Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...

34 Women offenders: after the Corston Report80. NOMS’ segmentation work—which aims to separate out groups of offenders in a waywhich enables providers and commissioners to understand their risks and needs, andtarget resources accordingly—is another example where progress has been far too slow.We welcome NOMS’ intention to accelerate work on the specific needs of women, but weare extremely disappointed that over six years after the Corston Report there is still notsufficient evidence about what those needs are, or how best to address them. Beforeembarking on any new policy development, NOMS must consider gender as a matter ofcourse rather than seeking to reduce any detrimental impact on women of the generalapproach after the event; in many respects efforts to address the distinct needs ofwomen are still lagging behind developments for men.Sentencing guidelines81. Our witnesses identified two areas in which sentencing guidelines had been developedby the Sentencing Council of England and Wales to better address the needs of vulnerablewomen and their children.Sentencing vulnerable women82. The Council’s guideline on drug offences which came in to force in February 2012lowered the starting points for sentencing so-called drug mules—which we supported inour Report on the draft of this guideline—and included the exploitation of an offender’svulnerability as a personal mitigating factor. 164 Jacqueline McKenzie of Female PrisonersWelfare Project (FPWP) Hibiscus regretted that changes to sentencing guidelines had notsufficiently reduced the number of foreign national women receiving what she saw aninappropriately severe custodial sentences, either for those who have not committedviolent offences for example, passport document offences, or for vulnerable women whohave been exploited into offending, for example, women who have been coerced into drugtrafficking, or have themselves been trafficked; the proportion of female foreign nationalprisoners comprising the latter is subject to research but it is thought they may representapproximately 15%. 165Sentencing women with children83. Witnesses drew attention to the detrimental long-term impact that imprisonment canhave upon women prisoners and their families. 166 Baroness Corston argued that sentencingshould take into account the needs and responsibilities of primary carers, both in relationto the immediate practical needs of the family, for example, in ensuring children arecollected from school, and in ensuring the longer-term stability of the family unit. 167 Sheexplained: “only 5% of the children of women prisoners are looked after in the familyhome by the father or by the male of the household. When a man goes to prison, there isusually a woman to keep the home fires burning. If a man wants to switch off from family,164 Sentencing Council for England and Wales, Drug Offences Definitive Guideline, London; Justice Committee, SeventhReport of Session 2010–12, Draft sentencing guidelines: drugs and burglary, HC 1211165 Q 172. See also Ev w23, Q 234 [Mr Hardwick]166 Ev w19167 Q 21