Why the Women’s Justice Board needs teeth!

There is a shared sense of optimism sweeping through the women’s sector right now, following the announcement of a Women’s Justice Board. Could this be a first step in the direction of truly transformative progress? Has the government finally recognised the need to reduce the female prison population and divert women away from custody? And will the Women’s Justice Board have the buy-in, the power, the resource, and the teeth it needs to fully realise a strategy that values community sentences and specialist women’s services above all else?

I hope so. My colleagues hope so. All 26 partners of the National Women’s Justice Coalition hope so. But collectively we know all too well, now is not the time to get complacent and exhale with relief at this radical new approach.

Learn from past mistakes
The Women’s Justice Board has a mighty task ahead if it is to succeed in its remit. It must be careful to avoid replicating previously failed models of cross-departmental working and decision making, and instead share equitable power with, and remain receptive to guidance and expert input from, the women’s sector.

In theory, the new Women in Justice Partnership Delivery Group, expected to largely comprise of experts from the voluntary and community sector, will sit under the Justice Board as a sort of critical friend, holding it to account by regularly publishing reports on its progress towards reducing the number of women in custody. But this is nothing new. Previously, the Women in the Criminal Justice System (WCJS) Delivery Board – established to ensure the Ministry of Justice and representatives from across government worked in a coordinated way to improve outcomes for women – was also supported by an expert advisory group. But this group was continually challenged by its lack of influence over the WCJS and a reluctance to fully utilise the expertise of group members to inform decision making on key policy issues. So, if the new Women’s Justice Board is to achieve more, it will need to listen more, and value more lived and learned expertise at the highest possible level.

Understand the task ahead
When developing a strategy to reduce the number of women in custody, members of the Women’s Justice Board will also need to demonstrate an acute awareness and deep understanding of the cycles of trauma and harm that perpetuate female offending. To best achieve this, the Women’s Justice Board will need to foster strategic partnerships across multiple sectors including health, housing, immigration and education, and recognise the cross-sector lens through which women’s justice should be viewed.

Solutions to reducing the number of women in prison can be easily found in community based, holistic support services, and a commitment to adopting a whole systems approach to addressing a woman’s complex and individual needs when she first comes into contact with the criminal justice system.

Invest in the women’s sector
In this Budget Week, and through subsequent spending reviews, it will be critical for the government to recognise the value and importance of investment in upstream interventions and diversion services, as well as specialist community-based women’ services. It is only with a substantial and sustainable injection of funding that the women’s sector can be expected to meet the exponential demand for services. The Board must recognise, advocate for and protect this investment, and influence the way public services respond to and collaborate with the third sector to deliver better support to women and girls.

So, as we all scramble to celebrate this new initiative and bag our seat at the table, we should be minded to remember that the Women’s Justice Board has a tall order ahead. It will not only need to include the ‘right’ representatives, embed an effective governance structure and be adequately resourced and funded by the government, but it must develop and deliver a stellar strategy with women’s organisations at its heart.

To achieve this mighty task and to truly reshape women’s justice journeys, it is critical that the Women’s Justice Board bypasses any teething troubles and is born with teeth; a proper set of gnashers that can crush the challenges and crunch the numbers. Because otherwise, we all risk wasting this newfound, shared optimism on an initiative that may well have bitten off more than it can chew.