On the 24th of September 2024, the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood MP made a landmark announcement on the creation of the new Women’s Justice Board.
The new Women’s Justice Board will be established to bring together senior leaders in the criminal justice system, charities and government departments who will collaborate on a new public strategy aiming on reducing the number of women going to prison. This announcement recognises that female offenders have distinct needs and advocates for a tailored approach to divert women away from custodial sentences and is a significant step forward for women’s justice.
Focusing on alternatives to prison, such as community sentences and residential women’s centres , these diversions will allow women to remain in their communities and receive the support they need. With self-harm incidents in women’s prisons increasing by 11% in the 12 months to December 2023 , change to the system is urgently required.
BWC is proud to be partnered with The National Women’s Justice Coalition. The National Women’s Justice Coalition is an alliance of 26 women’s organisations from across England and Wales that share a collective mission to drive systemic change to reduce the stigmatisation of women and girls in contact with the criminal justice system and improve outcomes for them.
We are delighted that our collective campaigning has resulted in such a positive outcome with the aim to reduce the number of women going to prison, and the long term goal of having fewer women’s prisons.
BWC Director, Lisa Dando said “Our award winning project Inspire has been cited in many best practice reports for its work on diverting women from crime through tackling the root causes and BWC and fellow members of the NWJC are already at the forefront of diverting women from the CJS by delivering diversionary schemes in partnership with local Police services. I look forward to working with the Government to ensure these projects remain at the forefront of improving women’s lives by keeping them away from the CJS.”