Supporting Women Offenders Affected by Violence and Abuse and Famo
We know that many victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse can also be drawn into offending behaviour'. The proportion of female prisoners that report experiencing some form of abuse during their childhood is twice as high as among male prisoners with many reporting that their offending was to support their partner or someone else's substance misuse.
We are working with regional areas to encourage a more effective joined up approach to addressing these complex needs. Different models are under development in Greater Manchester, Wales and London. These models aim to develop a whole system approach to managing female offenders which can help improve victim outcomes as well as create cost savings.
The National Offender Management Service" published "Better Outcomes for Women" earlier this year which sets out the commissioning principles for developing services for women in the criminal justice.
Criminal Justice: Women in the criminal justice system face sexual harassment from the moment we are arrested. The language of police stations, of the custody suite and the arrest and detention process creates unwanted sexual tension and harassment. Women are frequently rubbed down for a search by a. woman officer but in front of her male colleagues. Most women will not know they have the right to be searched in private, away from the staring male police staff and civilians. This is just one way the justice system ignores the rights of women, and our most fundamental right to be treated with dignity.
The police do not particularly know what to do with allegations of domestic violence, victims of crime who then are accused of committing crimes. HMIP's (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police) most recent inspection (March 2018) clearly shows that even when a prompt response is called for in response to a domestic violence incident reported to 999, the police take on average 15 hours to respond. The relationship between women who have been victims of crime and who are then accused of crimes is heavily under researched. They fail to see the relationship between a woman who has committed a crime after years of domestic abuse and sexual harassment who has, until then been a victim. The woman whose complaints have not previously been taken seriously now.
Sexual Harassment in Public Places finds herself a perpetrator of crime and under scrutiny for very different reasons. The criminal justice process is entirely adversarial. Investigating officers in all criminal cases have a duty to disclose everything that will undermine the Crown's case or to assist the defence case, yet they are supposed to put together a case that will survive the rigor of the defence barrister and ultimately, secure a conviction. Numbers trump justice, to obtain conviction targets and there have been repeated problems with disclosure, downloading evidence and the veracity of police's statements and actions when dealing with women defendants.
Amelia's Story: Amelia is 20 and a mother of 2 young children who she has lost to the care system. She is serving a sentence for perverting the course of justice. She has been in care since she was 10. Her partner attacked her with a motorbike helmet she went to the police and gave a statement to them. He left the house. She wanted to press charges against him and was ready to go to court. Then he approached her again and said that he was sorry and if she gave him another chance, he would never attack her again. She went to the police and withdrew her statement. She never heard from him or saw him again. The police then charged her with perverting the course of justice. Her solicitor told her to plead guilty because she would not likely to get a custodial sentence this being her first offence. The 18 hours eh was in police custody afforded her just enough time to pack up and move her children and herself out of the house. She pleaded guilty and the judge was simply not interested in the abuse she had suffered, the violence which had been perpetrated on her by her former partner, of which there was evidence. He ignored the fact that she was a vulnerable care leaver. His view was, she had broken the law, and she had to be punished. Her children are now in care and she is worried about how she will rebuild her life and her family when she is released from jail. She said she felt intimidated by the judge and was not sure how to conduct herself; she had never even been in a courtroom previously. Whereas the Police should have protected her, they chose to persecute her and she has ended up with a criminal record. Her ex partner subsequently attacked another woman. The case went to court and he was found guilty. He is serving a 12-year prison sentence.
Amelia says "I felt horrible in the court room, completely alone and unheard. I don't know why the judge was so horrible to me, he was awful. He just believed everything that the police said about me - it was not true. I told him I was scared of my ex that I just wanted to get away from him. They said they could protect me but he kept showing up at my house- they never came when I called them. He knew nothing at all about me, he saw a girl who had been in care and so I must be trouble and lying - he was stereotyping me. He tried to scare me all the way through the case. He knows nothing about who I am. This does not feel like justice."
In Custody Because the women's estate is not categorised in the same way as the male estate, there are many women in prison who are not violent or serious offenders, however we end up incarcerated with the worst and most dangerous sex offenders. On one house of 19 women, three have been convicted of serious sexual offences.
We are working with regional areas to encourage a more effective joined up approach to addressing these complex needs. Different models are under development in Greater Manchester, Wales and London. These models aim to develop a whole system approach to managing female offenders which can help improve victim outcomes as well as create cost savings.
The National Offender Management Service" published "Better Outcomes for Women" earlier this year which sets out the commissioning principles for developing services for women in the criminal justice.
