NCJ Number
128762
Date Published
1990
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This research investigated aspects of prison regimes that might reduce the likelihood of females either reoffending or being returned to prison and considered custodial provisions for female offenders that might be suitable for noncustodial sentences.
Abstract
The research is based primarily on visits to female offender facilities in England. It was found that some educational and prerelease initiatives in women's prisons aim to minimize the harm caused by prisons. Other aspects of the penal regime, however, undermine rehabilitative schemes to such an extent that imprisonment for most women cannot be justified as part of a comprehensive crime reduction program. Knowledge and expertise are available for designing a comprehensive program for homeless women in trouble, but effective program implementation is obstructed by government policies designed to regulate the economy and by sexist ideologies concerning young women, motherhood, and the family. Political changes over the past decade have had a direct impact on the development of noncustodial alternatives to prison. Some excellent noncustodial schemes to rehabilitate female offenders exist, but they are largely ineffective in reducing female imprisonment because more are needed and because government legislation in other spheres subverts welfare, housing, employment, and education provisions which must offer reliable backup to noncustodial penalties. The author argues for the development of "woman-wise" penology based on open-ended feminist jurisprudence. An appendix lists agencies, projects, and hostels visited in the course of research. 182 references and 3 tables