Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3)
A report of the Task & Finish Group
Breaking the cycle of women’s offending: a system re-design
Executive Summary
This RR3 Task and Finish Group (TFG) was convened to develop a concrete set of cost-effective
recommendations to meet the complex needs of girls and women at risk of offending or who enter
the Criminal Justice System (CJS). The resulting paper is based on a swift consultation and actionplanning exercise with a group of RR3 representatives and additional stakeholders co-opted for their
expertise and strategic overview of women in the CJS (membership listed in the Appendix). The
group took a dynamic approach to the task by analysing the key routes of girls and women into and
out of the CJS and considering how to stem the flow in a more gender-responsive way.
The TFG proposes a fundamental transformation in the way that criminal justice services are
designed, commissioned and delivered for girls and women at risk of offending, underpinned by a
gender-responsive approach. This could be operationalised through a system re-design that draws
upon the specialist expertise of women’s community support services and learning from current
desistance research. The proposed changes are displayed in a diagram on page 28. The headline
recommendations of this report outline a framework for delivering a system re-design and these are
followed by a series of interim recommendations to address the immediate challenges to current
custodial and community provision. These two sets of recommendations should not be viewed in
isolation but as complementary and overlapping. It is the narratives of the current system, for
example the intergenerational harm experienced by children of prisoners, that call for a
fundamental rethink. More in depth and contextualised recommendations can be found in the full
paper.
Headline Recommendations
•
The TFG proposes a new gender-responsive model and a strategy to precipitate a dramatic
reduction in the number of girls and women entering prison. The Group supports the closure
of current custodial provision for women and its replacement with small and local custodial
units. The released resources should be diverted into the network of community support
best placed to address the complex needs of girls and women at risk of offending or who
enter the CJS.
•
To properly analyse the economic implications of current provision, a realistic costing of
small custodial units for a much reduced women’s prison population is required.
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•
In order to develop a gender-responsive strategy for England and Wales, MoJ/NOMS should
commission the development of a gender-responsive assessment tool or a national
framework against which to measure provision for girls and women throughout the CJS and
wider social care and health systems.
•
The TFG proposes a twin-track system of commissioning for girls and women, including
components at both national and local levels.
•
The development of a cross-departmental strategy for girls and women at risk of offending
or who have entered the CJS, under Ministerial oversight.
•
A joined-up approach bringing together high level leadership from MoJ, NOMS, Home Office,
Youth Justice Board, the Department for Education, Department of Health, Department for
Work and Pensions, Department for Communities and Local Government and its Troubled
Families Unit. The identification of a senior point of contact (SPOC) within each department
will be absolutely critical to coordinating a holistic approach.
•
This grouping should take responsibility for developing the high-level strategy for a system
re-design, including determining which core services should in the longer term be
commissioned at national and local levels, and framing a set of national standards against
which to monitor local provision for girls and women.
•
The wider set of services needed by girls and women at risk of offending or who have
entered the CJS in relation to their health and mental wellbeing, housing, education, training
and employment needs etc., should be delivered through joined up local commissioning that
responds to their distinctive needs and risk factors.
•
The TFG urges the MoJ and NOMS to ring fence and protect the current arrangements for
funding women’s community centres over the next two to three years, while new
approaches are piloted to explore and model new joined up service approaches, and to
assess what division of national / commissioning arrangements will work best to deliver
systems change.
•
One or more local justice reinvestment pilots, bringing together all the key statutory and VCS
agencies to co-commission an integrated set of community interventions aimed at
responding to vulnerabilities, diverting girls and women from the CJS, reducing offending
and minimising harm. In line with the current Financial Incentive Model pilots in Greater
Manchester and London, if the authorities involved can demonstrate reductions in the
numbers of girls and women entering custody, any savings generated could be made
available for reinvestment in local community provision.
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•
One or more Payment by Results (PbR) pilots linked to women’s prisons (in the form of a
Social Impact Bond as at HMP Peterborough) to explore the potential to release resources
from the crisis end of the women’s system by investing in resettlement support through the
gate. The TFG would be pleased to assist in the design of a suitable PbR mechanism. Such
pilot(s) might usefully be linked to the proposed justice reinvestment pilot areas, to achieve
the greatest possible synergy between work in the community to divert girls and women
from custody and work through the gate to slow the revolving prison door.
•
Piloting for small, local custodial unit for women serving longer sentences, to test feasibility,
cost and benefit.
•
New funding models need to ensure that the outcomes considered payable are tailored to
women. The RR3 and Women’s Breakout are available to advise on the design and
development of such a model for women and how best to ensure VCS involvement.
•
The TFG advocates the importance of a mixed funding model for work with girls and women,
with grants continuing to be made available for some services, especially very specialist and
small scale provision.
•
Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations highlight the need for the Sector to be
more involved in intelligence-led commissioning at both national and local levels – an
approach that pools and shares data and makes best use of their direct experience of
working with offenders. The TFG would therefore urge the MoJ and NOMS to involve
relevant VCS organisations in developing both national and local strategies, and in designing
and evaluating pilots.
•
The process of formulating a more gender-responsive strategy for women should also be
directly informed by experiences of women themselves within the system.
•
The TFG recommends that guidance on commissioning for girls and women in the CJS should
be produced for local commissioners and a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment should be a
component of every contract.
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Interim Recommendations:
•
The TFG considers that girls excluded from school (including those who have self-excluded or
disengaged from education) or in the looked after system should be a priority for
preventative work, and that their transitions from care should receive more focused and
intensive support. The TFG suggests that the Government should consider a pilot to stem
the flow of vulnerable girls into the CJS.
•
More needs to be done to address the distinct needs of girls, taking into consideration the
emerging recommendations of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal
System and giving specific attention to transition to adulthood.
•
As part of the Government's Strategy on Gangs and Serious Youth Violence, the 30 areas to
be intensively targeted with support must evidence due regard for girls and women, as
required by the Equality Act 2010. This should include ensuring effective profiling of girls and
women in gangs is undertaken and appropriate interventions are embedded in every
project.
•
The approach to girls and women at risk must have, at its core, a strategy for responding to
the overwhelming levels of abuse and violence that girls and women at risk of offending
report. This should include links with the recently updated Home Office Violence Against
Women and Girls strategy.
•
The TFG would urge the Government to ensure that the impact of funding and service cuts
on women in low income and/or single-parent households are rigorously monitored and
assessed, to avoid perpetuating poverty-related offending.
•
Women should be a designated group in all liaison and diversion schemes, with a specific
response required as part of national standards.
•
It is critical that Magistrates and Sentencers have a genuine understanding of the
vulnerabilities and needs of girls and women entering the criminal justice system.
•
VCS organisations can play important brokerage roles within diversion schemes and the use
of such approaches, including small budgets to spot purchase personalised services for
women at risk, have considerable potential and should be piloted more widely.
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•
The TFG believes that in most cases involving women, vulnerability should be presumed
(subject to exceptions), resulting in a quick, responsive and thorough response. The group
also endorses the recommendations of the Offender Manager Guide to provide the option
of a woman report writer and to use women’s community resources or designate specific
women-only office times.
•
The TFG calls for a recognition that for women who do not pose a serious risk of harm to the
public, there is always an alternative to custody. We reinforce the recommendation of the
Women’s Task Force that, as a last resort where remaining in the home is impossible,
women-specific, family-friendly bail accommodation is needed in every local area.
•
The TFG supports the Government’s proposal to remove the court’s power to remand into
custody unless a custodial sentence is likely to be imposed on conviction.
•
Commissioners should recognise the need of women for through the gate support that is
planned well in advance, requiring support from a broad range of Voluntary and Community
Sector (VCS) organisations.
•
The TFG fully endorses Corston’s recommendation that female prisons should be replaced
by small, geographically dispersed custodial units and women’s community centres to
provide a more appropriate infrastructure to facilitate women to serve their sentences and
engage with resettlement services.
