Equality with a vengeance: The over-incarceration of women (original) (raw)

The over-incarceration of women Equality with a ven

The increased incarceration of women for violence-related offences in some Australian and overseas jurisdictions points to pervasive systemic gender bias and discrimination in the criminal justice process. Emerging anecdotal and recent research and court-related data are disturbing and suggest that women's fundamental human rights and freedoms are under attack.

Human Rights Abuses & Discrimination against Women in the Criminal Justice System in NSW

It is documented that imprisonment rates of women have been increasing rapidly, both worldwide and in Australia, over the past decade. Discrimination against women may help to account for their increased numbers in the criminal justice system, but is also a concern in its own right. Looking at the context of New South Wales, we explore how women are subject to direct and indirect discrimination based on sex, race and disability in the police, court and prison systems. Changes in legislation and practices within the system over the past two decades have impacted negatively upon particular groups of people, especially upon poor and racialised women and women with mental or cognitive health concerns. Further to this, practices such as strip searching have a pernicious effect on women in custody. These developments, along with other practices imposed upon women in the criminal justice system, are argued to constitute systemic discrimination.

Analysing Trends in the Imprisonment of Women in Australia and New Zealand

As in the United States and many other Western nations, incarceration rates in Australia and New Zealand have risen significantly over the past two decades. An interesting aspect of this trend is that internationally, incarceration rates for females have increased faster than those for men. A number of researchers in the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted to explain this phenomenon. This article looks at two countries that are culturally similar and geographically close: Australia and New Zealand. Disproportionate rises in female prison populations are visible in these jurisdictions. Focussing on the 2001–2012 period, the reasons for the disproportionate rises in female incarceration rates are hypothesized and compared. It is suggested that while the drivers of the changes are in some cases similar, there are also some interesting differences between the two countries.

Women and Crime: Imprisonment Issues

Although women still constitute a small minority of prisoners in Australia, the number of women in Australian prisons has increased significantly over the past decade. With this increase in female imprisonment, the need for positive steps to improve women's prison conditions becomes more apparent. This second Trends and Issues dealing with women and crime examines particular difficulties encountered by women prisoners. Its recommendations for improvements in the system should be considered by all correctional administrators. Duncan Chappell Director ittle has been written or done to address the specific concerns of female inmates for the ostensible reason that their numbers are so small in comparison with the number of men in prison. Some of these female issues and their consequences for women prisoners are explored in detail in this article. The intent is not to contrast women's imprisonment with that of men in Australia, but to highlight the specific difficulties that females may encounter. This Trends and Issues is abstracted in part from The Forgotten Few: Overseas-born Women in Australian Prisons (Easteal 1992). A component of the research for that book was gathered by observation of eight women's prisons in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, indepth interviews with a sample of 56 overseas-born female inmates and analysis of 125 surveys returned by uniform officers and other prison staff. These three states house almost four-fifths of the women prisoners in Australia. Although the sections below generalise about prison conditions, it is important to note that there is variation by state. Both Victoria and Queensland for example, have been implementing positive programming changes in an attempt to meet the needs of women in prison. The Victorian Corrections Women Prisoners and Offenders Advisory Committee (1991) has produced an agenda for change which includes a discussion of the issues for women inmates and the principles, policies, and plans involved in meeting those concerns. The limited space below does not permit discussion of interstate diversity but discusses the situation primarily in generallities. One further caveat: all methodologies have their limitations. The potential for unreliability of inmates' comments, short-term observation and prison officers' remarks should be borne in mind. Wherever possible prison staff were contacted in order to substantiate the prisoners' perspective.

(2015) (with Carol Hedderman) 'Sentencing Women: An Analysis of Recent Trends'

2015

Drawing on analyses of official statistics and on a recent interview study with a small sample of magistrates and judges, the findings indicate that whilst overall the use of custody appears to have remained fairly static, there are interesting differences between the sentencing practices of magistrates and Crown Court sentencers. Moreover, rather than witnessing significant shifts between immediate custody and non-custodial options for women, a key finding of this analysis concerns the shifting landscape within non-

Just or unjust? Problematising the gendered nature of criminal justice

In 1950, Otto Pollak claimed in his book the criminality of women, that female offenders were preferentially treated in a criminal justice system dominated by men and thus characterised by male notions of chivalry. Pollak presumed that offending women were placed on pedestals, treated gallantly and protected from punishment, with the result that their criminal activity was less likely to be detected, reported, prosecuted, or sentenced harshly. Since Pollak, the question of gender difference in judicial processing has undergone extensive international scrutiny. After more than five decades of research, discussion and debate, what can we now say about Pollak’s claim. Do women, in comparison to men, receive different judicial outcomes and, if so, is this ‘fair’, ‘just’ or ‘legitimate’? To answer these questions, this paper begins by briefly summarising both international and national research that has considered the issue of gender difference in criminal court outcomes, particularly sentencing and remand. The ramifications of these research findings are then considered with reference to ongoing feminist debates surrounding issues of gender equality, equity and difference.

Gender and the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales

MSt. Criminology, 2023

Is it useful to focus on gender in understanding and improving criminal justice responses to violence? Why, or why not? This essay employs gender as a socially constructed category which generally corresponds to the related but separate biological categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’, which are to some extent, dimorphic. The separate sociological and biological facets of these categories, of course, exist in complex dialogue (Butler, 1990). Given the scale of this question and the myriad avenues of interrogation, this essay will pursue a focus on disparate and gendered experiences apropos offending patterns, sentencing, and the reception and exertion of violence. Traditionally masculinist gender archetypes will be assessed for their promotion of certain forms of emotional or physical violence (including against women) as laudable or ‘to be expected’, through both a discursive unpicking of masculinity and an assessment of endocrinological accounts. This essay will also observe gender in a more abstract manner by taking the intervention of transgender and non-binary experiences as a foil to a static employment of ‘gender’. Similarly, we will test whether viewing individuals as those harbouring vulnerabilities (Gelsthorpe, 2022) and needs that render one more or less likely to commit – and be the victim of – certain types of crime, can enable us to tread beyond the boundaries of ‘gendered’ analysis. Such approaches may enable us to see men and women as less dimorphic creatures, instead as fluid and dynamic objects of study “…exposed to others, vulnerable by definition…” (Butler, 2009: 33). This essay ultimately contends that considering gender is pivotal to understanding and improving CJS responses to violence but cautions against viewing it in a silo or as a static category. While suggestions for theoretical and practical ‘improvements’ will be mounted in each section of this essay in a cumulative fashion, the analysis will conclude by looking specifically at the interventions of Problem-Solving Courts as an example of a gender-informed response to violence that might elevate us past the conversation of ‘what works for women’ into the realm of ‘what works for everyone?’.

Women in prison: is the justice system fit for purpose?

2016

Felicity Gerry QC and Lyndon Harris, in partnership with Halsbury’s Law Exchange, have spent the last three years researching sentencing and treatment of female offenders within the criminal justice system to determine whether there is a true and principled case for reform. In 2014, they published the report Women in prison: is the penal system fit for purpose? which aimed to help further discussion to develop workable penal law and policy suggestions. Two years on, and despite a number of significant reports from leading charities such as The Howard League, Women In Prison and the Prison Reform Trust, which have similarly aimed to bring about change in the way we treat women throughout the criminal justice system, it is clear that both the justice and the penal systems are still failing to address the multiple and complex needs posed by women. This discussion paper therefore aims to bring these important issues once again to the forefront and to strengthen the other voices also try...