Women in Prison's response to initial finding of Independent Sentencing Review

The Independent Sentencing Review have published their initial findings today.

The review, led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, is exploring critical changes to sentencing practices in England and Wales. It has been tasked with ensuring

The Ministry of Justice outlined key points of the review, including:

• Protecting the public and punishing serious offenders

• Reducing reoffending

• Exploring “tougher punishments” outside prison as alternatives to custody

“We welcome these initial findings of the sentencing review, which reflect what those of us working in criminal justice have seen for too long.

Women are drawn into contact with the justice system for their experiences of domestic violence and abuse, poor mental health and homelessness. Rather than addressing the root causes of crime and supporting women in their communities, we have seen an increasing use of prison over the last few decades. There are now double the number of women in prison as there were 30 years ago.

We hope to see the sentencing review make bold recommendations to end the short sentences for women and the imprisonment of pregnant women as well as the criminalisation of survivors of domestic abuse.

It is imperative the recommendations from the review team are gender specific and take proper account of women- only then will they be truly transformative. We look forward to seeing the Sentencing Reviews conclusions in due course.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

• Women in Prison (WIP) is a national charity that delivers support for women affected by the criminal justice system in prisons, in the community and through our Women's Centres. We campaign to end the harm caused to women, their families and our communities by imprisonment.