•
The TFG considers that Probation staff require additional training to work effectively with
women offenders, perhaps concentrated on a number of female staff who can develop a
specialist role in the preparation of pre-sentence reports and the management of women
subject to a community sentence or prison licence.
•
Slowing the number of women entering prison for breach would represent a key strategy for
reducing the use of custody. This would require greater discretion for criminal justice
practitioners and Sentencers alongside a richer understanding of the complex reasons
behind breaching and the development of appointment systems and locations that support
women’s compliance.
•
It is now essential for the mental health and substance misuse needs of vulnerable women
to be assessed by Health and Wellbeing Boards at a local level, and considered as a specific
cohort within joint strategic needs assessments and commissioning plans.
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•
In addressing the distinct position of girls and women within the criminal justice system, any
future strategy must consider the way that gender intersects with other protected
characteristics and consult and work with specialist VCS organisations to meet the diverse
needs of women within the CJS.
•
The TFG recommends that a national strategy is formulated for foreign national women,
taking into consideration the recommendations of the recent Prison Reform Trust and
Hibiscus report.
•
The TFG calls for commissioners across sectors to recognise the value generated by the
Women's Community Centres as sites for defusing escalating chaos in women's lives and
providing a holistic community-based response.
•
The TFG believes that funding and referral processes for women’s community support needs
to have the flexibility to allow for referral at every stage in the system; including for women
at risk, pre-court, post-court, as part of an order, and following a custodial sentence.
•
Members of the TFG believe that there is a need to re-orientate strategic thinking about
how to address offending by women, in order properly to account for the intergenerational
harm exacerbated by imprisonment of mothers and the irreversible harm caused to their
families.
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1.1
Background
This Task & Finish Group (TFG) on breaking the cycle of women’s offending was convened at
the request of the Minister of Prisons and Probation, Crispin Blunt. At the quarterly Ministerial
Meeting in November 2011, representatives from RR3 presented the action plan of the first
TFG on ‘Competition, Commissioning and the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)’.1
Discussion included the need for a separate commissioning strategy with some central
direction for women in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) given their relatively small numbers
and distinctive needs. The first paper made a number of recommendations relating to the
specific needs of women, including calls for:
•
A significant debate about how to resolve national/local tensions and where to locate the
commissioning of specialist services for women;
•
Further research into desistance to support the design of a set of outcome measures
adapted to the specific needs of women offenders;
•
A distinct national approach to commissioning for women offenders and their inclusion in
Payment by Results (PbR) pilots and contracts.
1.2
This TFG has formed to crystallise a concrete set of recommendations for pursuing a costeffective solution to enhancing the provision for girls and women at risk of offending or who
enter the CJS. This paper is the result of a swift consultation and action-planning exercise with
a group of RR3 representatives and additional stakeholders co-opted for their expertise and
strategic overview of women in the CJS (membership of this TFG listed in the Appendix). The
group took a dynamic approach to the task by analysing the key routes of girls and women
into and out of the CJS and considering how to stem the flow in a more gender-sensitive way.
1.3
This TFG paper is not intended to provide an extensive restatement of the evidence in support
of women-specific services but to present a vision for moving in a much more dynamic way
towards an integrated system which meets the specific needs of girls and women at risk of
offending or who enter the CJS. The completion of this paper coincides with the publication of
the update to the Offender Management Guidance on working with women offenders2 and
the launch of the Probation Review consultation. We very much welcome the practical
recommendations outlined in the new Guidance but this group also believes that wider
systemic change is required to bring about a lasting transformation in the treatment of girls
and women within the CJS. Additionally, the TFG notes the Government’s commitment to
publish a document setting out the strategic priorities for women in the Criminal Justice
1
L. Frazer and C. Hayes. 2011. ‘A Report from the Task and Finish Group on “Competition, Commissioning and
the VCS”, RR3. Online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/PDFs/RRTSAG/RR3%20Competition,%20Commissioning%20and%20the%20
VCS.pdf
2
NOMS Women and Equalities Group. 2012. A Distinct Approach: A guide to working with women offenders.
Online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/PDFs/Holding%20Page%20docs/A%20Distinct%20Approach%20A%20guide
%20to%20working%20with%20women%20offenders%20March%202012.pdf
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System.3 The group hopes that this document will take account of and include the action
points identified by the RR3 in the current paper.
1.4
2
Section 2 therefore explores the need for a system re-design to break the destructive cycle of
female offending. Section 3 discusses the cycle of harm that continues to characterise the
lives of many girls and women caught up in the CJS and appraises the progress that has been
made since Corston. Section 4 focuses upon the gender-specific underpinning that is required
to move beyond the current approach and support women’s desistance. Section 5 draws upon
the expertise of the VCS to propose a radically different model for addressing the complex
needs of women in the CJS. Section 6 calls for a new framework for commissioning a womencentred approach. Each section includes a number of recommendations for further discussion
with the Minister, Ministry of Justice (MoJ), National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
and a much wider set of stakeholders both within and outside the VCS.
The need for a system re-design
2.1
Five years have passed since the Corston Report called for a radical change in the way that
women at risk of offending are treated across the whole of the CJS. Corston advocated a
women-centred approach that would include the extension of women’s community centres,
reservation of custodial sentences for only the most serious and violent offenders posing a
risk to the public and geographically dispersed, small, multi-functional custodial centres for
women.4 Though there has been some progress, many of the damaging effects identified by
Corston – for example, the disproportionately harmful impact of prison on women and their
children and the futility of short custodial sentences – remain ingrained in the system.
2.2
Furthermore, there are worrying signs from the VCS working with offenders that the
economic downturn is impacting heavily on the most vulnerable service users and
disproportionately upon women.56 As part of Clinks’ monitoring of the economic downturn,
Women’s Resource Centre facilitated a focus group with VCS organisations delivering services
to women, in which concerns were raised about the specific impact on women of current
reforms to benefits and legal aid.7 Recent research demonstrates a dramatic and uneven
3
th
Commitment made during House of Lords debates on 20 March 2012.
J. Corston. 2007. A report by Baroness Jean Corston of a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in
the Criminal Justice system. London: Home Office.
5
Red Ochre. 2011. When the Dust Settles, An Update: The impact of the economic downturn and changing
policy and commissioning on the Voluntary and Community Sector working in Criminal Justice. Available online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/PDFs/Press%20Releases/clinks_when-the-dust-settles_FINAL.pdf (Last
accessed: 14.03.2012).
6
S. Walby and J. Towers. 2012. Measuring the impact of cuts in public expenditure on the provision of services
to prevent violence against women and girls. Online:
http://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/VAWG%20Full%20report.pdf (Last accessed: 19.03.2012)
7
Women’s Resource Centre. 2011. ‘Women’s Resource Centre: Assessing the impact of spending cuts on the
delivery of services to reduce re-offending, supporting victims and protecting communities’, in Clinks Partner
Roundtables. Available online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/PDFs/Appx%203%20Roundtable%20reports%20-%20collated.pdf
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reduction in local services to prevent and protect against violence against women and girls
and it is feared that this will lead to increases in such violence.89
2.3
Reforms to the way that public services are delivered and the need to make efficiency savings
across Government heighten the need to build upon the positive progress in the development
of women’s community centres to cement a radical restructuring of the CJS for women. This
TFG calls for an unequivocal commitment to downsize the women’s prison estate and, in
anticipation of the cost savings generated by prison closure, to make parallel investments in
a whole system re-design to break the destructive cycle of female offending that is proving
so costly in human, social and economic terms.
2.4
In order to truly redress the disproportionality exposed by the Corston Report, a serious
debate is required about whether imprisonment is an appropriate response to the levels of
risk and type of offences typically committed by women and how to ensure commensurate
sentencing practice. As of December 2011, there were 4,060 women in prison, a rise of 1%
from the year before.10 Eighty percent of women entering custody under sentence in the year
up to June 2011 had committed a non-violent offence, compared with seventy percent of
men, and in 2010, 61% of women were sentenced to custody for six months or less.11 Just
3.2% of women in prison are assessed as high or very high risk of harm to others.12 The TFG
believes this demonstrates that the women’s prison population could be reduced to a fraction
of its current number and that a major rethink is required regarding the suitability of current
custodial sentencing for the remaining 96.8% of women offenders.
