Building a justice system for all women: what the Women’s Justice Board must do to address racial disproportionality
The Women’s Justice Reimagined partnership has launched a briefing setting out vital recommendations to the Women’s Justice Board to address racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system. This briefing is the result of recommendations and expertise shared at an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Women Affected by the Criminal Justice System meeting held in July 2025, and aims to contribute to work to end racism in all its forms.
As specialist organisations working with Black, Asian, racially minoritised and migrant women, we see first-hand how racial disproportionality underpins deep disparities within the criminal justice system. Radical and systemic change is urgently needed to address this, including imbedding anti-racist practices within the criminal justice system.
The over-criminalisation of Black, Asian, racially minoritised and migrant women is not inevitable. It is the consequence of long-standing structural inequalities and a failure to meet women’s intersectional needs. Racial disproportionality is not because of higher offending rates, but because too often the response to poverty, immigration, trauma and violence against women and girls has been punishment rather than support and protection. We cannot talk about reducing the number of women in prison without addressing these deep inequalities head on. The government now has an opportunity to lead the way by embedding anti-racist practice into every decision it makes, and by centring the voices of the women most affected. Real change will only come from bold, systemic action.
— Sonya Ruparel, CEO of Women in PrisonAt the APPG meeting, chaired by Kate Osamor MP, we welcomed contributions from speakers with a diversity of experience across the criminal justice system: Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, Liberal Democrat Peer and Spokesperson on Justice; Dr. Baljit Banga, CEO of Hibiscus, representative of the Women’s Justice Reimagined partnership; Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London; Ann Snowden, Head of Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking at HMPPS; Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of the Travellers Movement; women with lived experience from HMP Peterborough and the community; and Katy Swaine Williams, member of the Women’s Justice Board. This briefing is based on their recommendations and our knowledge of what needs to change.
Action to address the impact of racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system is urgently needed. This must not only consider the impact of race as a stand-alone factor, but must take an intersectional approach, analysing the evidence it gathers with gender, and with migrant status. This will be a crucial step towards a criminal justice system that recognises women’s needs and is tailored to address their circumstances, including their racial identity.
— Kate Osamor MP, Chair of the Women Affected by the Criminal Justice System APPGOur recommendations include the vital need to include those with lived experience and their proposals for the Women’s Justice Board, structural and systemic change, decriminalisation and support for victim/survivors of VAWG, modern slavery and human trafficking, the need to improve data and evidence gathering, and specialist service provision. We believe that these will be highly relevant to the development of the Sentencing Bill, currently progressing through Parliament. As with all legislation and policy, an intersectional approach must be taken, including meaningful consideration of, and consultation with, Black, Asian, racially minoritised and migrant women.
A powerful statement by a group of Black, Asian, racially minoritised and migrant women incarcerated in HMP Peterborough, was read at the APPG by another woman with lived experience of the criminal justice system and is included in full in our briefing. In this, the women described their experiences of racial disproportionality within the criminal justice system and explained the importance of centring those with lived experience in the conversation about how to address it.
We hope you will listen to as many women's voices as possible through opening the meaningful channels of communication for them with the Board. We hope that these are diverse voices of those women who have never spoken before, not just the loudest ones. In doing so, you would discover that where systems such as mental health and social services are failing all women, the impact on some groups is more profound than on others. To find effective solutions for all, we want to see all women having equal opportunities to share with you what these systems could have done differently in dealing with them in the past, which could have impacted the outcome in the present
— Women Equality Advocates group at HMP PeterboroughWe urge the Women’s Justice Board to implement our recommendations and, in doing so, centre anti-racism and the need to address racial disproportionality within their work. We call on the Women’s Justice Board not only to listen, but to lead: to reimagine a justice system that works for all women, especially those most marginalised by it. The time for action is now.
— Dr Baljit Banga, CEO of Hibiscus Initiatives and lead partner of Women’s Justice ReimaginedRead the briefing paper
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