Empower women. Resist injustice. Transform lives.
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, in collaboration with Women in Prison, has issued a call to action to: Empower women, resist injustice and transform lives.
The call to action says:
'The harms women face are widespread yet consistently ignored. Many criminal justice interventions and support services serve to replicate and reinforce unequal gender relations rather than tackle the root causes of harm'.
'We are calling on others to work with us to challenge structural inequality and eradicate punishment and control in women's lives.'
The statement has been drawn up as part of the Justice Matters for Women initiative with the support of a working group:
Clare Jones, National Lead, for WomenCentre said;
‘At WomenCentre we work with women on issues that both cause and create chaos and hopelessness in their lives. These issues include housing, debt, dependencies, health issues, trauma, parenting and abuse and often are reasons that women break the law. I therefore strongly support this call to action as a means to urgently needed social justice for women.’
Davina James-Hanman, Director of Ava said;
‘We have wasted too much money and too many lives. It's time for a radical rethink and a system that really delivers justice for all of us.’
Liz Hogarth said;
‘At last – a real chance to escape the bonds of the criminal justice ‘silo’ debates on what needs to be done ‘to’ and ‘for’ women to change their lives and ameliorate the impact of the harms experienced. It is surely time to shift the focus: to challenge and change the structural inequalities that constrain and damage women’s lives, preventing those harms and negative outcomes in the first place’.
Sara Hyde said;
'For too long we have tried to triage a broken justice system with the same thinking that created its problems. I am delighted to support this fresh initiative that breaks out of silos, takes account of the bigger picture and offers the chance for a fundamental change to how our society engages with women who are often considered to be at its margins. It gives me hope that we can work together to create a truly just society.'
Becky Clarke, Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University said;
'I'm supporting the 'call to action' because it is time to stop talking and ACT. We understand many of the issues, we have the evidence and we now need to create a swell of support and committment to bring about change - change for the many women, their families and communities, who are negatively affected by the criminal justice system.'
You can find out who else has signed our call to action and their reasons for doing so here.