2.5
The need to reform the way the CJS responds to women has a great deal of traction with a
range of stakeholders across the system. The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick,
recently advocated for smaller prisons and greater visibility of senior leadership to order to
address the plight of women in prison:
…prisons – particularly as they are currently run, are simply the wrong place for so many of the
distressed, damaged or disturbed women they hold… I think the treatment and conditions in
which a small minority of the most disturbed women are held is - in relation to their needs –
8
S. Walby and J. Towers. 2012.
D. Sands. 2012. ‘The Impact of Austerity on Women’, The Fawcett Society. Online:
http://fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/The%20Impact%20of%20Austerity%20on%20Women%20%2019th%20March%202012.pdf (Last accessed: 04.04.2012)
10
Ministry of Justice. 2012. Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin. July to September 2011,
England and Wales. Online: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/statistics/mojstats/omsq-q3-2011bulletin.pdf (Last accessed: 19.03.2012)
11
Prison Reform Trust. 2011b. Bromley Briefing December 2011. Online:
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefing%20December%202011.pdf.
(Last accessed: 07.03.2012)
12
Women and Equalities Group, NOMS. 2012. Judicial Engagement: Women in the CJS. A Briefing for Probation
Trusts. Online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/word_docs/judicial%20engagement%20briefing%20FINAL%2017%20Jan%2
02012.pdf (Last accessed: 07.03.2012)
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simply unacceptable. I think - I hope - we will look back on how we treated these women in
years to come, aghast and ashamed.13
2.6
There is an ever-expanding evidence base demonstrating the cost/benefits of alternative
community provision for women in the CJS. The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) Women’s Justice
Taskforce very recently reviewed the economic case for reforming women’s justice and
presented convincing evidence of the economic, as well as social, benefits of a communityoriented restructuring of women’s justice services.14 For example, the New Economics
Foundation (nef) estimate that imprisoning mothers for non-violent offences carries a cost to
children and the State of more than £17 million over a ten year period.15 Revolving Doors
Agency recently adapted their financial analysis model for women to calculate national
estimates of the savings that could be generated by investment in services targeted at female
offenders in the community, finding that an investment of £18 million per year in women’s
community centres could save almost £1 billion over a five year period.16 These pieces of
work, among many others, build a strong case for the realignment of resources, which would
ultimately result in disinvestment from expensive and ineffective custodial provision.
2.7
In parallel with this TFG, Women in Prison (WIP) is initiating a project with the Centre for
Crime and Justice Studies to explore possible models of small custodial units for women for
whom prison is deemed a necessary disposal. The TFG's proposal for a downsize of the
women's population and possible closure of women's prisons is submitted with the caveat
that sufficient alternative provision is introduced to avoid over-crowding in a small number of
the existing women's prisons. The small size and general low risk of public harm presented by
the women’s prison population could make this an opportune testing ground for an
alternative, more local and tailored model of delivery. Learning captured from this model with
women could be translated for other vulnerable segments of the prison population. To
properly analyse the economic implications of current provision, a realistic costing of small
custodial units for a much reduced women’s prison population is required.
2.8
We propose a new gender-responsive model and a strategy to precipitate a dramatic
reduction in the number of girls and women entering prison. We support the closure of
current custodial provision for women and its replacement with small and local custodial
units. The released resources should be diverted into the network of community support
13
Nick Hardwick. 2012. Women in prison: Corston five years on – lecture at The University of Sussex 29
February 2012. Online: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/about/hmipris/women-in-prison.pdf
14
Prison Reform Trust. 2011a. Reforming Women’s Justice: the final report of the Women’s Justice Taskforce.
Online: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/ProjectsResearch/Women/WomensJusticeTaskforce (Last
accessed: 20.02.2012).
15
E. Lawlor, J.Nicholls and L. Sanfilippo. 2008. Unlocking Value: How we all benefit from investing in
alternatives to prison for women offenders. Online: http://neweconomics.org/publications/unlocking-value
(Last accessed: 29.02.2012)
16
A. Page and B. Rice. 2011. Counting the Cost. Online: http://www.revolving-doors.org.uk/policy-research/library/. (Last accessed: 16.02.2012)
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best placed to address the complex needs of girls and women at risk of offending or who
enter the CJS.
3
The current cycle of harm
3.1
In discussing the key points of transition that characterise the routes of girls and women into
and out of the CJS, the TFG identified a number of priority areas for addressing the
disproportionate impact of the system on women. The recent Criminal Justice Joint Thematic
Inspection report on the use of alternatives to custody for women offenders was particularly
useful, as it offers a comprehensive review of progress made since publication of the Corston
Report.17 Two themes that emerge most clearly from the Joint Inspectorate’s report are the
general lack of specialist knowledge by criminal justice professionals for dealing with
individual women and the erratic nature of referrals to Women's Community Centres.
3.2
These shortfalls are representative of a CJS and wider social welfare sector for women that
persistently fail fully to recognise and harness the unique value, expertise and gender
specificity held within the Women’s VCS. Women’s Resource Centre's recent social return on
investment (SROI) analysis of specialist women’s services found that for every £1 invested in
those surveyed, between £5 and £11 worth of social value was generated for the women,
their families, the State and local economies and communities.18 Woven into our analysis are
examples of where the Government could better capitalise upon these community resources
to provide girls and women with holistic preventative, diversionary and rehabilitative services
to break the cycle of harm.
3.3
This routing exercise revealed the larger reality that successive failures to divert girls and
women into gender-specific and supportive community-based services allow the escalation of
chaos in their lives and vulnerability to abuse that very often leads to tragic consequences for
the women, their families and society.
3.4
Girls at risk: The particular risk factors for vulnerable girls already well known to services are
starkly highlighted by the finding of a recent HMIP/Youth Justice Board survey of 15-18 year
olds in custody. This reached 95% of all the young women in the prison population at the time
it was conducted. Of these: 82% had been excluded from school; 56% said they had spent
some time in care (compared with 27% of the comparable sample of young men); and 24%
already had children of their own.19 Within the adult female prison population, the Social
Exclusion Unit estimated in 2002 that 24% had spent time in care as a child, and one in three
17
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. Thematic Inspection Report: Equal but different? An inspection of
alternatives to custody for women offenders. Online:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/hmiprob/adult-inspection-reports/jointthematic/womens-thematic-alternatives-to-custody-2011.pdf (Last accessed: 07.03.2012)
18
Women’s Resource Centre. 2011. Hidden Value: Demonstrating the extraordinary impact of women’s
voluntary and community organisations. Online:
http://www.wrc.org.uk/resources/wrcs_research_and_reports/sroi.aspx (Last accessed: 14.03.2012)
19
HMIP/Youth Justice Board. 2011. Children and Young People in Custody 2010-11: An analysis of the
experiences of 15-18 year olds in prison. p.31. Online:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/hmipris/thematic-reports-and-researchpublications/children-young-people-2010-11.pdf . (Last accessed 05.03.2012).
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had experienced sexual abuse.20 Clearly not all girls who share these experiences go on to
commit offences or enter prison. (At 31 March 2011 there were 65,520 children of all ages
looked after in England, of whom 29,050 (44%) were girls.21) Nonetheless it is clear that girls
have a risk profile that is different from that of boys and that requires a new and distinctive
approach. The TFG therefore considers that girls excluded from school (including those who
have self-excluded or disengaged from education) or in the looked after system should be a
priority for preventative work, and that their transitions from care should receive more
focused and intensive support. The TFG suggests that the Government should consider a
pilot to stem the flow of vulnerable girls into the CJS.
