The experience of women as offenders and victims is different to that of men and their interactions with the criminal justice system are shaped by their gender . Gender is not the only factor impacting individual experiences but womenâs involvement with criminal justice is quantitatively and qualitatively different to that of men. In the first instance, women tend to commit less crime than men. According to Ministry of Justice statistics , in 2012/2013 only 15% of people arrested in England and Wales were women, and women made up only 5% of the prison population (Ministry of Justice 2014). Secondly, the offending profile for women is distinct from menâs as they commonly commit a different range of offences. They commit more acquisitive crime and they are less involved in serious violence , criminal damage or professional crime (Gelsthorpe and Wright 2015). Finally, evidence suggests that the motivation for crimes committed by women is often different to their male counterparts, furthermore punishment, particularly penal punishment has a disproportionate adverse effect on female offenders (Scraton and Moore 2004). The end result of all these factors is a small number of offenders who are female and are pushed into a mechanism for punishment that was designed for and is dominated by menâthe modern prison estate .
These issues and concerns were highlighted by the Corston Report (2007, p. 2) which noted that the prison system is âlargely designed by men for menâ suggesting that women have been marginalised within it. As such, prison can be disproportionately harsh for women. Corston concluded that a distinct approach was needed and that, in contrast to the view that âequalâ must mean âthe sameâ for all people regardless of gender , in the context of the prison, equal treatment for women requires a different focus. Unfortunately, the impact of the Corston Report has been seen by many to be limited. A number of academics and professionals working with women in the field have been critical of responses by the criminal justice system to female offenders over the last ten years (Annison et al. 2015; Birkett, this volume; Earle, this volume). Although the problems surrounding the fate of female offenders have received some political focusâfor example, in February 2016 the then Prime Minister, David Cameron (2016) indicated in his speech on prisons that there was âa strong caseâ for women with small children to be diverted from prisonâthe political focus on crime and offenders has diminished significantly since the vote on Brexit in June 2016. For women, the political rhetoric has failed to translate into effective measures (for further discussion see Earle in this volume).
In cases where women are victims of violence , they are far more likely than men to have been attacked by a person with whom they are intimately acquainted. Domestic abuse , including emotional violence , continues to feature in the lives of too many women. Women are twice as likely to be a victim of domestic violence than men. In the year ending March 2016, 7.7% of women, equating to 1.3 million individuals experienced this form of violence , compared to 4.4% of men (CSEW 2017). This paints a bleak picture for the experience of women. On average in England and Wales, two women a week are killed by a violent partner or ex-partner. This constitutes nearly 40% of all female homicide victims (Povey 2015; Wykes and Welsh 2008). When considering womenâs lives as a whole, rather than just an experience over the last year, 27.1% of women and 13.2% of men have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16 (CSEW 2016). These numbers illustrate that the experience of violence is very clearly genderedâmen are likely to be attacked by a person they do not know, while women are at threat from men with whom they are acquainted, often intimately. A similar pattern of victimisation can be identified in sexual crime more generally; 3.2% of women have experienced sexual assault , compared to 0.7% of men. When considering this figure, we must acknowledge that intimate partner violence and abuse may include sexual violence . Recent research and media revelations have confirmed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault within the workplace and on the street, as illustrated in the social media campaign #MeToo, launched at the end of 2017 (Khomami 2017). The recent study by Walby and Allen (2004) concluded that 45% of women have experienced some form of domestic violence , sexual assault or stalking in their lifetime.
The private and invisible nature of violence against women , including sexual violence , means that these crimes have, in the past, been overlooked. These issues have garnered more attention in recent decades and there have been many efforts to improve protection for victims of domestic and sexual abuse and to produce more effective criminal justice responses . This has included reform of criminal laws and rules of evidence : for example, reform of sexual offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 , restrictions on the use of sexual history evidence at trial in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 and the creation of a new controlling or coercive behaviour offence in the Serious Crimes Act 2015 , as well as changes in policies, procedures and practices in different criminal justice agencies , including the police and the CPS . However, notwithstanding growing awareness of the particular vulnerability and difficulties faced by victims of domestic and sexual violence , and some well-intended efforts to respond to this, problems have stubbornly persisted in investigation , prosecution and criminal justice responses to these crimes. Perhaps what this shows is that the law and the criminal justice system will have limited effect if they work in a silo that does not allow for connection with, and understanding of, wider social and cultural factors, which include patriarchal structures , gender norms , ârape myths â and social inequalities such as the link between gender , poverty and violence (McManus et al. 2016). A more holistic approach is therefore required, in particular, one which takes account of the non-legal factors , particularly those relating to gender , in the criminal justice response to these crimesâcrimes which are gendered.
It is hardly surprising then that the subject of âwomen and criminal justiceâ has been, and remains, high on the agenda of feminist research , political discussion and the focus of activists within the voluntary sector . However, the different ways in which women may be involved with the criminal justice system are often treated as very distinct, separating women as victims or women as offenders . It is with this consideration in mind that we brought together academics, professionals and activists to consider the current state of research and practice concerning women as victims and offenders . The conference, held in April 2016 at the Royal Statistical Society in London, was entitled Women and the Criminal Justice System âPast, Present and Future. It is from the inspiring papers, discussions and motivations for change that this book developed.
This volume attempts to bridge the gap between the âwoman as victimâ and the âwoman as offenderâ by considering womenâs involvement in the criminal justice system as a wholeâto move beyond the silos of seeing two distinct groups that can sometimes overlap. Furthermore, it aims to put women at the centre of the debate on crime and punishment . Too often in political discussions, academia and media reports, womenâs involvement in the system is marginalised , ignored or lost in the concerns about male crime . Reports such as Corstonâs offer evidence that responses to women involved in the criminal justice system are failing on many levels; therefore, we need to find new ways of addressing these issues. The contributors to this bookâacademics and professionals working with womenâmake a powerful case that a focus on women in the criminal justice system needs to be seen as a high priority in terms of research, policy and practice, if we are to ensure justice for women.
This book gathers tog...