More feminine offenders to go to devoted ladies’s courts to chop reoffending
Justice Secretary David Lammy will throw his weight behind a major women’s justice strategy to better support vulnerable women and stop them committing crimes
David Lammy is expected to launch a women’s justice strategy next month(Image: PA)
More female offenders will be supervised under dedicated women’s courts that aim to cut reoffending and improve family relationships, The Mirror has been told.
Justice Secretary David Lammy is expected to announce an increase in the use of intensive supervision courts (ISCs) as part of plans to better support vulnerable women and stop them committing crimes. Mr Lammy – who is also the Deputy PM – is set to unveil a major women’s justice strategy next month, which is expected to call for more ISCs to tackle the root causes of criminal behaviour.
There is currently a women’s ISC in Birmingham, as well as three substance misuse sites at Bristol, Liverpool and Teesside Crown Courts. Mr Lammy in September announced a second women-focused ISC will be opened in Liverpool.
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The Women’s Justice Board (WJB), a panel of experts in the justice sector, was launched last year tasked with “reducing the number of women going to prison, with the ultimate ambition of having fewer women’s prisons”. The board had been due to release its strategy last year but it was delayed after September’s ministerial reshuffle.
After meeting with Mr Lammy at the start of the month, a member of the WJB told The Mirror: “What I gather is that they have ring fenced some money, which is going to go specifically to look at piloting intensive supervision courts in other sites so there’s more of them.”
Another board member said: “The intensive supervision courts for women, they’re going to do some more of those… They’re looking for other sites.” Ministry of Justice (MoJ) insiders insist no decision has been made on the funding, cohort or number of future ISCs.
ISCs are praised by experts as being “problem-solving courts” as they look at the reasons for offending and consider solutions other than custody.
There are 3,481 women in prison in England and Wales, according to stats out last week. Research suggests more than half of women in jail have been victims of domestic violence, with prisons minister James Timpson in November admitting there are too many abuse victims in jail.
The first member of the WJB said: “The reason why intensive supervision courts are important is because they are kind of problem-solving courts, so they look at the reasons for the offending in the round and are able to direct certain options for the person that aren’t just about custody.
“So if the underlying reasons behind someone’s offending was their drug abuse issues, then they can order a drug treatment order. For women, that’s particularly important because they’ve got quite bespoke needs and a lot of them are often victims themselves.”
The other member of the WJB told The Mirror: “These courts are really good. They seem to be producing very good results indeed.” But they added: “But obviously, the very best thing is never to get a woman into court in the first place, but to get her on some kind of programme by agreement, without giving her a conviction.”
Former Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who launched the WJB at the first Labour conference after the general election, said she hoped to reduce the number of women’s prisons. But the WJB strategy is not expected to make a target for cutting the female prison population.
Some campaigners believe it is better to keep jails open but with fewer inmates and better, more targeted care. The first WJB member added: “If you close a women’s prison, then there’ll be a lot more women going out of the area and that may not necessarily be the best solution for them in terms of maintaining contact with their children, with their family.”
An MoJ spokesman said: “We do not comment on leaks and as the Deputy Prime Minister made clear last year, the Government recognises the value of Intensive Supervision Courts and remains committed to expanding them.”