3.5
Current gender-specific provision within and outside the youth justice estate is patchy and the
All-Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) on Women in the Penal System’s current focus on girls
is a positive development for raising the profile of the pathways of taken by girls. The first
briefing of the APPG highlights the value of distinct approach for girls at risk:
The APPG heard evidence that girls felt more confident and less threatened in a female only
environment particularly if they had experienced abuse. The value of single gender work is
often underestimated and provision appears to be patchy. Securing ongoing funding for single
gender projects can be a challenge. The holistic approach adopted by these projects meant
that girls were able to gain advice and support on a wide range of issues without the fear of
being labelled troubled or troublesome. One-stop-shop services for teenage girls and the
flexibility of support on offer were valued by girls and workers.22
3.6
As identified by the APPG, “girls’ problematic behaviour is often a signifier that they have
welfare needs which need addressing, including poverty, substance misuse or domestic
violence and abuse’.23 The APPG challenges the assumption that criminal justice agencies are
best placed to support girls and calls for efforts to resolve problems in the community and
refer girls to services that can support them and meet their needs. Additionally, the TFG
identifies young adulthood as a period of heightened vulnerability, not least because young
women are not held in a distinct facility but with other adult women.24 More needs to be
done to address the distinct needs of girls, taking into consideration the emerging
recommendations of the APPG on Girls, and giving specific attention to transition to
adulthood.
3.7
The impact on girls and women of gangs and serious youth violence – where stereotypical
gender roles are often extremely damaging and the nature of female and male involvement
20
Social Exclusion Unit. 2002. Reducing Reoffending by ex-prisoners. Online:
http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/file.2007-10-01.1714894439/file_view (Last accessed: 07.03.2012)
21
Department for Education Datasets. 2011. DfE: Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England
(including adoption and care leavers) - year ending 31 March 2011. Online:
http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/datasets/a00196857/children-looked-after-by-las-inengland . (Last accessed 05.03.2012)
22
All Parliamentary Group on Girls in the Penal System. 2012. Keeping Girls out of the penal system. Online:
http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/Keeping_girls_out_of_the_pe
nal_system.pdf (Last accessed: 19.03.2012)
23
All Parliamentary Group on Girls in the Penal System. 2012.
24
Forthcoming Transition to Adulthood report on Pathways to Crime.
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differs markedly – has historically been poorly understood despite the very specific protection
and safeguarding needs that are raised.25 The TFG welcomes the focus on girls and young
women articulated in the Government’s Strategy for tackling gangs and youth violence and
the commitment to consult and work with specialist voluntary sector partners.26 However,
this is an example of where a gender-specific approach is absolutely critical and transforming
the approach to gangs in local communities will require an effective gendered analysis from
the outset. The 30 areas to be intensively targeted with support must evidence due regard
for girls and women, as required by the Equality Act 2010, by ensuring effective profiling of
girls and women in gangs is undertaken and appropriate interventions are embedded in
every project.
3.8
Levels of abuse and violence experienced by girls and women: The critical links made by the
Corston Report between victimisation, isolation by disadvantage and women at risk of
offending remain highly pertinent. Evidence strongly indicates that histories of sexual abuse in
childhood are closely linked to experiences of domestic violence in adulthood and that both
are significant risk factors in terms of women’s offending. The Social Exclusion Unit’s estimate
that approximately half of all women in prison are survivors of domestic violence is likely to be
an underestimate given low reporting rates.27 WIP data reveals that 79% of their service users
report experience of domestic and/or sexual abuse.28 It is therefore essential that any
approach to women has, at its core, a strategy for responding to the overwhelming levels of
abuse and violence that girls and women at risk of offending report. This should include
links with the recently updated Home Office Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
3.9
Poverty-related offending: The Joint Inspection registered a perception, particularly from
judges, that women’s offending is inextricably linked with ‘her domestic situation, e.g.
childcare and poverty or relationships and abuse’ and typified by offences such as benefit
fraud, shoplifting and theft from an employer.29 This is all the more concerning in light of the
evidence that women are being disproportionately affected by cuts to services that provide
assistance with legal access, benefits and debt advice, housing support and advice and mental
health in the community.
3.10 Since winter 2010, Clinks has been monitoring the impact of funding cuts and changes to the
local commissioning and delivery landscape on the VCS. In the latest update report, VCS
organisations reported acute demand for their services at a time of decreased resources, and
a marked intensification of the complex needs being presented by their most marginalised
25
C. Firmin. 2011. ‘Female Voice in Violence Project. Final Report: This is it. This is my life…’, Race on the
Agenda. Online: http://www.rota.org.uk/content/rota-march-2011-female-voice-violence-project-final-reportit-my-life. (Last accessed: 07.03.2012)
26
Home Office. 2011. Ending Gangs and Youth Violence : A Cross-Governmental Report including further
evidence and good practice case studies. Online: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/endinggang-violence/gang-violence-detailreport?view=Binary (Last accessed: 19.03.2012)
27
Social Exclusion Unit. 2002. Reducing Reoffending by ex-prisoners.
28
Women in Prison. 2009. Response to Together We Can End Violence Against Women Consultation on a
National Strategy on Violence Against Women. Online:
http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/userfiles/file/Women%20Offender%20Campaign%20Network%20Respons
e%20to%20the%20Way%20Forward.doc (Last accessed: 01.03.2012).
29
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. s. 9.3
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service users.30 This was contextualised by WIP in a November 2011 service user consultation.
All the women reported the closure of a service they had accessed and they were
experiencing a variety of reductions to benefits, child support payments, perceived job
opportunity and access to quality local services. The TFG would thus urge the Government to
ensure that the impact of funding and service cuts on women in low income and/or singleparent households are rigorously monitored and assessed, to avoid perpetuating povertyrelated offending.
3.11 Liaison and Diversion and the role of the VCS: The TFG welcomes the commitment to pilot
and roll out Mental Health Liaison and Diversion services in police custody and courts. The
Group would support the recommendation of the Women’s Task Force that women should
be a designated group in all liaison and diversion schemes, with a specific response required
as part of national standards.31
3.12 More than 80% of short sentences for women are passed by Magistrates and this is therefore
a critical entry point for women into a cycle of harm and contact with the CJS.32 The VCS has
taken a lead in developing innovative practice to address the needs of women in police
custody and Magistrates courts. For example, in 2010, a twelve month pilot of a Women’s
Support Scheme in Greater Manchester, managed by WIP alongside WomenMatta,
demonstrated the value of co-locating support for women within the same premises as court
staff.33 The joint working relationship gave Magistrates a more ‘complete picture’ of the
women, their needs and factors contributing to their offending behaviour. Strong links were
formed between a range of voluntary and statutory services, which allowed for an integrated
support and risk management plan that could be presented to the Magistrates to provide
viable alternative to a short custodial sentence. This demonstrates the expertise that the
women’s VCS can bring to advise and inform Magistrates. It is critical that Magistrates and
Sentencers have a genuine understanding of the vulnerabilities and needs of girls and
women entering the criminal justice system.
3.13 In another example, as part of a Home Office funded programme in 2010-11 to strengthen the
role of the VCS in Integrated Offender Management (IOM), a Women’s Court worker was
employed by Croydon Voluntary Action. She was allocated a small budget of £2000 which
enabled her to respond very flexibly to the needs of women by spot-purchasing personalised
services from small, local community groups that would not otherwise have been able to offer
support, for example a women’s counselling service or local family support project.34 The TFG
considers that VCS organisations can play important brokerage roles within diversion
schemes and that the use of such approaches, including small budgets to spot purchase
personalised services for women at risk, have considerable potential and should be piloted
more widely.
30
Red Ochre. 2012.
Prison Reform Trust. 2011a. p. 12
32
Carol Hedderman. 2012. [Forthcoming paper] London: Criminal Justice Alliance.
