The investment builds on recommendations made by former justice secretary David Gauke’s independent sentencing review last May, as well as a report published this week by the Women’s Justice Board, ‘Recommendations for reducing women’s imprisonment’.
According to the Ministry of Justice, two-thirds of women in custody report being victims of domestic abuse, more than half have sustained brain injuries, and about the same percentage have drug addictions.
The board’s report champions community sentencing over custody, and recommends greater use of intensive supervision courts, which combine treatment programmes with regular monitoring of progress by the same judge. The government has committed to expanding these, including one for women offenders in Liverpool due to open later this year.
Law Society chief executive officer Ian Jeffery described the investment as ‘a positive step’ since ‘tackling reoffending is key to reducing the volume of cases coming into our overwhelmed criminal justice system’.
