A new book examined the relationship between violence, gender, crime, and justice. It explored the experiences and treatment of men and women as victims and criminals; whether and how offending patterns differed according to gender; and the connexions between gender, offending, and victimization.
Source: Maggie Wykes and Kirsty Welsh, Violence, Gender and Justice, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Dec
The government published a report setting out the progress made a year since its response to the Corston report on women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system.
Source: Delivering the Government Response to the Corston Report: A progress report on meeting the needs of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | MOJ press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A think-tank report highlighted the way in which a criminal justice system focused on short-term cost control and narrow reoffending targets was letting women offenders down, and costing society more in the longer term. It called for community-based alternatives.
Source: Eil s Lawlor, Jeremy Nicholls and Lisa Sanfilippo, Unlocking Value: How we all benefit from investing in alternatives to prison for women offenders, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300) and Prison Reform Trust
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Nov
A new book examined questions of gender and crime. Issues addressed included: female offending; gendered patterns of victimization; the gendered nature of social control; masculinity and crime; and gender in an international context.
Source: Karen Evans and Janet Jamieson (eds.), Gender and Crime: A Reader, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Aug
A report evaluated a project set up to address the needs of women who had offended in order to reduce their reoffending, and the needs of women described as being 'at risk' of offending in order to prevent them becoming involved in crime. Service users who had had sustained contact with the project valued the assistance provided directly and the access it provided to other local services, and considered that it had been beneficial.
Source: Carol Hedderman, Emma Palmer and Clive Hollin with Clare Gunby, Nikki Shelton and Melody Askari, Implementing Services for Women Offenders and Those 'At Risk' of Offending: Action research with Together Women, Research Report 12/08, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Aug
The government published a progress report on an independent review into the position of women in the criminal justice system with specific vulnerabilities. It rejected the case for replacing women's prisons by small custodial units.
Source: Delivering the Government Response to the Corston Report: A progress report on meeting the needs of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | MOJ press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jun
The number of offences in 2006-07 by children and young people aged 10-17 was 295,129 – an increase of 2.5 per cent since 2003-04, but a decrease of 2.2 per cent since 2005-06. The number of offences committed by young men fell by 2 per cent when compared to 2003-04: but over the same period the number of offences committed by young women rose by 25 per cent.
Source: Youth Justice Annual Workload Data 2006/07, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales/Home Office (020 7271 3033)
Links: Report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-May
A report said that the use of new community orders and suspended sentences had failed to reduce the number of women being sent to prison. The use of interventions for women offenders serving community sentences was dependent upon the availability of local services and priorities.
Source: Sunita Patel and Stephen Stanley, The Use of the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order for Women, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London (020 7848 1688)
Links: Report | CCJS press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-May
The government published a framework setting out a national strategy for delivering services to female offenders.
Source: National Service Framework: Improving Services to Women Offenders, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Framework | MOJ press release
Date: 2008-May
A report called for the abolition of prison as the central response to offending by women, and the greater use of radical community-based alternatives; and for the creation of a 'Standing Commission on Custodial Deaths' which would include a thematic stream on the deaths of women in prison.
Source: Marissa Sandler and Deborah Coles, Dying on the Inside: Examining women's deaths in prison, Inquest (020 7263 1111)
Links: Summary | Inquest press release
Date: 2008-Apr
A new book examined the usefulness of drawing on a 'human rights discourse' in order to understand the issues of gender, crime, and criminal justice.
Source: Marisa Silvestri and Chris Crowther-Dowey, Gender and Crime, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Apr
The children's watchdog for England questioned whether 'mother and baby units', where mothers could keep their young children with them in prisons and secure training centres, were the most appropriate place for those who needed to be in a secure setting.
Source: Prison Mother and Baby Units: Do they meet the best interests of the child?, Office of the Children's Commissioner (0844 8009113)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Feb
A summary report brought together statistics produced by a range of agencies relating to the experience of women within the criminal justice system.
Source: Zoe Allwood, Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2005/06, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan
A report said that the government should speed up efforts to ensure women in contact with the criminal justice system were offered viable alternatives to a prison sentence.
Source: Max Rutherford, The Corston Report and the Government's Response: The implications for women prisoners with mental health problems, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release
Date: 2008-Jan