33
Women in Prison. 2011. Final Report May 2010 – May 2011. [Available upon request]
34
L. Frazer. 2011. Home Office / Clinks Project: Innovative Voluntary and Community Sector Involvement in
Integrated Offender Management Arrangements - An Overview from Clinks. Online:
http://www.clinks.org/services/localism-work/iom . (Last accessed 05.03.2012)
31
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3.14 A distinct approach to vulnerability: The Joint Thematic Inspection report indicates that
current mechanisms that could be used to sculpt a more gender-sensitive approach to women
engaged with the CJS are not applied consistently. A good example of this is the use of presentence reports to ensure that Sentencers are aware of the risks and needs presented by
individuals. The Joint Inspectorate found that report-writers tended to overlook known issues
of female vulnerability, such as propensity to self-harm or to be exploited by others,
particularly for women who had previously spent time in prison.35 This is alarming given that
up to eighty percent of women in prison have diagnosable mental health problem.36
Additionally, diversity issues were not always well addressed within the reports. Given the
extraordinarily high incidence of multiple needs identified in women presenting to the CJS, the
TFG believes that in most cases involving women, vulnerability should be presumed (subject
to exceptions) and appropriate services for liaison and diversion should be in place. The TFG
recommends a presumption of vulnerability in the case of women presenting to the court,
resulting in a much more thorough pre-sentence assessment of their needs. The group also
endorses the recommendations of the Offender Manager Guide to provide the option of a
woman report writer and to use women’s community resources or designate specific
women-only office times.
3.15 The pursuit of higher quality, gender-sensitive reports for women, and protective factors
associated with vulnerable people, should never be used as justifications for remanding in
custody, however. The high number of girls and women coming into contact with the CJS with
multiple needs calls for a greater focus on providing quality support of varying degrees of
intensity in the community from the earliest stage. Women’s Community Centres and other
women’s VCS organisations provide this unique type of service to women in crisis and can be
available on the day that a woman appears in court. The working models of Women’s VCS
organisations are underpinned by flexibility to address the immediate needs of women and
their children as well as providing on-going, follow-through support. The TFG calls for a
recognition that for women who do not pose a serious risk of harm to the public, there is
always an alternative to custody. We reinforce the recommendation of the Women’s Task
Force that, as a last resort, where remaining in the home is impossible, women-specific,
family-friendly bail accommodation is needed in every local area.
3.16 Women in prison: Since 2007, there has been only a marginal decrease in the numbers of
women in prison in England and Wales. The Joint Inspectorate reported limited availability of
non-custodial provision for women, as compared with men, though where there was
provision in place it was found to be a viable alternative.
3.17 Half of women entering prison so do on remand and after an average of six weeks, under half
of remanded women receive a custodial sentence.37 The TFG supports the Government’s
35
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. s. 9.24
Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task Force. 2009. Short Study on Women Offenders. Online:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/209663/setf_shortstudy
_womenoffenders.pdf (Last accessed: 14.03.2012)
37
Carol Hedderman. 2012.
36
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proposal to remove the court’s power to remand into custody unless a custodial sentence is
likely to be imposed on conviction.
3.18 It remains the case that many women are held far from home making it difficult to provide
them with an effective resettlement service and to maintain links with their families and
communities. Additionally, VCS organisations report lack of staff resource within prisons to
facilitate access to clients in order to plan for release. It is essential that resettlement services
are coordinated well in advance of release to enable women to access appropriate support
within the first twenty-four hours of discharge. The TFG therefore endorses the
recommendation from NOMS South West that commissioners should recognise the need of
women for through the gate support that is planned well in advance, requiring support from
a broad range of VCS organisations.38 The general absence of a complete package of
resettlement support for women (and men39) has severely harmful implications that stretch
far beyond the individual to impact upon other family members and particularly dependent
children and vulnerable adults.40 As explored later in the report, parental imprisonment has
damaging and long-term effects on children and treating the child’s best interests as a primary
consideration requires a much greater focus on resettlement.41 The TFG fully endorses
Corston’s recommendation that female prisons should be replaced by small, geographically
dispersed custodial units and women’s community centres to provide a more appropriate
infrastructure to facilitate women to serve their sentences and engage with resettlement
services.
3.19 Offender Management: While women make up only 5% of the overall prison population, they
constitute 14% of probation caseload. However, very few of the assessment tools, services or
programmes delivered by Probation Trusts have been designed specifically for women. The
Joint Inspectorate highlighted that the comparatively small number of women within the CJS
means that criminal justice professionals are often unable to cultivate specialist knowledge on
how to effectively engage with individual women.42 Despite the fact that most of the
Probation Trusts' identified the women’s agenda as a priority, overall knowledge about how
best to handle women offenders was ‘surprisingly low’. The TFG considers that Probation
staff require additional training on how to work effectively with women offenders, perhaps
concentrated on a number of female staff who can develop a specialist role in the
preparation of pre-sentence reports and the management of women subject to a
community sentence or prison licence.
38
NOMS South West. Commissioning Accommodation Support Services for Women Offenders. Online:
http://www.clinks.org/assets/files/PDFs/Holding%20Page%20docs/20b%20Tool%20One%20The%20case%20f
or%20women%20specific%20accommodation%20support%20services%20v1%201.pdf (Last accessed:
07.01.2012)
39
J. Jacobson, C. Phillips and K. Edgar. 2010. ‘Double Trouble’: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Offenders’
experiences of resettlement. Online: http://www.clinks.org/publications/reports/double-trouble (Last
accessed: 22.03.2012)
40
As highlighted by the Families Left Behind campaign, http://www.familiesleftbehind.info/
41
See for example, R (on the application of MP) v Secretary of State for Justice. [2012] EWHC 214 (Admin)
42
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. s. 10.1
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3.20 Breach: Of concern to the TFG is the high number of women entering prison as a result of
breaching a community sentence or prison licence. In many cases, this is imposed where the
original offence was relatively minor and would have been unlikely to attract a custodial
sentence.43 Many women entering prison for breach receive short sentences, giving very little
time for constructive interventions, while the impact on the woman’s life on the outside, and
that of her family, is often devastating.
3.21 On the basis that 13% of women entering prison under an immediate custodial sentence in
2009 were for breach of a court order,44 the TFG believes that slowing the number of
women entering prison for breach would represent a key strategy for reducing the use of
custody. This would require greater discretion for criminal justice practitioners and
Sentencers alongside a richer understanding of the complex reasons behind breaching and
the development of appointment systems and locations that support women’s compliance.
For example, for women who have no access to public funds, the travel fare may be an
insurmountable obstacle to attending appointments with their offender manager. The Joint
Inspectorate observed that where probation appointments were organised around women’s
other needs to come into town or an alternative venue, they were more likely to be kept. Such
arrangements also helpfully recognised the very intimidating atmosphere of probation service
waiting rooms for lone women.45
3.22 Chaos reinforced: For many women, experiences within the CJS accentuate rather than
address the complex needs underlying their original offending behaviour. When the Joint
Inspectorate examined the work of probation staff with community partners to meet
women’s needs, it was found that provision for mental health and housing was generally
poor. For over half of the women in their case sample, mental health services were
unsatisfactory.46 This continuing failure to deal effectively with women’s needs in the
community makes it likely that prison will continue to be used as seemingly the only disposal
available to the courts for vulnerable women who appear before them and who are living
rootless, chaotic lives.
3.23 Removing women from circulation does nothing to address these issues, however. The recent
letter to the Guardian by the former Governor of HMP Styal graphically illustrated the extent
of severe mental health need and substance and alcohol misuse among the women in the
prison population, and the inappropriateness of that environment to address their chronic
and persistent problems. And as outlined by Corston, a third of women emerge from prison
without any accommodation arranged.47 The Joint Inspectorate suggests that the way forward
may be through the new Health and Wellbeing Boards. The TFG endorses this view and
agrees with the Women’s Task Force that it is now essential for the mental health and
substance misuse needs of vulnerable women to be assessed by Health and Wellbeing
43
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. s. 2.7 – 2.8
Prison Reform Trust. 2011b. p. 32
45
Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorate. 2011. s. 11.4
46
Joint Criminal Justice Inspection. 2011. ss. 7.11 – 7.12.
