Resource Library
The NWJC champions and promotes best practice for working with women in contact with the criminal justice system.
This library catalogues a wide range of resources that consolidate and demonstrate the collective wisdom and expertise of women’s organisations and criminal justice specialists. It contains briefing papers, reports, policy documents, current research and other useful resources that provide insight, expertise and best practice examples for working with and supporting women and girls.
Resources can be filtered by keywords, themes, organisation and format and search results include links to further information and downloadable content.
Please contact us to recommend any additional resources that should be added to the Resource Library.
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Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
Prison Service Journal (No 277) March 2025
This special edition of Prison Service Journal focusses on the issues of women, criminalisation and the need for differential approaches that recognise the part that gender plays in women’s path…
National Women's Justice Coalition (NWJC)
Breaking Out of the Justice Loop: Creating a criminal justice system that works for women
Breaking out of the Justice Loop argues that the criminal justice system, designed for men, has consistently failed women for years and that women’s centres and a public health approach must be …
University of Birmingham
Exploring Needs Profiles in Criminal Justice-Involved Women
This report examines the WRNA (Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment) validation project, investigating the needs and strengths of women who attend women’s centres across the UK. The study exa…
University of Birmingham
Examining the relationship between severity and complexity of needs among women involved in the Criminal Justice System
The research looked at the needs, adverse life events, vulnerabilities and strengths for women as identified through the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) tool, and the relationships between …
Level Up and Doughty Street Chambers
Representing pregnant women and new mothers in the criminal justice system: A legal toolkit
This legal toolkit is designed to equip lawyers with the core legal arguments, tools and resources to effectively represent pregnant women and mothers of infants at all stages of the criminal justice …
The quality of work undertaken with women – a joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons
The inspection was led by HM inspector Noreen Wallace, supported by a team of inspectors and operations, research, communications and corporate staff. User Voice undertook interviews with women who ha…
Effective practice guide – Working with women
This effective practice guide is based on information sourced while undertaking the thematic inspection The quality of work undertaken with women: a joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation an…
National Women's Justice Coalition (NWJC)
Understanding how women’s centres work
Women’s centres are demonstrably the most effective way to support women in contact with the criminal justice system to remove themselves from harmful situations and cycles of offending by acces…
National Women's Justice Coalition (NWJC)
Why women’s centres and specialist services need sustainable funding
Despite widespread recognition and evidence demonstrating the value of women’s centres, women’s services are consistently underfunded. This leads to inadequate, inequitable, and precarious…
National Women's Justice Coalition (NWJC)
Understanding the disadvantage & inequality experienced by women in contact with the CJS
Women in contact with the criminal justice system often experience different challenges rooted in structural and systemic inequalities at the same time, and the criminalisation of women is often under…
National Women's Justice Coalition (NWJC)
Understanding a Whole Systems Approach and why partnership working is valuable in the women’s sector
This briefing outlines the value and impact of partnership working across the women’s sector and explains how the Whole Systems Approach (WSA) focuses on building these partnerships to give wome…
Prison Reform Trust
Growing numbers of long sentenced women struggling to progress through their sentence
Long-sentenced women, a small but increasing proportion of women in prison, are facing significant barriers to progressing through their sentence. The briefing is the third in the ‘Invisible Wom…