SECTION E: MEASURES TARGETED AT PARTICULAR
GROUPS
(iii) Women Offenders
218. A snapshot of the prison population on 30 June
1997, when the overall prison population stood at 61, 467, showed
that there were 2,063 imprisoned sentenced females.[258]
The Home Office told us that "women remain a small proportion
of the prison population but over the last 20 years that proportion
has been growing steadily from 3.1% in 1976 to 4.1% in 1996. The
rate of increase has been accelerating and by early September
1997 the female population had increased by a fifth over the previous
year to reach 4.5% of the total".[259]
There has also been a dramatic increase in the numbers of women
given community sentences since 1992, as shown below:
Women given community sentences, 1992-96
Community Sentence
|
1992
|
1996
|
Probation orders |
7,475 |
9,280
|
Community service orders
|
2,656 |
3,919
|
Combination orders
|
125 |
1,531[260]
|
219. There appear to be differences in the use of
custodial and non-custodial sentences with men and women, although
these are not clear cut. Home Office research into the subject
concluded that there were "major differences in the use of
non-custodial penalties for men and women. Women were consistently
more likely than men to be discharged even when their circumstances
appeared, on the basis of the available data, entirely comparable.
This may stem from the fact that sentencers were reluctant to
fine women. Equally, though, it appears that this reluctance may
sometimes result in a woman being given a more severe non-custodial
penalty. To use probation where a fine would have been appropriate
is an ineffective use of resources and...carries the risk that
it will lead to an even more severe sentence being imposed in
the event of a subsequent conviction. The results concerning the
use of custody are less clear cut. Overall, they suggest that
while sentencers do not inevitably reject the idea of imposing
prison sentences on women, women do not stand an equal chance
of imprisonment".[261]
220. As we noted in paragraph 14, Sir David Ramsbotham
believed that "only 30 per cent of the women currently in
prison actually need to be there".[262]
Whether his opinion is correct or not, there is obviously a need
to ensure that community sentences are as effective as they possibly
can be in their work with women, given that around 15,000 women
served them in 1996. Clearly, the points we raise in the this
report which are intended to improve the provision of community
sentences generally apply to those which are used with women,
but there are also further issues which apply specifically to
community sentences for women.
221. The need for specific probation options which
are focussed on women and which address them in particular was
brought to our attention. Mr Richard Barton, a Senior Probation
Officer from the South Glamorgan Probation Service, told us on
behalf of NAPO that there was a need for programmes specifically
for women, that some services were now providing them and that
" evidence...show[s] that...the nature of women's offending
is significantly different from the nature of men's offending
in that it is much more closely linked to financial matters, emotional
needs, those kinds of areas, which indicates that the intervention
with women offenders needs to be slightly different and address
some of those issues more specifically.... you address those areas
for that person or that group of people which are particularly
relevant to their offending".[263]
222. The Home Office's memorandum stated that recent
small scale research "suggests that women offenders' needs
differ from men's on a number of dimensions including finding
suitable employment, and coping with past and current experiences
as victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse".[264]
223. The Chair of ACOP, Mr John Hicks, told us that
the provision of programmes for women was improving, but that
"there has been a problem in resource terms because in the
development of funding of programmes, we have obviously focussed
on the majority who are males and there are not always in any
given locality enough of the relatively serious women offenders
to constitute a group programme, but area by area they are developing
specific programmes for women".[265]
The emphasis given to services for men was evident in recent research
into probation programmes employing cognitive techniques: it found
that only 7 of 123 programmes which collected data on the sex
of participants were specifically for women, and that of the further
25 which accepted women the average male:female ratio was 10:1.[266]
224. In spite of the resource difficulties of providing
specific programmes for women, Mr Richard Barton told us that
Hereford and Worcester Probation Service ran such a programme
and that his own probation service, South Glamorgan, was in the
process of developing one.[267]
We also heard about the women's programme run by Manchester Probation
Service when we visited there. This programme "exists to
offer the courts a constructive option for women with a serious
offence or with a persistent pattern of offending, and who are
seen by the courts to be at risk of receiving a sentence of imprisonment...Offenders
will be required to attend for 21 sessions, each of two hours
duration. These hours are designed to fit with child care responsibilities...[issues
explored include] victim awareness, anger management, domestic
violence, alcohol, drugs and the effect of abuse. The relapse
prevention element included the use of outside specialists for
debt counselling, health and employment and training sessions".[268]
225. We recognise the importance of providing
alternatives to prison, and probation programmes in particular,
which tackle the problems presented by women offenders specifically.
We note with concern, again, that limited resources have meant
that these programmes have not been as widespread as they should
have been. We welcome the fact that this situation appears to
be improving and urge the Home Office to monitor and encourage
the provision of these services, in order to ensure that a credible
alternative to prison is available nationally for women offenders.
258 Appendix 1, figure 2. Back
259 ibid.,
para 13. Back
260 Probation
Statistics England and Wales 1996,
Home Office, 1997, p 19. Back
261 Understanding
the sentencing of women,
Home Office Research Study 170, 1997, p ix. Back
262 Q
587. Back
263 Q
801. Back
264 Appendix
1, para 169. Back
265 Q
124. Back
266 The
Influence of Cognitive Approaches: a Survey of Probation Programmes,
Home Office Research Study 171 (1997). Back
267 Q
802. Back
268 Probation
Programmes: Women's 1A(2) Programme, Greater
Manchester Probation Service, pp 2-3. Back
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