Our Voices Are The Key To Change

To truly understand the change we need to see in the criminal justice system (CJS) we must listen to those who have experienced its reality. And progress cannot be expected or successfully monitored unless those who have been affected by system failings can be integral to measuring outcomes and impact. This is why the National Women’s Justice Board has committed to supporting lived experience leadership and integrating women with lived experience into the coalition’s strategic work through a National Voice & Advisory Panel (NVAP).

The only way to truly understand the change we need to see in the criminal
justice system is to listen to those who have experienced its reality.

As a founding member of the NVAP, I’ve experienced firsthand the hard reality of spending months behind a steel door as a pregnant prisoner. The failings of the CJS became frighteningly apparent not only for me, but for many women. This is a system that ignores the fundamental needs and rights of women, their roles as mothers and carers, and the damage that results from imprisonment, such as losing homes and children going into care. Most women in prison are victims of domestic abuse and trauma which has led them into offending in the first place. The CJS exacerbates these traumas through use of imprisonment, taking away a woman’s family support and access to adequate healthcare, including mental health support.

Why our voices matter
Listening to lived experience voices proves the CJS doesn’t work for women, with their arguments backed by their evidence of living through it. Then, centering these voices in strategic influencing and campaigning work creates opportunities for real impact. These women can share their experiences, case studies and feedback, and offer an authentic perspective as to how and why putting women prison isn’t the solution in the majority of cases. Experts by experience can talk about why women’s centres work and the value they bring to reducing re-offending and offering safe spaces for women to escape harm and abuse. Bringing together the raw and human experiences each woman has faced draws a bigger picture that cannot be so easily ignored.

Individually we can collect rocks but collectively we can move mountains.

Working to educate the public by exposing the truth and failings of the system helps to de-stigmatise the women caught up in it. In turn, this brings about greater public support and understanding. Through interviews with journalists for national newspapers and media outlets we can tear down stereotypes and replace judgement with curiosity to propel activism and tunnel a much bigger support system.

Why the NVAP is needed
From across the 26 women’s organisations that make up the National Women’s Justice Coalition, and through the NVAP, women with lived experience can draw on their own expertise to help shape decision making and policy reform. The NVAP brings a diverse and representative group of women together, supporting them to occupy space as strategic thinkers and change makers, to share their own personal experiences, and to influence a wider systemic change that will ripple across the CJS and open doors for radical and actionable progress.

Through workshops, forums and discussion groups, NVAP members have clear ambitions and goals to “fix the broken system”. This is a purposeful and heartfelt pursuit where women can explain and escalate the deeply rooted issues, open eyes and push to create real, transformative options that support rather than punish women.

Women with lived experience need to be involved in talks within government at the highest levels and with MPs at roundtable meetings to ensure their expert insights are valued and not ignored. Involving experts by experience in national lobbying efforts, such as the recent Level-Up campaign to stop pregnant women being sent to prison, is vital in the progress of pushing forwards for a better alternative to prison. Taking part in strategic discussions to develop and implement services and resources for women – such as meeting with healthcare providers to inform policies that actually support women and are not just ticking boxes – is vital. These are just a few ways in which experts by experience on the NVAP can drive the changes that we need to see within the CJS.

Opportunities for driving change
The NWJC recently called on the government to create a Women’s Justice Board “to deliver a radically different approach to women and girls caught up in the criminal justice system” and to centre specialist women’s services in this mandate. The Women’s Justice Board is expected to develop a strategy that will focus on reducing the number of women in prison and enhance alternatives such as community sentences and residential women’s centres.

The NVAP will be expertly placed to provide insight and ideas to support this strategy and determine what should be the focus for the Women’s Justice Board if it is truly committed to achieving its mission.

“I always feel that using lived experience is the key to making change because
unless you have lived it, you can’t fully understand what someone has endured
and what needs to change. The NVAP makes women feel valued and heard, and
allows those who have been through these systems to use their voice
and help influence and make change where needed” – NVAP member

The most powerful tool we have to influence policy change is to speak to the women who have the insight and understanding to challenge what is and isn’t being done. You can’t build a house with a blindfold on, just as you can’t build a justice system based on unstable foundations. Making space for expert voices to direct and influence policy change means guidelines and practices can be delivered in ways that work and have transformative impact. And lived experience perspectives expose the reality that humans are behind the tick boxes and budgets, so being in a position to challenge current thinking and policy and to question decision makers is huge!

This is why the NVAP, and so many other lived experience panels, teams and forums can make such a difference to the discourse.

“Participating in the NVAP offers a valuable opportunity to influence
policy by integrating diverse perspectives and experiences into
decision-making. This approach ensures that policies are shaped and
supported by those who understand the challenges on the ground,
which in turn drives systemic change and leads to more inclusive
and impactful outcomes.” – Co-founder of the NVAP.

The NWJC was established to become a driving force for change and to centre the voices of women with lived experience at the heart of its work. Through the NVAP, women can share their stories and personal experiences of an ineffective prison system, articulate and substantiate the change we need to see, and amplify their voices to campaign and call for an end to women’s imprisonment and greater investment in women’s organisations and community-based alternatives. Only then can we hope to succeed in breaking the devasting and detrimental cycles of harm and inequality that pull women into the CJS in the first place.