studio apartments. The roomsin the Dóchas Centre all have ensuites and each womanhas a key to her room so that she can move freelyabout the house during the day. The Centre also hasa Health Care Unit staffed by nurses and a gym and acomprehensive sport and fitness programme. The womenprepare their own breakfasts and eat lunch together inthe dining room with prison staff. During the day theyattend school or one of the workshops with coursesincluding woodwork, IT, English and maths, cookery, art,photography, group skills, drama, physical education andcreative writing. There is a beauty salon/hairdressing salonand a craft room. An evening meal is served in the diningroom around 5 pm and after the meal the women havefree time to socialise in the garden or the sitting room or towatch television until 7.30 pm when the houses are lockedfor the night.Good Practice Example:The Boronia Pre-Release CentreThe Boronia Pre-Release Centre in Western Australiaopened in May 2004 with 70 places. Women are offeredopportunities to make choices relating to their education,employment, health, family and personal development.All women in this centre are employed and employmentand training is linked with real jobs in the community. Thecentre provides residential accommodation for children upto four years old as well as extended day and overnightvisits for children up to twelve years. All residents areencouraged to take part in community activities outsideof the prison. Accommodation is provided as domesticstyle housing with each having a household budget thatmust be taken care of. There are two female G.P.s inattendance.Page 44
Chapter Four:Women Need Justice - Women as Victims of CrimeFigure 6 – VAW Services in BritainViolence against women cannot be tolerated, inany form, in any context, in any circumstance,by any political leader or by any government.The time to change is now.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 5 March2009The Commission’s work since its inception hasconsidered the experiences of female victims ofcrime. 103 Given the nature of evidence received bythe Commission over the last five years and thepressing concerns surrounding gendered crime,the Commission’s primary focus has been onviolence against women.Violence against women [VAW] has continuedto be a low priority both within government andwithin society at large because of the widespreadbelief that women have achieved equality. Anindependent review of the Government’s work onviolence against women gave them a score of just2.18 out of 10 in 2007. Notably, this was evenlower than that given in 2006. 104 VAW remains aproblem of pandemic proportion. It is estimatedthat 3 million women across the UK experiencerape and sexual assault, domestic violence, sexualharassment, forced marriage, trafficking, or other forms ofviolence each year. 105Criminal Justice agencies have continued to makeadvances at the policy level. However, policies will not haveimpact on the ground unless they are rights-based, victimcentred and lead to societal recognition that women havethe right to live their lives free from violence. During this finalphase of its work, the Commission has received evidencefrom female victims of crime and organisations working withfemale victims. This evidence has demonstrated that thecriminal justice system continues to fail to provide womenwith the support, safety and justice they need.The statistics paint a similar picture of a system which isfailing women. It is estimated that only 15 percent of serioussexual offences against adults are reported to the policeand of the rape offences that are reported only 6.5 percentresult in conviction. An estimated 66,000 women living theU.K. have undergone FGM and 21,000 girls under 16 areSource: Map of Gaps 2: The Postcode Lottery ofViolence against Women Support Services in Britain, EndViolence Against Women and Equality and Human RightsCommission, January 2009.currently at risk. 106 However, there has not been a singleprosecution under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.British crime figures indicate there are 12.9 million incidentsinvolving domestic violence against females annually.High profile cases such as the murder of Sabina Akhtar in2008 by her abusive husband after the case against himwas dropped by the CPS and the case of the taxi driverrapist, John Worboys, who was convicted of 19 chargesof drugging and sexually assaulting 12 female passengersand is reported to have attacked up to 100 women aftercomplaints made by women to police were not properlyinvestigated, expose a system which is not working inpractice. Violence against women continue to be crimeswhich are not treated with the professionalism or vigourdevoted to other crimes. While there have been somePage 45
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 14 and 15: Chapter One: Continued.Methodology
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: which can be developed in conjuncti
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
Page 79 and 80: 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
Page 91 and 92: ➤ Women working inthe criminal ju
Page 93 and 94: Key targets / indicators of success
Page 95 and 96:
➤ Policy and practiceof all crimi
Page 97 and 98:
➤The Judiciary and thesenior leve
Page 99 and 100:
Appendix ACOMMISSIONERS:Baroness Je
Page 101 and 102:
Annexure BSummary of Recommendation
Page 103 and 104:
not be means tested.• First night
Page 105 and 106:
in circumstances where the Prosecut
Page 107 and 108:
• Allocation to a particular cour
Page 109 and 110:
EndnotesMarch 200985Questionnaire R
Page 111:
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