47
Corston. 2007. s. 4.21
44
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Boards at a local level, and considered as a specific cohort within joint strategic needs
assessments and commissioning plans.48
3.24 Intersectional disadvantage: While identifying common threads in the experience of girls and
women in the CJS, the TFG are also concerned that diversity issues are inadequately
addressed, such as the distinct needs of older women, pregnant women and Black, Asian and
Minority Ethnic women (BAME). For example, while BAME groups constitute 9% of the overall
population of England and Wales, BAME women account for 28% of the female prison
population.49 In addressing the distinct position of girls and women within the criminal
justice system, any future strategy must therefore consider the way that gender intersects
with other protected characteristics and consult and work with specialist VCS organisations
to meet the diverse needs of women within the CJS.
3.25 The TFG is concerned about the plight of foreign national women in prison. Despite the
recommendation of Corston, there is still no national strategy for the 15% of the female
prison population classified as non-nationals. Women with no recourse to public funds face a
range of distinct challenges, comprehensively analysed by PRT and Hibiscus in their January
2012 Briefing.50 For example, there is currently only one VCS organisation, Detention Advice
Service, that is able to offer advice on immigration issues to female prisoners. Other VCS
organisations, such as Hibiscus, have to refer clients to specialist firms but legal aid is limited
and there are often long delays. The TFG would recommend that a national strategy is
formulated for foreign national women, informed by recommendations of PRT and Hibiscus
report.
3.26 Women’s community support: The expansion of the use of women’s ‘one stop shops’ or
Women’s Community Centres, which provide a holistic set of rehabilitative interventions
within a single safe space, have been one of the most promising achievements since the
publication of the Corston Report. The Women’s Community Centres have their own distinct
approaches tailored to local circumstances that have evolved through dynamic processes of
identifying and responding to needs of women at risk and involved in the CJS. For example,
the external evaluation of Support for Women Around Northumberland (SWAN) noted the
success of its virtual one-stop-shop approach in addressing rural isolation and associated
service inequality.51 What unites the approaches taken by the Centres is the focus on
providing a unique support model that assists female services users to bring about their own
change. SWAN’s evaluation credited the service’s ability to fill a gap by combining intensive
48
Prison Reform Trust. 2011a. p.15
Runnymede Trust. 2012. Criminal Justice v. Race Justice. Minority Ethnic overrepresentation in the criminal
justice system. Online:
http://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/CriminalJusticeVRacialJustice-2012.pdf (Last
accessed: 19.03.2012)
50
Prison Reform Trust. 2012. No Way Out: A briefing paper on foreign national women in prison in England and
Wales January 2012. Online: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/NoWayOut.pdf (Last
accessed: 01.03.2012)
51
Barefoot Research and Evaluation. 2011. Evaluation of the SWAN project. Online:
http://www.barefootresearch.org.uk/hidden-populations/evaluation-of-the-swan-project/ (Last accessed:
19.03.2012)
49
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crisis support for women who needed to escape immediate danger with a range of services to
nurture resilience and bring about long-term rehabilitation and recovery. Two significant
findings from SWAN's most recent progress report in November 2011 were the self-reported
improvements in self-confidence and self-esteem and increased sense of control that the
sample of women service users felt over their lives.52 Early indications from nef's SROI of the
SWAN project estimate that for every £1 invested in SWAN's activities, £6.65 of social and
economic value are generated for its beneficiaries. The success of the Women's Community
Centres is further reflected in the NOMS Quarter 3 Performance Review, where female
offending rates in Probation Trusts where there was a Centre were 8.82%, significantly below
the predicted 9.09%. The TFG calls for commissioners across sectors to recognise the value
generated by the Women's Community Centres as sites for defusing escalating chaos in
women's lives and providing a holistic community-based response that positively impact on
their offending behaviour.
3.27 The Joint Inspectorate report found that the development of the community centres has not
been mirrored by consistency of use. Despite resounding support from women interviewed by
the Inspectorate, referrals to the women’s community centres are erratic and ‘often
unacceptably low’.53 Localities need to develop mechanisms to facilitate improved joint
working. For example, where a probation officer is co-located in a women’s community centre
this would appear to usefully assist with communication and recommendation / referral. The
TFG believes that funding and referral processes for women’s community support needs to
have the flexibility to allow for referral at every stage in the system; including for women at
risk, pre-court, post-court, as part of an order, and following a custodial sentence.
3.28 Intergenerational harm: The approach of the CJS to women commonly leads to tragic
consequences for dependent children. As powerfully described by nef, children of imprisoned
mothers are three times more likely to have mental health problems than the general
population, not to be in education, employment or training and have poorer long-term
prospects. Research demonstrates that children with a parent in prison are likely to
experience ‘complex health, social and welfare disadvantages, including the impact of
poverty, family discord, substance abuse and mental health issues’.54 A new study, the
Pittsburgh Youth Study, found that while parental arrest and conviction did not predict boy's
problem behaviour, parental imprisonment appears to lead to an increase in boy's anti-social
behaviour.55 Members of the TFG believe that there is a need to re-orientate strategic
52
Barefoot Research and Evaluation. 2011. SWAN Progress Report. Online:
http://www.barefootresearch.org.uk/crime-and-reoffending/swan-progress-report/ (Last accessed:
19.03.2012.
53
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection. 2011. s. 5.9
54
U. Convery and L. Moore. 2011. ‘Children of imprisoned parents and their problems’, in P. Scharff-Smith and
L. Gampell, eds. Children of imprisoned parents. Denmark: Jes Ellehauge Hansen. For a review of the empirical
evidence on effects of parental imprisonment, see also J. Murray and D. P. Farrington. 2008. ‘The Effects of
Parental Imprisonment on Children’, Crime and justice: A review of research. 37. 133 – 206.
55
Action for Prisoner’s Families and Researchers. 2012. The Effect of Parental Imprisonment on boys – findings
from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Online:
http://www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk/uploadedFiles/2010_Publications_And_Resources/effectsofparentalimpri
sonmentonboys.pdf (Last accessed: 20.03.2012).
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thinking about how to address offending by women, in order properly to account for the
intergenerational harm exacerbated by imprisonment of mothers and the irreversible harm
caused to their families.
4
A gender-responsive approach
Gender-responsive means creating an environment through site selection, staff selection,
program development, content, and material that reflects an understanding of the realities of
women’s lives... Gender-responsive approaches are multidimensional and are based on
theoretical perspectives that acknowledge women’s pathways into the criminal justice system.
These approaches address social (e.g. poverty, race, class and gender inequality) and cultural
factors, as well as therapeutic interventions. These interventions address issues such as abuse,
violence, family relationships, substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. The emphasis is on
self-efficacy.56
4.1
The findings of the Joint Inspectorate report and intelligence gathered from VCS organisations
working with women demonstrate that, despite pockets of innovative women-centred
practice, the overhaul of the system proposed by Corston remains elusive. This TFG proposes
a fundamental transformation in the way that criminal justice services are designed,
commissioned and delivered for girls and women at risk of offending, underpinned by a
gender-responsive approach. In advocating a system re-design, members of the TFG argue
for parity, which means equivalence rather than sameness, in treatment of boys and men
and girls and women.57
4.2
This TFG paper draws inspiration from research and development of gender-responsive
strategies to women at risk of offending in the US. Stephanie Covington and Barbara Bloom
have developed a Gender-responsive Program Assessment Tool (GPAT) to evaluate the gender
responsiveness of programs for girls and women.58 Like Corston, they advocate a holistic
model for precipitating change in a woman’s life. This requires decision makers and
practitioners in the CJS to assess the needs and risks of individual girls and women through a
matrix of vulnerabilities. For example, developments in our understanding of trauma indicate
that connections between trauma and substance abuse and mental health are numerous –
girls and women who have experienced sexual or physical abuse as children or adults are
more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs and may suffer depression, anxiety disorders or
post-traumatic stress disorder.59
4.3
In order to develop a gender-responsive strategy for England and Wales, MoJ/NOMS should
commission the development of a similar gender-responsive assessment tool or a national
56
B. E. Bloom, B. Owen, S. S. Covington and M. Raeder. 2002. ‘Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research,
Practice and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders’, National Institute of Corrections.Online:
http://static.nicic.gov/Library/018017.pdf (Last accessed: 22.02.2012)
57
Corston. 2007. p. 3; Bloom et al. 2002. p. xxv i
58
B. E. Bloom and S. S. Covington. 2008. Gender Responsive Program Assessment. Online:
http://www.centerforgenderandjustice.org/pdf/GRProgramAssessmentTool%20CJ%20Final.pdf (Last accessed:
22.03.2012)
59
Bloom et al. 2002. p. xxii
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framework against which to measure provision for girls and women throughout the CJS and
wider social care and health systems.
