NCJ Number
215659
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 421-424
Date Published
September 2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses concerns over new sentencing options for female offenders and the need to ensure that sentencing options recognize the special needs of women.
Abstract
Since 2000 there has been heightened awareness of the upward trend in the imprisonment of women. Even though women presently constitute only 6 percent of the total prison population in England and Wales, between 1994 and 2004 the numbers of women in prison in England and Wales increased by over 150 percent. Women continue to commit mainly property-related crimes. However, there has been a continued failure to adapt rehabilitative programs to the needs of women. There have long been problems in the sentencing of women. The Criminal Justice Act of 1991 did nothing to limit the ways in which traditional gender discourses clouded perceptions of seriousness and desert (rationale for deciding severities of punishment). The Criminal Justice Act of 2003 offered more potential in sorting out sentencing. The way was made clear for needs and risks and individualized sentencing to come to the forefront. However, the introduction of new penal aims may introduce new risks for women offenders. There were worries regarding the possibility that intermittent custody would have unintended consequences, such as more women being sentenced to custody than not. A new sentence causing concern of its own is Custody Plus which states that sentences of less than 12 months will consist of a short custodial period and then a longer license period during which the offender must comply with one or more requirements set by the court as part of the sentence. With many women in prison having mental health and substance abuse problems, this type of short custodial sentence cannot help resolve these enduring problems. In addition, the probation component which is risk driven would not be able to provide adequate attention and support to women offenders presently identified as low risk. References