Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

THE NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY,

BHOPAL

Criminology Project

‘Approach of the Criminal Justice System Towards Fair Sex Criminality

and their Reformation’

Academic Year 2014-15

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Divya Salim Manasvi Tewari

2014BALLB75

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

PREFACE

The subject of Criminology was introduced to us in the fourth trimester. The course dealt
with not only different schools of criminology but also victimology as well as penology. This
project is an attempt to analyze and evaluate the treatment of women under the criminal
justice system.

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to The National Law Institute
University (NLIU) for providing me with the opportunity to make this project.
I extend my sincere thanks to everybody who helped with the completion of this project. I am
greatly obliged to our teacher for Criminology Prof Divya Salim for her guidance, monitoring
and approval throughout the course of this project.

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

CONTENTS

PREFACE................................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................5
‘Doing Time’ - Challenges faced by women in the Criminal Justice system...........................................6
Sentencing of Women.......................................................................................................................6
Matters of Bail...................................................................................................................................7
Mother-Child Contact........................................................................................................................7
Discriminatory Treatment in Penal Institutions.................................................................................8
Medical Care......................................................................................................................................9
Access to Courts and Legal Materials................................................................................................9
Transition back to the Community....................................................................................................9
Alternative Views of Rehabilitation.................................................................................................10
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................11
References...........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

The involvement of women in the criminal justice system has largely been as crime victims
rather than as perpetrators. While females make up about half of violent crime victims, they
represent only a small minority of offenders. Although women remain a relatively small
number of all prisoners, these facts have concealed a trend in the rising percentage of female
offenders, their participation in violent crime. There are also various discrepancies when it
comes to treatment of women offenders by the criminal justice system. If you observe the
limited amount of information available it is seen that there are a complex set of social,
political, and personal problems experienced by incarcerated women. The social impact of
higher rates of women’s imprisonment is different from men in several regards. The most
significant of these relates to women’s roles as mothers and caregivers. Some of the most
neglected, misunderstood and unseen women in our society are those in our jails, prisons and
community correctional facilities. While women's rate of incarceration has increased
dramatically, tripling in the last decade, prisons have not kept pace with the growth of the
number of women in prison; nor has the criminal justice system been redesigned to meet
women's needs, which are often quite different from the needs of men. Thus we see that
while the number of women being imprisoned is increasing their treatment is extremely poor.

‘DOING TIME’ - CHALLENGES FACED BY WOMEN IN

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

Gender makes a difference in the treatment of person in the current Criminal justice system..
There are numerous areas in which day-to-day practice in the criminal justice system ignores
behavioral and situational differences between female and male offenders. There is lack of
proper, uniform treatment of women in our criminal justice system.

Sentencing of Women

The sentencing of women is one of the first steps when it comes to women in the criminal
justice system. Views on gender and sentencing issues stem from three somewhat related
concepts: bounded rationality which was given by Albonetti, 1991, focal concerns by
Steffensmeier, Kramer, and Streifel in 1993 and blameworthiness attribution by Baumer,
Messner, and Felson, 20001 These theories have a common denominator that is that they
believe that the relationship between gender and sentencing is the byproduct of human error
expressed in judicial outcomes. According to this view, constraints on the amount of time
judges as well lack of resources an pending cases means that there is very limited time that
judges can spend on their cases. Due to these restrictions, judicial decisions on sentencing
outcomes are thereby influenced, to some extent, with generalizations and personal bias.
Judges and other court players commonly make contextual attributions about the defendant’s
culpability2, character, and potential recidivism. They may, for example, attribute certain
qualities to offenders based on their gender. Female offenders may be viewed as less of a risk
to the community or on the other hand male culprits are seen as more culpable and, hence,
more responsible for their crimes Thus it is usually generalized that males should do time in
prison as compared to . Even if women are incarcerated they are done so for a shorter period
of time. But it is important to note that this view contends that sentencing leniency is
manifested only toward females who commit crimes that are viewed as very ‘‘typical’’ of
females and stereotypic female gender roles, such as drug use and property crimes like
shoplifting and check forgery. ‘‘Evil or Bad women’’ who commit more masculine crimes,
such as those that involve violence, will not benefit from their gender at the sentencing stage,