4.4
This approach is in many ways complemented by the findings of desistance research in the UK,
which is in the early stages of unpicking the distinct issues facing women in their journey away
from crime:
…this evidence would appear to suggest the need for practice with women that supports
women’s efforts to change through the provision of services which take account of the
realities of their lives, of what is important to them and of the social demands placed upon
them; practices that provide practical and emotional support to them in meeting those
responsibilities and commitments that are significant to them. This might include addressing,
for example, housing and financial problems, assistance with child care, access to meaningful
education and employment opportunities, and support to strengthen social and familial
networks… But equally practice must avoid inappropriately universalized or stereotypical
assumptions about women’s relational commitments, generative concerns or socially
valorised desires to assume caring responsibilities.60
4.6
5
In many regards, the holistic, person-centred approach proposed by desistance theory is
epitomised by the approach of the Women's VCS. These pockets of innovative practice are
already converting desistance theory into practice by aligning services with individual need,
while recognising that the impetus to make changes in one's life exist within the individual
and that services should seek to facilitate and support rather than control that process.
A system re-design
5.1
This section sketches out the potential for a gender-responsive system re-design, informed by
current desistance research. A corresponding diagram is appended on page 28. The diagram
represents a shift from fragmented service provision and sporadic use of women-specific
services to a holistic, whole systems approach addressing the specific needs of girls and
women. The TFG would urge the MoJ/NOMS to adopt a similar gender-responsive model for
leading a cross-departmental systems re-design for implementation at national and local
levels.
5.2
Women–centred: The proposed system revolves around the individual girl or woman,
enabling the development of a tailored package of services to address all her intersecting
needs – for example, therapeutic mental health interventions, support in transitioning from
the looked after system, rehabilitation from substance misuse, housing support,
strengthening family relationships, addressing past violence and abuse and addressing the
needs of dependent children. This model would encompass a far more integrated approach to
prevention and service provision, while giving the individual greater ownership and a sense of
self-efficacy to avoid entering the CJS or to navigate her route to desistance.
60
F. McNeill and B. Weaver. 2010. Changing Lives? Desistance Research and Offender Management. Online:
http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/pubs/Changing-Lives-Desistance-Research-and-Offender-Management/255 (Last
accessed: 23.02.2012)
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5.3
This individualised approach means recognising that girls and women are not a homogenous
group. Diversity needs to be foregrounded and the system should have the capacity to
respond to the needs of different subsections of the women’s population, as well as individual
skills and strengths.
5.4
The diagram depicts two layered
wrap-around circles of preventative and supportive interventions that the TFG believes should
be available to girls and women at risk of offending or who have entered the CJS within every
local area. The inner circle includes targeted preventative, diversionary or rehabilitative
arrangements, e.g. for girls already involved in the CJS to make supported transitions into the
adult system, women-specific diversion schemes, community one stop shops, appropriate
systems for the management of women’s community sentences. Where a period in custody is
necessary, custodial centres should be localised and more resources should be available for
developing pre-release programmes and resettlement plans.
5.5
This will require a multi-agency approach to addressing the criminogenic needs of girls and
women; one which exploits resources at the local level in a much more dynamic way by
diverting girls and women much earlier or holding women closer to home, where essential
services can interlock. Given the small number of women in the CJS, the TFG proposes that
this band of services should be delivered at a local level but remain under continuing national
oversight to ensure that, at whatever level such interventions are commissioned (nationally or
locally), they are informed by the best current national knowledge of ‘what works’ in
supporting female desistance and breaking the current cycle of harm, and are procured and
delivered to a consistent quality.
5.6
The TFG stresses the
importance of considering the CJS within the wider social welfare setting. The proposed
gender-responsive model locates women and essential criminal justice services within the
broader context of the many other services that impact on girls’ and women’s opportunities
to make positive choices and changes in her life – the outer circle in the diagram. In the case
of girls, this might include improving the quality of services for looked after children and
critical support for transitions from care and transitions into adulthood. It would also include
a more women-focused approach to the delivery of mental health services, health care, debt
advice, housing support, family and child care services, training and employment. Such joined
up preventative and rehabilitative services for girls and women offending could be delivered
at local level drawing upon pooled community budgeting approaches.
5.7
There is an indispensable role for sign-posting and advocacy to
assist girls or women to access the wider set of services that would address their specific
needs and support their reintegration into the community. VCS organisations have always
been particularly well placed to play this role, being rooted in the local area with strong
connections to other sources of social support and community resources. One stop shops and
through-the-gate services are two examples of the sort of holistic services that not only
provide a safe space for approaches that support desistance – in the inner circle of the
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diagram - but that also offer a single point of access to a plethora of other services – the
outer circle of the diagram.
5.8
The diagram recognises that the whole criminal justice system and the journey to desistance
for each individual exist within the multiple contexts of families and communities. There is a
critical role for mediating services and programmes, such as the use of restorative justice, to
assist women to build social capital and reintegrate in their communities. The cycle of abuse,
violence and intergenerational harm described in Section 3 dislodges the dichotomy of victim
and offender that too often characterises formulations about how to address crime in our
communities.
5.9
Mapping out the services available to girls and women in a more inter-related and interactive
way and developing a wider set of supportive, female-oriented networks and resources would
give service users a greater choice and self-efficacy and enable them to integrate more fully
within the community, for example with support from volunteers and/or peer mentors.
6
Framework for delivering a system re-design:
6.1
This section raises a number of issues and recommendations for the MoJ/NOMS to consider
when developing a framework to deliver gender-specific provision for women. The current
paper seeks to build on the recommendations raised in the first TFG paper by clarifying and
expanding on how to make commissioning and contracting sensitive to women and to ensure
the inclusion of a broad range of the community-based services that have developed
innovative solutions to address women’s offending.
6.2
The TFG proposes a twin-track system of commissioning for girls and
women, including components at both national and local levels. This would encompass the
development of a distinct strategy and framework of quality standards at national level,
complemented by joined-up local commissioning to meet the complex needs and address the
social exclusion of girls and women within their own communities.
6.3
following the MOJ restructure, it is of concern to the TFG that there is no
longer a Criminal Justice Women’s Strategy Team in place. Although the TFG welcomes the
recent appointment of specific women’s policy staff within the MoJ Policy Justice Group,
there is an urgent need to consider whether sufficient resources have yet been committed to
developing the national strategy for women within MoJ/NOMS. In order to consolidate
improvements made since Corston and ensure that the rapid changes taking place across
Government are attuned to the impact on girls and women, the TFG would therefore support
the development of a national cross-departmental strategy for girls and women at risk of
offending or who have entered the CJS, under Ministerial oversight.
6.4
A joined-up approach is needed which brings together high level leadership from MoJ,
NOMS, Home Office, Youth Justice Board, the Department for Education, Department of
Health, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Communities and Local
Government and its Troubled Families Unit. The identification of a senior point of contact
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(SPOC) within each department will be absolutely critical to coordinating a holistic
approach.
6.5
This grouping should take responsibility for developing the high-level strategy for a system
re-design, including determining which of the core services in the diagram should in the
longer term be commissioned at national and local levels, and framing a set of national
standards against which to monitor local provision for girls and women.
