Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (David
Gauke): Today, I am launching the Government’s female
offender strategy following our commitment in the November 2016
Prison Safety and Reform White Paper.
If we are to make any significant difference for victims,
families and wider society, we must break the cycle of
reoffending by taking the necessary steps to understand and
address the underlying causes of offending.
The evidence tells us that vulnerability is not just a
consequence of crime, it is also a driver of offending behaviour,
preventing many from breaking out of a cycle of reoffending.
There is also growing evidence that short custodial sentences do
not work in terms of rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.
Short sentences generate churn which is a major driver of
instability in our prisons and they do not provide sufficient
time for rehabilitative activity, especially when we also know
that many of these offenders have complex needs and
vulnerabilities. In most cases, we know that the best way to meet
those needs is to help people get access to the services they
need in the community.
Female offenders can be amongst the most vulnerable of all, in
both the prevalence and complexity of their needs. Many
experience chaotic lifestyles involving substance misuse, mental
health problems, homelessness and offending behaviour, which are
often the product of a life of abuse and trauma. Of those female
offenders who are in custody, many are sentenced for non-violent,
low level but persistent offences, often for short periods of
time.
If we take the right approach to female offenders – one that
addresses vulnerability, follows the evidence about what works in
supporting them to turn their lives around, and treats them as
individuals of value – it could have substantial benefits for
victims, families, and offenders themselves.
This strategy sets out the Government’s commitment to a new
programme of work for female offenders, driven by our vision to
see:
- fewer women coming into the criminal justice system
- fewer women in custody, especially on short-term sentences,
and a greater proportion of women managed in the community
successfully; and
- better conditions for those in custody.
To achieve this, we are shifting our focus from custody to the
community. Across Government, we are investing £5m funding over
two years in community provision for women. We are committing to
working with partners to assess options for delivering a
‘residential women’s centres’ pilot in at least five sites across
England and Wales. We want to build the evidence base about what
are effective, sustainable and scalable options in the community
for diverting women from entering and re-entering custody on
short custodial sentences. We will not be proceeding with plans
to build five new Community Prisons for Women.
Given that a higher proportion of women have dependent children
living with them prior to imprisonment, incarceration of women
may have a disproportionate impact on families and children and
increase the risk of intergenerational offending. That is why we
are commissioning to continue his work on
the importance of family ties in improving outcomes for
offenders, by conducting a further review into female offenders.
It is only through effective partnerships, at both a national and
local level, which take a holistic approach to tackling the
causes underlying the behaviour of female offenders, can progress
really happen. That is why the strategy outlines a framework for
taking this forward with partners, one which is locally-led,
partnership-focused and evidence-based.
As part of this, we will work across government and with other
national and local partners to develop a National Concordat on
Female Offenders, which will set out how services should be
working together in partnership to identify and respond to the
often multiple and complex needs of women involved in the
criminal justice system.
We must ensure we are accountable for the priorities set out in
this strategy. Therefore, we will publish an annual update on the
progress of the work of the strategy and reform the Advisory
Board on Female Offenders to give it a greater role in monitoring
the delivery of commitments in this strategy.
The female offender strategy is available in full
at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy
