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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:29 pm
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Results for female offenders (scotland)
5 results foundAuthor: McIvor, Gill Title: Understanding the Drivers of Female Imprisonment in Scotland Summary: Across jurisdictions, offending by women differs in a number of important ways from offending by men: it is less common, less frequent and less serious. Women are typically convicted of relatively minor crimes that pose little public risk and, because they are usually convicted of offences that are less serious than those committed by men, the sentences they receive are also different: for example, women are less likely than men to receive sentences of imprisonment. However, female imprisonment has increased dramatically in most western jurisdictions, including Scotland, over the last 15-20 years as evidenced by increases in the numbers of women given sentences of imprisonment, in daily female prison populations and in the rate of imprisonment of women. Moreover, because the rise in women’s imprisonment has outstripped parallel increases in the imprisonment of men, women now make up a greater proportion of prisoners. While the growth in female imprisonment is undisputed, what is less clear is what has fuelled it, particularly since it does not appear to have been solely – if at all - a reaction to increases in female crime. The analyses presented in this report aim to explore the factors driving the increase in female imprisonment in Scotland, where the number of women imprisoned has reached unprecedented levels. The growth in female imprisonment is of particular policy concern given the well documented impact of imprisonment on vulnerable women and their children and in light of recent policy initiatives to reduce the use of short custodial sentences in Scotland. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, 2011. 80p. Source: Internet Resource:Report No. 02/21ii: Accessed March 18, 2011 at: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/documents/Report%202011%2001%20-%20Female%20imprisonment.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/documents/Report%202011%2001%20-%20Female%20imprisonment.pdf Shelf Number: 121067 Keywords: Female CrimeFemale InmatesFemale Offenders (Scotland)Imprisonment |
Author: Commission on Women Offenders (Scotland) Title: Commission on Women Offenders: Final Report 2012 Summary: The Commission's report attempts to address the urgent need to take action to reduce the number of women reoffending and going to prison in Scotland. In so doing it makes some radical proposals which are specific to women. The Commission recognises that other reforms will also benefit male offenders and should therefore be applied across the whole of the offending population. The Commission makes 37 recommendations under the headings of (i) service redesign (ii) alternatives to prosecution (iii) alternatives to remand (iv) sentencing (v) prisons (vi) community reintegration and (viii) making it work (leadership, structures and delivery). It advocates the replacement of Scotland’s prison for women – Cornton Vale – with a “smaller specialist prison for those women offenders serving a statutory defined long-term sentence and those who present a significant risk to the public”. In order to divert many vulnerable women with mental health problems from prison it also proposes alternatives to prosecution, remand and changes to sentencing. This will include the pilot of a problem solving court for “repeat offenders with multiple and complex needs who commit lower level crimes”. The pilot scheme will be run for both male and female offenders. The report also suggests the establishment of a new national service – the Community Justice Service – “to commission, provide and manage adult offender services in the community.” The report also makes recommendations on community reintegration covering access to safe accommodation and establishing effective throughcare and aftercare services. Details: Edinburgh: The Commission, 2012. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 9, 2012 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0039/00391828.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0039/00391828.pdf Shelf Number: 125510 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale Offenders (Scotland)Female Prisoners |
Author: Burgess, Cheryl Title: Women in Focus: An Evaluation Summary: Women in Focus was introduced in South West Scotland as a partnership between Criminal Justice Social Work Services and Barnardo's, aimed at supporting women on court orders to complete these orders and to avoid custody through breach. Support workers from Barnardo's were located in criminal justice social work offices, and using a mentoring-style approach, Women in Focus provided support for women to meet the requirements of court orders and to access community resources aimed at supporting them in the longer-term. The development and operation of Women in Focus resulted from the concerns that many practitioners, policy-makers and others have expressed in relation to the increasing imprisonment of women in Scotland (and internationally). The report sets out the mentoring approach introduced and examines issues arising from the implementation and operation of the service. The report also attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of the service in terms of increased community re/integration and reductions in breach and reoffending. However, innovative attempts, while making a significant difference to the individual women who are able to access them, are introduced and required to operate within, a wider social, political and economic context that can influence how services operate (i.e. short-term funding imposes its own constraints) and how 'effective' these innovative services can be seen to be. Details: Stirling: Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, 2011. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2014 at: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Women_in_Focus_FINAL_REPORT.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Women_in_Focus_FINAL_REPORT.pdf Shelf Number: 133389 Keywords: Community ServicesFemale Offenders (Scotland)MentoringOffender RehabilitationOffender TreatmentRecidivism |