6.6
it is clear from the foregoing sections of this paper that the wider set of
services needed by girls and women at risk of offending or who have entered the CJS in
relation to their health and mental wellbeing, housing, education, training and employment
needs etc., are best delivered through joined up local commissioning that responds to their
distinctive needs and risk factors. The TFG therefore welcomes the commitment in the NOMS
Commissioning Intentions to co-commission a variety of services to address female
vulnerability:61
A much higher percentage of female offenders are found in the low and medium risk
bands, as very few women present a high risk of serious harm and few present a high
likelihood of reconviction. However, female offenders are usually assessed as having a
wide range of social and psychological needs which increase their vulnerability. Many of
the needs most prevalent among female offenders such as education, mental health
problems and substance misuse are therefore most appropriately dealt with through cocommissioning services with partners.
6.7
However, given the findings of the recent Joint Thematic Inspection regarding levels of
awareness of women’s needs within Probation Trusts, the TFG considers there are real
dangers that girls’ and women’s needs within the CJS will be marginalised and overlooked,
with very harmful consequences, if budgets and commissioning responsibilities shift too
quickly, and without any strategic oversight, to the local level. The TFG would therefore urge
the MoJ and NOMS to ring fence and protect the current arrangements for funding women’s
community centres over the next two to three years, while new approaches are piloted to
explore and model new joined up service approaches, and to assess what division of
national / commissioning arrangements will work best to deliver systems change.
6.8
A system re-design led by the national strategic crossdepartmental grouping, based on the holistic, women-centred approach described in
Section 5, could usefully be tested through a number of local pilots, to develop the evidence
base for future commissioning. These might include:
• One or more local justice reinvestment pilots, bringing together all the key statutory and
VCS agencies involved in delivering the services set out in the diagram, to co-commission
an integrated set of community interventions aimed at responding to vulnerabilities,
diverting girls and women from the CJS, reducing offending and minimising harm. From
61
National Offender Management Service. 2012. NOMS Commissioning Intentions 2012 – 13 Version 2. Online:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/about/noms/commissioning-intentions-2012-13.pdf (Last accessed:
09.02.2012)
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November 2012, the elected Police and Crime Commissioner will clearly be a key partner to
involve in this approach, alongside the Probation Trust, Youth Offending Team, Health and
Wellbeing Board, Local Authority etc. In line with the current Financial Incentive Model
pilots in Greater Manchester and London, if the authorities involved can demonstrate
reductions in the numbers of girls and women entering custody, any savings generated
could be made available for reinvestment in local community provision. Some useful
learning to inform such an approach has already emerged from the Calderdale Single
Commissioning Project for Vulnerable Women, which was established in July 2010 to test
the hypothesis that a single or integrated approach to commissioning for women with
vulnerabilities could drive both improvement and efficiency. Building on this experience,
work is now underway to develop a Calderdale multi agency approach to girls and young
women with high levels of multiple and complex need.
• One or more Payment by Results (PbR) pilots linked to women’s prisons (in the form of a
Social Impact Bond as at HMP Peterborough) to explore the potential to release resources
from the crisis end of the women’s system by investing in resettlement support through
the gate. Previous obstacles to such pilots have focused on the statistical challenges of
measuring difference between small samples of girls and women. Given the critical
importance of stemming the flow of girls and women through the custodial system,
however, the TFG considers it vital that such a pilot is undertaken, and would be pleased to
assist in the design of a suitable PbR mechanism. Such pilot(s) might usefully be linked to
the proposed justice reinvestment pilot areas, to achieve the greatest possible synergy
between work in the community to divert girls and women from custody and work through
the gate to slow the revolving prison door.
• The piloting of a small, local custodial unit for women serving longer sentences, to test
feasibility, cost and benefit.
6.9
So far, there have been no details about women-specific
elements of any of the payment by results pilots. As previously described, the TFG would
support the development of one or more women-specific PbR pilots to ensure that the
implications of new funding models have been properly considered from a gendered point
of view. One aspect of the process that has been particularly highlighted is the need to
ensure that the outcomes considered payable are tailored to women. The RR3/TFG group
are available to advise on the design and development of such a model for women and how
best to ensure VCS involvement.
6.10 VCS organisations report particular difficulty in securing funding for innovative projects
trialling new approaches to working with women at risk of offending, which by nature lack a
solid evidence base. The TFG therefore advocates the importance of a mixed funding model
for work with girls and women, with grants continuing to be made available for some
services, especially very specialist and small scale provision.
6.11
As recommended in the first RR3 paper, VCS
organisations highlight the need for the Sector to be more involved in intelligence-led
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commissioning at both national and local levels – an approach that pools and shares data
and makes best use of their direct experience of working with offenders. This is highly
pertinent where small numbers of girls and women in the system make it particularly difficult
to establish the efficacy of particular working practices. The TFG would therefore urge the
MoJ and NOMS to involve relevant VCS organisations in developing both national and local
strategies, and in designing and evaluating pilots. For example, Action for Prisoner’s Families
(APF) have been involved the commissioning of visiting services in prisons by NOMS, including
the Voluntary Sector Reference group assisting in devising the basic specifications and a series
of round-tables prior to the process attended by NOMS and potential bidders.
6.12 The process of formulating a more gender-responsive strategy for women should also be
directly informed by experiences of women themselves within the system. Service user
involvement can be enlisted for a variety of purposes, including capturing experiences of
current service users and monitoring how far services are supporting their desistance, as well
as generating possible solutions. (For example, User Voice facilitated seminars with women in
Wiltshire to identify their views on the provision of services that would meet their needs more
effectively).62 Girls and women involved in pilot projects might for example be invited to
undertake ‘journey mapping’ to identify key transition points and interventions that
supported or undermined positive change.
6.13
At whatever level commissioning takes place, genderspecific requirements should be written into the process. As iterated in the first RR3 paper,
there are concerns that women-specific services may be awarded to generic service providers
without a track record of delivering specialist services to girls and women at risk of offending.
There is a need to ensure that bidding processes contain a premium focus on expertise with
women and that all levels of the supply chain have robust equality and diversity policies in
place. The TFG recommends that guidance on commissioning for girls and women in the CJS
should be produced for local commissioners and joint strategic needs assessments should
be a component of every contract.
Clare Hayes, Policy Officer
Lesley Frazer, Policy Manager
Clinks Secretariat to the RR3 Task & Finish Group
22nd March 2012
62
User Voice. 2011. What Women Want: The views of women with experience of criminal justice in Wiltshire.
Online: http://www.uservoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/User-Voice-What-Women-Want.pdf (Last
accessed: 07.03.2012)
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Appendices
Membership of the RR3 Task and Finish Group
Breaking the cycle of women’s offending: A System Re-design
Cathy Stancer
Clare Hayes
Clare Jones
Jackie Russell
Jessica Southgate
Kate Aldous
Laurel Townhead
Lesley Frazer
Louise Clark
Lucy Perman
Mark Day
Cherry Whittingham
Sarah Salmon
Vivienne Hayes
LankellyChase Foundation
Clinks
Women’s Centre
Women’s Breakout [Chair]
Platform 51
Clinks
Women in Prison
Clinks
Clinks
Clean Break
Prison Reform Trust
Hibiscus
Action for Prisoner’s Families
Women’s Resource Centre
Membership of the RR3:
Clive Martin (Chair)
Cathy Stancer
Chris Wright
Clare Jones
Deborah Cowley
Graham Beech
Jackie Russell
Jeremy Crook
John Trainor
Tim Robertson
Mark Johnson
Martin Kinsella
Norma Hoyte
Rob Owen
Robert Morrall
Simon Pellew
Steve Wyler
Clinks
LankellyChase
Catch-22
Women Centre
Action for Prisoners’ Families
NACRO
Women’s Breakout
BTEG
London Action Trust
Koestler Trust/Arts Alliance
User Voice
P3
PLIAS Resettlement
St Giles Trust
Cementafuture
Time for Families
Locality
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