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Courts advised on sentencing changes to keep women out of prison
As part of a justice reinvestment strategy aimed at reducing the population of women in Victorian prison cells, the Centre for Innovative Justice has proposed that judges adopt new sentencing methods moving forward.
Naomi Neilson
Although women still make up a relatively small population of people received into Victorian prisons, the RMIT’s Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) found that the number has increased exponentially in the last two reporting years, prompting concerns that courts need to reflect on sentencing practices.
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CIJ associate director of research, advocacy and policy Elena Campbell said that most women who are currently being charged in Victorian courtrooms need intervention and support, rather than incarceration.
“In Victoria, imprisoning women no longer appears to be used as a measure of last resort,” she found, reflecting on CIJ’s “Leaving custody behind” paper. “Instead, prisons are increasingly functioning as substitute for the social and community support that women – many of whom are caring for children – need to overcome histories of trauma and acute disadvantage.”
The number of women received into prisons in 2019/20 increased by over 1,000 or close to 174 per cent in the decade to June 2020, compared with the 109 per cent increase in male receptions over the same period.
Data also shows the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women being incarcerated is growing faster than any other group, with a 321 per cent increase in Aboriginal women entering prison in the 10 years to June 2020.
Ms Campbell said the research indicates that exposure to trauma is nearly universal among women in prison, with an estimated 77 to 90 per cent having experience of family violence, childhood sexual abuse, or both. Aboriginal women in contact with the criminal justice system are also grappling with the additional impacts of dispossession, including intergenerational trauma.
CIJ has recommended courts begin investing in trauma-informed policies and programs and services tailored for women in and at risk of entering the justice system, including piloting community-based support hubs that would operate independently of courts and correctional services.
Raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to a more “internationally acceptable level” and developing alternatives for young offenders, particularly young women, was also a major recommendation.
Courts should also consider changing policing practices and developing programs so women and others are not propelled into custody for low-level offending. They should also expand sentencing options by increasing opportunities to impose community-based sanctions and removing custodial sentencing options for women charged with low-level offences.
“Where women are convicted and sentenced, they have often been on remand for so long that they are then sentenced to ‘time served’ and released from custody. During that period, however, women have had limited access to services while their connections to children and community have been severed,” Ms Campbell commented, adding that almost 50 per cent of women in custody in Victoria are there on remand only.
“This means that the experience of custody is profoundly damaging and makes it more likely that they will reoffend – hardly the result that the community would expect.”
Ms Campbell said investing early and in a whole-of-government way was essential for ensuring statistics do not continue to spike.
“Developing specific justice responses for women would minimise the disproportionate harm, or double punishment, which women currently experience in the criminal justice system. Governments can find it tough to know where to start to solve this complex challenge,” she said.