Author: Easton, Helen Title: Evaluation of the 218 Service: Examining Implementation and Outcomes Summary: 1.1. The 218 Service opened in Glasgow in December 2003 in response to growing concerns about the needs and treatment of women offenders in the criminal justice system. Since this time, the service has provided holistic, women centred support for adult women offenders through a partnership between Turning Point Scotland (TPS) and Glasgow Addiction Service (GAS). This report presents a summary of the findings of a second evaluation of the service and provides an estimate of key outcomes for women offenders and the cost benefits of the service. Main Findings 1.2. The 218 Service has continued to evolve and remains a highly regarded, holistic, 'person centred' residential and day service for adult women offenders. The maximum period of engagement permitted has changed to six months for the Residential Service and 12 months for the Day Service. The programme has also been updated to focus on offending behaviour and to incorporate a recovery focussed model of change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982) which provides increased flexibility, improved measurement of change, and has potential to increase levels of engagement. 1.3. Police-recorded offending reduced by 21% following contact with the service among the cohort of 320 women referred to the service between 1 June 2007 and 31 May 2008. Among women engaging with the service beyond their assessment overall offending reduced by 31% and dishonesty offences by 44%. 1.4. A conservative estimate of the cost benefit established that for every $1 invested in the service there was a potential saving of $2.50 per year. Further savings are likely if longer term impacts such as the impact on women offenders' children are taken into consideration. 1.5. Most referrals to the service are made by the courts (43%) or Criminal Justice Social Work (CJSW)(16%) and are aged 25-39 years (66%). From 2007 to 2009 there was a reduction in referrals of women aged 20-34 (71% of referrals reducing to 57%) and an increase in referrals of women aged 35-44 years (21% increasing to 33%). CJSW referrals had declined slightly from 19% to 16% of the total over the same period. 1.6. The number of assessments increased slightly from 198 in 2007 to 214 in 2009. A total of 439 women were assessed 630 times by the service. Multiple assessments accounted for half (51%) of all assessments compared to two thirds (67%) of referrals. 1.7. Over half (54%) of all referrals were assessed. Referrals from the Drug Court, Social Work, CJSW, and Community Addiction Teams were more likely to be assessed than referrals from other sources. 1.8. The combination of decreasing numbers of referrals, increasing numbers of assessments and lower numbers of multiple assessments than referrals could suggest an improvement in the quality of referrals made to the service. 1.9. Over half (52%) of the women offenders assessed engaged with the service. Those aged between 25-39 years and referred by CJSW, the Sheriff Court, CATs, Social Work and the Drugs Court were more likely to engage. Details: Glasgow: Scottish Government Social Research, 2010. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2014 at: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=9497&p=0 Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=9497&p=0 Shelf Number: 133390 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationCommunity ServicesFemale Offenders (Scotland) Offender ReintegrationOffenders RehabilitationRecidivism |
Author: Loucks, Nancy Title: Evaluation of the 218 Centre Summary: One of the most striking penal phenomena in Scotland during the last decade has been the steady increase in the numbers of women in custody. This, combined with a series of suicides at Scotland's only prison for women, HMP and YOI Cornton Vale, resulted in a wide-ranging review of the use of imprisonment and non-custodial sentences for female offenders. The review concluded that the backgrounds of women who offend and the circumstances which lead to their offending meant that prison was, for the most part, an inappropriate and potentially damaging disposal for this group. It produced a number of recommendations aimed at keeping women out of prison where possible and at improving the conditions for those who were, by necessity, detained. An Inter-Agency Forum was set up to establish services for women in the criminal justice system. The Inter-Agency Forum recommended, among other things, the creation of 'Time Out' Centres to provide residential and non-residential support services for women. The theory was that female offenders should be able to get 'time out' of their normal (chaotic) environment without resorting to 'time in' custody, where many of them were being placed. The work of the Forum was subsequently taken forward by The Ministerial Working Group on Women's Offending. The 'Time Out' Centre, or 218 as it is now called, was established in August 2003 with funding from the Scottish Executive and opened its doors to women in December 2003. The research summarised here evaluated the initial stages of 218. The aims of the research were to: - evaluate the operation and effectiveness of 218; - highlight examples of good practice and identify areas for improvement; - determine the extent to which addiction and offending can be addressed together; - assess the success of 218 in linking women into mainstream services on departure; - assess and determine the effectiveness of the Centre in relation to costs, outcomes and overall effectiveness in achieving its stated objectives. The evaluation was conducted through an analysis of material from documents and project records; focus groups and individual interviews with service users; and interviews with project staff and key stakeholders, with interviews repeated after one year where possible. In total 5 focus groups and 66 individual interviews were conducted with service users. Twenty-four interviews were conducted with staff at 218, and an additional 80 interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Justice Department, 2006. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 1, 2014 at: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Evaluation_of_the_218_Centre.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Evaluation_of_the_218_Centre.pdf Shelf Number: 133524 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationFemale Offenders (Scotland)Female Prisoners |