10. Memorandum submitted by
the Fawcett Society
1. SUMMARY
The Fawcett Society welcomes this opportunity
to give evidence to the Home Affairs Committee. In this evidence,
we focus on the sentencing of women offenders, Fawcett's area
of expertise. This evidence is based on the argument that for
most women who are currently imprisoned, prison does not work.
Fawcett believes, in particular, that:
— There is an overuse of remand for
women defendants.
— Too many women are being imprisoned
on short sentences for non-violent offences.
— There are too many foreign national
women in prison, particularly those serving long sentences for
drug-smuggling offences.
These, and the other issues addressed below,
must be tackled to ensure that sentencing of women relies less
on the use of custody and more on the use of effective community
sentences.
2. THE FAWCETT
SOCIETY
The Fawcett Society is the UK's leading gender
equality organisation. Since 2001, we have been contracted by
the Home Office to run the Gender and Justice Policy Network (GJPN),
a group of 80 experts, academics, practitioners and NGOs, who
provide gender expertise on criminal justice policymaking. We
also run the Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System,
a unique inquiry bringing together experts from all parts of the
system to examine the way women are treated as victims, offenders
and defendants and as practitioners.
3. FACTS ABOUT
WOMEN OFFENDERS
— Women commit less serious offences
than men; they are far less likely to commit violent or sexual
offences and more likely to commit "acquisitive" offences
such as theft or fraud.
— The number of women starting community
sentences has increased by 43% between 1995 and 2005. For women,
theft and handling constituted the largest offence group, accounting
for 29% of all commencements in 2005.[45]
— Between 1995 and 2005, the female
prison population increased by 126%. Most of this increase can
be explained by a significant increase in the severity of sentences.
However, the female prison population decreased by 1% between
June 2004 and June 2005.[46]
— The courts are increasingly using
custody for women offenders even though the nature and seriousness
of their offending has not been getting worse on the whole. A
woman convicted of theft or handling stolen goods in the Crown
Court is now twice as likely to go to prison as she was in 1991.
In the Magistrates' Court, the rate of increase in the use of
custody for women is even higher.[47]
— Of the sentenced female prison population,
the majority are held for non-violent offences. In January 2007,
31%, the largest group, were imprisoned for drug offences. 12%
were imprisoned for theft and handling and a further 7% for fraud
and forgery.[48]
More than a third of women in prison have no previous conviction—double
the figure for men.[49]
— 65% of women released from prison
in 2002 re-offended within two years.[50]
— Over half of women in prison have
experienced domestic violence, compared to a quarter of women
in the general population, and one in three has experienced sexual
abuse.[51]
— 40% of women in prison have received
help for a mental or emotional problem in the year prior to custody,
20% have been in care compared to 2% of the general population,
and two-thirds are drug dependent or report harmful levels of
drinking in the year prior to custody.[52]
— There were three self-inflicted deaths
in women's prisons in 2006, following 13 in 2004 and four in 2005.
There have already been two self-inflicted deaths in women's prisons
in 2007.[53]
4. USE OF
REMAND
The female remand population has increased by
102% between 1995 and 2005, while receptions of women on remand
have increased by 106% in the same period.52[54]
More than a fifth of the female prison population is on remand.
Many women are on remand for psychiatric assessment. 18% of women
held on remand before trial in 2004 were acquitted and less than
half of female remanded prisoners go on to receive a prison sentence.[55]
This raises serious concerns about the availability and quality
of bail information at court and in prison. The period of time
that women spend on remand can be damaging to family relationships
(half of all women on remand receive no visits from their family),
employment and housing, as well as to defendants' mental health.
Fawcett recommends that:
— Women-only bail hostels should be
developed in every area.
— The courts must be encouraged to
use remand for women offenders only as a last resort.
5. USE OF
SHORT SENTENCES
63% of women sentenced to custody in 2005 were
given a sentence of six months or less (compared to 55% of men).[56]
These short sentences are widely considered to be more destructive
than constructive as it is too little time for any real rehabilitative
work or treatment but long enough for a woman to lose her home
and children. Nearly 40% of women prisoners lose their home while
in prison. Women are less likely than men to have a partner maintaining
a shared home while they are in prison.[57]
Prison impacts disproportionately on women as
they are held further from home than men due to the geographical
dispersal of women's prisons, and women are far more likely to
have caring responsibilities for children and family and are more
likely to suffer mental and emotional problems in custody. There
are better alternatives to custody available in the community,
although there is also a need for the expansion of women-specific
provision in the community (see [10] below).
There is also public support for community sentences
for women. Polling carried out on behalf of Fawcett's Commission
on Women and the Criminal Justice System by MORI in 2004[58]
showed that a majority of the public favour more use of community
sentences to deal with the growth in the number of women in prison.
