Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
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Justice Committee: Evidence Ev 125registered with <strong>Women</strong>’s Breakout is located. The presence of one or more projects within a Probation Trustdoes not necessarily mean all women <strong>offenders</strong> within that Trust area have access to <strong>the</strong> projects. Many arepart funded by Local Authorities or subject to planning constraints, and cannot offer services to women livingoutside <strong>the</strong> Authority. For example, within Avon & Somerset Probation Trust is Eden House, a successfulproject run by partners including NOMS, offering a range of services to women <strong>offenders</strong>. However <strong>the</strong> projectis only available to women living within <strong>the</strong> Unitary Authority of Bristol, leaving all of Somerset and SouthGloucestershire with no provision. It is likely that many of <strong>the</strong> 15 Probation Trusts with some provision areactually similarly poorly supplied. Not all women <strong>offenders</strong> have difficulty with <strong>the</strong> unisex approach whichhas historically been delivered, but <strong>the</strong> majority have issues which leave <strong>the</strong>m vulnerable. This can lead toreluctance to attend offices or work placements where male <strong>offenders</strong> are likely to be present, leading to lackof compliance and lack of engagement with community orders. We believe that <strong>the</strong> minimum services whichshould be available in all areas are:(a) Bail accommodation.(b) Separate premises or days for probation appointments.(c) Separate placements for community payback.(d) Separate rehabilitation programmes.(i) Bail accommodation is currently provided via <strong>the</strong> Stonham Bail Accommodation SupportServices (BASS) contract, however provision is patchy in some areas and <strong>the</strong> serviceappears not to be widely known about in courts. The number of women on remand is amatter for concern but <strong>the</strong> LASPO Act will address this to some degree by restricting <strong>the</strong>courts’ ability to refuse bail where <strong>the</strong>re is no realistic prospect of a custodial sentence.However, provision and use of appropriate bail accommodation may well reduce <strong>the</strong>number fur<strong>the</strong>r. The Criminal Justice Joint Inspection 2011 report into <strong>the</strong> use ofalternatives to custody for women found that “awareness by courts and probation of <strong>the</strong>seservices tended to be low, so <strong>the</strong>y were underused.” It still does not seem to be standardpractice in all courts for <strong>the</strong> CPS, probation or defence advocates to explore <strong>the</strong> possibilityof a BASS place before bail decisions are made.(ii) Where women’s community projects exist, and probation appointments are held within<strong>the</strong>ir premises, attendance by <strong>offenders</strong> is improved. Some women report reluctance toattend probation appointments at probation offices because <strong>the</strong> presence of male <strong>offenders</strong>is intimidating. <strong>Women</strong>’s centres have also reported that women are better able to lower<strong>the</strong>ir barriers in a “safe” environment and <strong>the</strong>refore engage better with probation servicesand are able to start addressing <strong>the</strong>ir offending behaviour. Stephanie Covington of <strong>the</strong>Center for Gender and Justice, California has said that we need to presume <strong>the</strong> women weserve have a history of traumatic stress and we need to exercise “universal precautions”.What makes a difference is creating a safe environment, listening to her story, andempathy. Breaches of orders and reoffending are <strong>the</strong>reby both reduced. 23 projectsregistered with <strong>Women</strong>’s Breakout offer on-site access to probation, but some of <strong>the</strong>se willonly be able to deal with <strong>offenders</strong> within a specific Local Authority area so will not beavailable within an entire Probation Trust. It is not known if any probation offices currentlyrun women only days or hold appointments at o<strong>the</strong>r locations apart from <strong>Women</strong>’s Centres.It is acknowledged that some areas will not have high enough numbers of women <strong>offenders</strong>to open separate offices, but urgent consideration should be given to allocating specificdays to women <strong>offenders</strong> or sending <strong>offenders</strong> to neighbouring areas where such provisionis available. Support for <strong>Women</strong> Around Northumberland (SWAN) is a project funded byMoJ which offers a mobile service allowing access by those in rural areas. This type of“virtual <strong>Women</strong>’s Centre” could be replicated without incurring <strong>the</strong> expense of separatepremises.(iii) Attendance on community payback placements is better if work is carried out in womenonlyplacements, as some women can find mixed placements working alongside male<strong>offenders</strong> intimidating. 12 projects under <strong>Women</strong>’s Breakout run unpaid work but it is notknown how many Probation Trusts offer arrangements outside <strong>the</strong>se projects. Threeprojects run Attendance Orders. There is at least one Attendance Centre in Camden runspecifically for women and <strong>the</strong>re would seem to be no reason for o<strong>the</strong>rs not to offerwomen only days or sessions. Attendance can also be improved if <strong>the</strong> offender is supportedby one of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Women</strong>’s Projects, as reported by Anawim Birmingham project in a casestudy: “Probation said <strong>the</strong>y have noticed a marked improvement with her engagement inCommunity Payback since she started to attend Anawim”.(iv) Not only do women attend and engage better with rehabilitation programmes in womenonlygroups, but <strong>the</strong> programmes tailored to women <strong>offenders</strong> also have better successrates. There are a number of projects offering different programmes and courses, but littleconsistency. Many areas do not offer any groups specifically for women. It is reported thatsuch sentencing options as do exist are under-used and we believe that to be in partbecause <strong>the</strong> provision is so patchy that many courts are probably unaware of <strong>the</strong> options.The Criminal Justice Joint Inspection 2011 report into <strong>the</strong> use of alternatives to custody