JUST WOMEN

Braunstone’s Turning Point Women’s Centre has received significant funding from the Ministry of Justice to set up a one-stop shop service for women offenders and women at risk of offending.

The £400,000 grant runs until March 2011 and is part of the Government’s commitment to ensure vulnerable women, who are not a danger to the public, are dealt with appropriately in the community. Major stakeholders in the project - called Just Women - are key criminal justice agencies including LRPT and members of the recently formed local Women’s Forum. The Ministry of Justice have outlined the aims and objectives of this programme as: Aim The overall aim of the funding is to achieve a reduction of the number of women in prison who do not need to be there as they are not serious or violent offenders who pose a risk to the public

Objectives In order to achieve the aim, the service(s) provided using the grant funding must: provide additional and enhanced one-stop-shop services in the community for women at risk of receiving a custodial sentence, women offenders and women at risk of offending; build on and improve existing third sector, community based women’s services; ensure co-ordination of services for women at an early stage in order to tackle factors that can lead to social exclusion and the risk of offending; work in partnership with local criminal justice agencies to divert women from custody and increase compliance rates by providing integrated packages of support that meet the needs of vulnerable women, specifically in relation to: health (including mental health) accommodation education, employment and training alcohol and drugs dependency childcare, parenting and family relationships finance, benefits and debt other issues that may contribute to the women’s social exclusion and/or offending behaviour (including attitudes, thinking and behaviour) Chief Executive Heather Munro commented: “National data shows that the majority of women offenders are young, imprisoned for non-violent offences and serve very short sentences. They have a broad range of complex needs such as health disorders and substance misuse. Many are low skilled and have little experience of work. “We hope that by developing a one-stop shop approach we can offer a wide range of support and services that will target the issues that are leading women into repeat offending.” The team delivering the Just Women Project consists of 9 staff: An overall Project Manager An Information Worker An Offender Manager and Probation Service Officer seconded from the Probation Trust 2 Outreach Support Workers A Volunteering and Training Co-ordinator An advice worker (from Leicester Money Advice) A Counsellor.  

TURNING POINT

The Braunstone-based Turning Point Women's Centre was originally set up to benefit the life-experience of all women who live in the area. Turning Point provides crèche facilities and has links with voluntary organisations and local authorities to advance educational and social welfare opportunities. CRIMINOGENIC NEEDS OF WOMEN IN LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND Women present a lower risk of harm and reconviction compared to males in both custody and community. Women offenders have more significant offending related unmet need including ETE, health, housing and income Many women have multiple and inter-connected needs Their sexual and violent victimisation can play a part in offending Offending due to poverty Further strained by having sole responsibility for dependent children Victims' of domestic violence, suicide risk and risk of self harm Mental health problems High rates of substance misuse  

Current caseload of Female offenders (14/10/09) including, number of previous offences, type of current order, and current requirements No. of Cases % of Cases Type of Current Order Given 310 76.92% Community Order 77 19.11% Pre Release Licence (Custodial Sentence) 6 1.49% Community Rehabilation Order 5 1.24% Community Punishment Order 3 0.74% Other 2 0.50% Community Punishment & Rehabilation Order 403     DRIVING FORCE FOR CHANGE Baroness Corston’s Report of a Review of Women with Particular Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) was published in March 2007, and made a number of recommendations calling for a more co-ordinated approach to tackling women’s needs in the community. The report refers to generic women’s centres such as Asha in Worcester and Calderdale in Halifax as models of good practice. These centres provide access to a range of services on-site as well as referring women to appropriate agencies, the aim being to tackle problems in relation to mental health, accommodation, education and employment, childcare, finance and debt and any other issues which may contribute to the women’s social exclusion and/or offending behaviour. Baroness Corston called for a larger network of women’s centres to be developed, advocating that this type of ‘one-stop shop’ approach is effective in meeting women’s multiple complex needs and diverting them away from the CJS.