A recent poll by ICM for SmartJustice confirmed this, showing
that 86% of the public support community alternatives to prison
for non-violent offenders and two thirds believe that prison is
unlikely to reduce reoffending.[59]
Consequently, Fawcett recommends:
— Community sentences should be used
for non-violent women offenders, to reduce the use of prison.
In order to achieve this in practice:
(a) Pre-sentence reports for non-violent
women offenders should be required to always include community
sentence options.
(b) The Government should consult on
the benefits of removing prison as an option for low-level non-violent
offences, many of which are committed disproportionately by women,
such as impulsive shoplifting.
6. FOREIGN NATIONAL
PRISONERS
19% of female prisoners were foreign nationals
in 2005.[60]
Many of these are single mothers from a background of extreme
hardship who have been convicted of drug smuggling and are first
time offenders who are given sentences of up to 14 years because
of rigid sentencing laws. These women are rarely high up in the
criminal gangs involved in the offence and abusive and exploitative
relationships often play a part in their offence.
It is questionable whether the long sentences
given to these women act as an effective deterrent, and whether
the length of sentence is appropriate for women who are very far
down the "food chain" of smuggling operations. Fawcett
recommends that:
— A full review of sentences for women
from disadvantaged backgrounds convicted of drug smuggling should
be carried out.
7. DIFFERENTIAL
SENTENCING FOR
WOMEN
Accumulated research on whether women are sentenced
differently from men suggests that "sentencers treat women
differently from men due to chivalry, paternalism, familial protection,
or enforcement of gender appropriate behaviour. But what is also
clear is that sentencers operate a bifurcated system of sentencing
which distinguishes between those women who conform to gender
stereotypes, and those who do not".[61]
Sentencers must be made aware of the different impact sentencing
decisions have on women and men before the courts, for example
caring responsibilities for children or elders; the impact of
imprisonment on their mental and emotional well-being; and the
disproportionate impact that incarceration has on offenders who
have caring responsibilities if they are imprisoned a long distance
from home because of the geographical spread of women's prisons.
Therefore, Fawcett recommends that:
— The training of judges and magistrates
should be thoroughly reviewed to ensure that sentencers understand
the specific needs of women offenders and the causes of women's
offending.
8. WOMEN WITH
MENTAL HEALTH
PROBLEMS
We are very concerned that prison is being used
to readily for women with mental health problems. Many women in
prison have chronic psychiatric needs—around three-quarters
suffer from two or more mental disorders.[62]
As a result Fawcett recommends that:
— Where the defendant or offender appears
to the court to have mental health problems, but does not justify
admission to hospital, they should not be remanded or sentenced
to prison without a medical report on the impact of incarceration
on their health. Defendants or offenders should not be sent to
prison in order to obtain a psychiatric report.
— The health sector, particularly psychiatric
services, should be linked more closely into the courts to ensure
that there is swift access to mental health services for the many
court users who need them. Health authorities should be required
to fund psychiatric assessment schemes at police stations and
courts to divert mentally disordered offenders from prison into
health and social care. This happens in some areas but not in
others and it now needs to be implemented consistently, and money
must be ring-fenced to allow this to happen.
9. IMPACT OF
PRISON ON
CHILDREN AND
DEPENDANTS
Approximately two-thirds of women in prison
have dependent children and a third have a child under five. It
is estimated that over 17,700 children a year are separated from
their mothers by imprisonment. Just 5% of women prisoners' children
remain in their own home once their mother has been sentenced.[63]
Fawcett therefore recommends that:
— Where the defendant or offender has
caring responsibilities, courts should be obliged to have a written
probation report on the impact of incarceration on their dependants.
They should not be remanded or sentenced to prison without this.
We believe that this very practical measure would bring home to
sentencers the impact of their decisions on the lives of vulnerable
individuals and their families.
10. COMMUNITY
PROVISION
Community sentences are more effective at reducing
women's offending and at keeping women safe than sending them
to prison. However, community provision for women is generally
inadequate—many probation areas fail to provide community
sentences sufficiently tailored to the needs of women offenders.
The evidence gathered by Fawcett's Commission
on Women and Criminal Justice System points overwhelmingly to
the need for women-specific community based services such as the
Asha Centre in Worcester and the 218 Centre in Glasgow, which
are close to families and networked into local services. The Together
Women programme, funded by the Home Office, represents a real
step forward, but these are small demonstration programmes limited
to two areas.
Fawcett therefore recommends that:
— Specialist community provision should
be available to female defendants and offenders in all parts of
the country. This provision must address women offenders' complex
needs, including, for example, poverty and debt, abuse and domestic
violence, addictions, and housing.
— Sentencers must have sufficient information
on community drug and mental health services so that they do not
see custody as the main place for detoxification or, inappropriately,
as a "place of safety".