Sexual Harassment in Public Places system
We will also be rolling out a new helpline for female offenders so they can obtain support whilst in custody and on release. This follows a pilot helpline set up at HMP Holloway by Women's Aid and Refuge. We will continue to build on this work to ensure that female offenders who are also victims of abuse can access the help they need to rebuild their lives and the (sic) break the cycle of offending."
Sadly the helpline does not work. The funding for the visionary work in Wales Greater Manchester and London has been pulled. Plans for five small community prisons for women have been put on hold, following the caravanserai of Justice Secretaries and Prison and Probation Ministers.
Specific to the Justice Remit within the Government's Strategy we find this table:
Improving the Criminal Justice Response Monitor the implementation of the new domestic violence offence of coercive and controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship and ensure that professionals have the tools and expertise needed in this area.
Continue working with international partners to change discriminatory laws and practises and to promote adoption of legislation to criminalize abusive behaviour and better protect victims. Supporting Victims and Female Offenders Continue to explore ways that vulnerable victims and witnesses can give evidence from a location away from the court and consider rolling out pre-trial recorded cross-examination in VAWG cases Review the implementation and impact of legislative changes in Northern Ireland which introduce the 'Nordic' approach to prostitution (which criminalises all purchasing of sex and decriminalises all selling)" by Support female offenders who are victims of violence and abuse to receive the interventions they need to stop offending and move into recovery for example by considering the models under development in Greater Manchester, Wales and London Roll out a new helpline for female offenders who have been victims of violence or abuse so that they can support while in custody and on release following the pilot helpline delivered at HMP Holloway"
Criminal Justice: Women in the criminal justice system face sexual harassment from the moment we are arrested. The language of police stations, of the custody suite and the arrest and detention process creates unwanted sexual tension and harassment. Women are frequently rubbed down for a search by a. woman officer but in front of her male colleagues. Most women will not know they have the right to be searched in private, away from the staring male police staff and civilians. This is just one way the justice system ignores the rights of women, and our most fundamental right to be treated with dignity.
The police do not particularly know what to do with allegations of domestic violence, victims of crime who then are accused of committing crimes. HMIP's (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police) most recent inspection (March 2018) clearly shows that even when a prompt response is called for in response to a domestic violence incident reported to 999, the police take on average 15 hours to respond. The relationship between women who have been victims of crime and who are then accused of crimes is heavily under researched. They fail to see the relationship between a woman who has committed a crime after years of domestic abuse and sexual harassment who has, until then been a victim. The woman whose complaints have not previously been taken seriously now.
Sexual Harassment in Public Places finds herself a perpetrator of crime and under scrutiny for very different reasons. The criminal justice process is entirely adversarial. Investigating officers in all criminal cases have a duty to disclose everything that will undermine the Crown's case or to assist the defence case, yet they are supposed to put together a case that will survive the rigor of the defence barrister and ultimately, secure a conviction. Numbers trump justice, to obtain conviction targets and there have been repeated problems with disclosure, downloading evidence and the veracity of police's statements and actions when dealing with women defendants.
Amelia's Story: Amelia is 20 and a mother of 2 young children who she has lost to the care system. She is serving a sentence for perverting the course of justice. She has been in care since she was 10. Her partner attacked her with a motorbike helmet she went to the police and gave a statement to them. He left the house. She wanted to press charges against him and was ready to go to court. Then he approached her again and said that he was sorry and if she gave him another chance, he would never attack her again. She went to the police and withdrew her statement. She never heard from him or saw him again. The police then charged her with perverting the course of justice. Her solicitor told her to plead guilty because she would not likely to get a custodial sentence this being her first offence. The 18 hours eh was in police custody afforded her just enough time to pack up and move her children and herself out of the house. She pleaded guilty and the judge was simply not interested in the abuse she had suffered, the violence which had been perpetrated on her by her former partner, of which there was evidence. He ignored the fact that she was a vulnerable care leaver. His view was, she had broken the law, and she had to be punished. Her children are now in care and she is worried about how she will rebuild her life and her family when she is released from jail. She said she felt intimidated by the judge and was not sure how to conduct herself; she had never even been in a courtroom previously. Whereas the Police should have protected her, they chose to persecute her and she has ended up with a criminal record. Her ex partner subsequently attacked another woman. The case went to court and he was found guilty. He is serving a 12-year prison sentence.
Amelia says "I felt horrible in the court room, completely alone and unheard. I don't know why the judge was so horrible to me, he was awful. He just believed everything that the police said about me - it was not true. I told him I was scared of my ex that I just wanted to get away from him. They said they could protect me but he kept showing up at my house- they never came when I called them. He knew nothing at all about me, he saw a girl who had been in care and so I must be trouble and lying - he was stereotyping me. He tried to scare me all the way through the case. He knows nothing about who I am. This does not feel like justice."
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