1
Berk, Richard A. 1983. ‘‘An Introduction to Sample Selection Bias in Sociological Data.’’ American Sociological
Review 48:386–98
2
Women’s Prison Association, Institute on Women & Criminal Justice. (2011). Shackling brief. New York, NY:
Women’s Prison Association

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and will not be preferentially treated compared to men, and at times may even receive harsher
sentences, as they are not only violating the law but gender roles as well. The legal system
appears to accept the notion that an individual's gender is a sufficient and rational
consideration when imposing criminal liability.3 Criminal statutes discriminate between the
sexes by defining crimes that can be committed by only one sex and by imposing different
sentences on the offender according to sex. In India for example under the IPC it is held that t
adultery can be only committed by males.

Matters of Bail

Bail usually requires some amount of money as guarantee for the accused. Women usually
tend to come from poor uneducated backgrounds and it becomes impossible for them to not
only understand the procedure of applying for bail but also to actually have enough money to
post their bail Unlike men, few women have partners who might post bail for them. In a study
of female pretrial jail detainees, the majority of subjects were nonviolent offenders who had
been jailed because they could not pay bail for misdemeanors4.

Mother-Child Contact

Separation from children is considered to be among the most damaging aspects of

imprisonment for women 5 difficulties of separation are exacerbated by a lack of contact. In
some cases, the forced separation between parent and child results in permanent termination
of the parent-child relationship 6Geographical distance from the prison and the prisoner's
relationship with the child's caretaker are the reasons cited most often for infrequent visits
and subsequent alienation. While there are provisions for women to give birth inside the
prison the conditions are usually extremely poor and unhygienic often leading to infections
and deaths as no proper natal care is given. Women with already grown children don’t have
proper visitations rights which essentially leads to distress for both the mother and the child.
3

4
(Teplin, Abram, & McClelland, 1996
5
Baunach, 1985; Bloom & Steinhart, 1993).
6
(Genty, 1995).

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The growth f the child is hindered as he is forced to stay away from his mother. Women in
the prison system often have unhealthy, illusory or unequal relationships with spouses,
partners, friends and family members. For that reason, it is important for recovery programs
to model healthy relationships, among both staff and participants, providing a safe place and
a container for healing. Incarcerating mothers has serious detrimental consequences on their
children, who are likely to have previously suffered from instability and problems associated
with their mother s criminal behaviour Children of imprisoned parents have been reported to
suffer psychological and behavioural problems, such as aggression, attention deficit disorder,
poor social skills, depression and sleep disruption. Thus often it becomes a vicious circle of
never ending crime. Children with incarcerated women not only have trouble adjusting but
often end up developing violent tendencies which manifest in different ways once the child
grows up.

Discriminatory Treatment in Penal Institutions

Sex-based discrimination in assigning criminal liability and imposing sentences is coupled

with discrimination within the correctional institutions itself. The correctional system or the
prison system has for long been male dominated. The rules, structure, programs, and
standard operating procedures of the system were adopted and implemented on the
assumption that they were to be largely applied to male prisoners. The result, has been the
discriminatory treatment of female prisoners. This disparate treatment is evident in a number
of areas in penal institutions. The fact that there aren’t women jailors or superintendents
further goes on to show the existing disparity. It is impossible for a male superintendent to
understand the personal problems faced by women prisoners. Even activities that are
organized inside the prison which are supposed to help in the reformation of the prisoner are
usually male centric. Most jobs are male oriented and so are the recreational activities
provided by the prison to women. There have also been reports of sexual abuses faced by
women inmates by the prison guards or at times the polices personnel as well. One of the
most important thing required at this stage is gender sensitization as well awareness of the
police in dealing with women prisoners.

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Medical Care

Despite the fact that biologically women require more medical care the fact remains that
women prisoners are much less likely to get any form of medical care. Recent studies show
that women entering correctional institutions are more likely than men are to have medical
problems when entering prison. In addition to having a higher incidence of' asthma, drug
abuse problems, seizure disorders, hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis, heart disorders,
gastrointestinal problems.The health care provided in the prisons is of very sub standard
quality on top of that the women are usually denied basic health care as well. On of the
biggest problems faced by women is gynecological and reproductive issues.