— Government ministers must take the
lead in "talking-down" the use of prison and building
confidence in community sentencing. Sentencers must receive a
consistent message from Government that they support the use of
community sentences.
11. CONDITIONAL
CAUTIONING
Conditional cautioning is a new initiative whereby
a suspect who admits the offence is given a caution with conditions
attached instead of being charged. The purpose is to attach conditions
which address the behaviour behind the offence or to make reparation
for it. If linked into the right kind of community services, this
could work effectively for women who tend to commit low-level
offences and who would benefit significantly from accessing support
at an early stage. However, as discussed above, there is a need
for more women-specific services in the community. In addition,
there remains a dearth of evidence on women suspects in general
and Fawcett therefore recommends that:
— More use should be made of conditional
cautioning, linked to well-resourced community support.
— The Home Office should carry out
research on the needs of women suspects.
12. CUSTODY PLUS
AND INTERMITTENT
CUSTODY
Fawcett welcomes the decision not to implement
Custody Plus, as we were concerned that this could lead to an
increase to the already high numbers of women in prison as courts
would be attracted to the idea of a "short, sharp, shock"
in jail for the type of less serious offences that women tend
to commit. However, we are concerned that women who do go to prison
for a short sentence are currently receiving little or no support
in the community, as in the NOMS National Offender Management
Model resources follow risk and women tend to present lower risks
as offenders. Under the new gender equality duty (see [13] below),
it will be essential that women's specific needs are being met.
Intermittent Custody, another short sentence
under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, could have doubly punished
women if they had to travel further to prison than men because
of the geographical spread of women's prisons. Due to the small
number of women's prisons, women prisoners are twice as likely
as men to be held more than 50 miles from home. Consequently,
following pilot schemes, we welcome the decision not to implement
this sentence.
13. GENDER EQUALITY
DUTY
The Equality Act 2006 introduced a new duty
on public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful
sex discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity between
women and men. This gender equality duty will represent a significant
shift from the current individual, complaints-driven approach
of tackling discrimination once it has happened, to a more positive,
proactive approach where the burden rests with the public body
to address inequality in the first place. The gender equality
duty will apply to the Sentencing Guidelines Council, the Sentencing
Advisory Panel and the Courts Service.
The gender equality duty, which comes into force
in April 2007, will require public bodies to obtain information
where it is lacking. In light of the disproportionate rise in
the female prison population, we recommend that:
— The Sentencing Advisory Panel should
hold a thematic review of women and sentencing.
— The Sentencing Guidelines Council
should also take account of gender differences when drafting and
reviewing sentencing guidelines.
— Monitoring systems should be put
in place to assess the different impacts of sentences on women
and men.
— The gender equality duty reinforces
the need for community provision which meets the specific needs
of women offenders
14. FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information, see Justice and Equality:
Second Annual Review of the Commission on Women and the Criminal
Justice System (http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/Equality%20and%20
Justice.pdf) and Understanding your duty—Report on the gender
equality duty and the criminal justice system (http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/UnderstandingYourDuty.pdf).
Jon Collins
Senior Policy Officer
9 March 2007
45 Home Office (2006) Offender Management Caseload
Statistics 2005 London: Home Office. Back
46
Ibid. Back
47
Fawcett Society (2006) Justice and Equality: Second Annual Review
of the Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System London:
Fawcett Society. Back
48
Home Office (2007) Population in Custody-January 2007
London: Home Office. Back
49
Prison Reform Trust (2006) Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile,
November 2006 London: Prison Reform Trust. Back
50
Ibid. Back
51
Fawcett Society (2006) Justice and Equality: Second Annual Review
of the Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System London:
Fawcett Society. Back
52
Ibid. Back
53
Caroline Powell died on 5 January 2007 while on remand at HMP
Eastwood Park and Lucy Wood died on 15 January 2007 at HMP Peterborough. Back
54
Home Office (2006) Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005
London: Home Office. Back
55
Prison Reform Trust (2006) Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile,
November 2006 London: Prison Reform Trust. Back
56
Home Office (2006) Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005
London: Home Office. Back
57
Niven, S and Stewart, D (2005) Resettlement outcomes on release
from prison London: Home Office. Back
58
For more details see http://fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/Press%20
release%20-%20polling%20on%20women%20and %20prison%20Mar%2004.pdf Back
59
For more details see http://www.smartjustice.org/womenssurvey.shtml Back
60
Home Office (2006) Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005
London: Home Office. Back
61
Gelsthorpe, L (forthcoming) Sentencing and gender. Back
62
Fawcett Society (2006) Justice and Equality: Second Annual Review
of the Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System London:
Fawcett Society. Back
63
Prison Reform Trust (2006) Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile,
November 2006 London: Prison Reform Trust. Back
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