Access to Courts and Legal Materials

Female prisons often do not make adequate .legal resources available to the prison
population. Access to the courts and legal materials is essential to insure that the female
prisoner's rights to counsel and to equal protection are not violated. Due to the lack of
education as well as gender stereotyping women don’t have access to basic legal material
which in the long run hinders their bid to get proper representation as well as to get
themselves heard in court.

Transition back to the Community

Women who are returning to their communities from prisions must often comply with
conditions of probation or parole, achieve financial stability, access health care, locate
housing, and try to reunite with their families. They must find often find employment safe
and housing. However, many women find themselves either homeless or in environments that
do not support a healthy living. Without strong support in the community to help them
navigate the multiple systems and agencies, many women fall back into a life of criminal
activity. The majority of women in the correctional system are mothers, and a major
consideration for them is reunification with their children. This adds what to as an additional

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“level of burden7,” as the requirements of these women for safe housing, economic support,
medical services, and so on include the needs of their children. In cases of men they find it
easier to go back to the community. Women are looked down upon and find much harder to
go back to to the community. This is due to societal mindset and general biasness that exists.
We often see cases of family shunning the women leaving her homeless and without any sort
of support. They are also often denied to meet their children further creating additional

Alternative Views of Rehabilitation

1. Reduction of Remands in Custody : It is been found that women are

disproportionately remanded in custody awaiting psychiatric reports rather than
because of the gravity of the alleged offence. remands in custody are an inefficient,
ineffective and inhumane way of securing psychiatric assessment and treatment8.
Women should only be remanded in custody if presenting a serious risk of harm to the
public.
2. Greater Use of Non-custodial Penalties and Community9 Alternatives: Punishment
can be tailored to fit the needs of women, for example, if the female offender has a
mental health problem, a treatment order can be attached to the generic sentence. The
work requirement of the community sentence can be empowering and emphasises
positive pathways out of offending.
3. Reform of Custody10: Women considered as a risk to the public or convicted of
violent offences, should not be neglected and further attention needs to be given to the
services and supports that imprisoned women require whilst serving their sentences to
minimize the harmful effects of custodial sentences
4. Diversion from Prosecution: Female offenders could be diverted from custody by
greater use of the police caution. Whilst it could be argued that women already
receive a high proportion of police cautions to ensure that certain women do not
unnecessarily enter the criminal justice system.

7
Brown, Melchior, and Huba (1999)
8
Dell et al, cited in Morgan, 1994:911
9
Carlen, P (2002) Women and Punishment: The Struggle for Justice. Devon; Willan Publishing.
10
Ibid

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Criminology Project Manasvi Tewari

CONCLUSION

A review of women’s life circumstances and of the backgrounds of female offenders in the
system makes clear that are a variety of different ways to tack women criminality and their
reformation. Criminal justice practice could be improved by addressing women’s pathways
into the criminal justice system, their differences in offense patterns from the patterns of male
offenders, their experiences in the criminal justice system, and their responses to programs
offered by the prison..Standard gender-neutral correctional procedures have also
disadvantaged women in that such procedures do not take into account the histories of abuse
of many female offenders as well as their backgrounds. The criminal justice system must
become trauma-informed in order to provide effective interventions and services for women.
It is important to create a sensitive environment where there is proper understanding of
differences of gender. We can then work to adjust those policies so that the response to
women’s offending is one that emphasizes human needs, specifically those that reflect the
realities of women’s lives. Rather than focusing solely on punitive sanctions, we can begin to
systematically consider other options of reformation for women. The savings to society from
a reduction in women’s imprisonment and from improved reintegration of female offenders
into the community will benefit not only the women themselves, but also generations to
come.

REFERENCES

Books

1. The Penal System- An Introduction by Michael Cavadino & James Dignan

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2. Their sisters' keepers. – EB Freedman

3. Women, prison, and crime - JM Pollock-Byrne

PDFs

1. http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/genderandjustice.pdf
2. http://www.iprt.ie/files/IPRT_Position_Paper_on_Women_in_the_Criminal_Justi
ce_System.pdf
3. http://www.creative-wisdom.com/pub/mirror/changing_perceptions.pdf

Websites

1. https://www.aclu.org/issues/womens-rights/women-and-criminal-justice
2. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/index.html?
ref=menuside

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