Effective government policies for advancing equality for women and girls: international evidence review

Justice system

Awareness of the links between social inequalities, when and how women encounter the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and how they are treated when they do, has increased greatly over the last decade within the UK, with Scotland, in some respects, leading the way.

The 2013 International Best Practice Review – Alternatives to imprisonment for women offenders from the Prison Reform and Pilgrim Trusts which highlighted, at that time, approximately 13,500 women sent to prison each year in the UK, one of the highest rates of women’s imprisonment in Western Europe. The review highlighted the considerable human, social and financial costs and that there was:

"strong evidence which clearly illustrates that the experience of women is different to men... policy must be formulated in a gendered way which recognises the inherent nature, and gender inequality, that exists in our society, and within justice as a microcosm.”

Source: International Best Practice Review – Alternatives to imprisonment for women offenders

More recent statistics record 3,365 women in prison in England and Wales in 2024,^[14] with the average daily population of women in Scottish prisons for 2024/25 at 345 women.^[15]

Scottish context

The Commission on Women Offenders (CWO) in Scotland, chaired by Dame Elish Angiolini, published a 2012 report recommending gender-specific, trauma-informed approaches to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for women in the criminal justice system. The Report of the Commission on Women Offenders provided detailed recommendations on:

• Reforming court-based and social work services to better support women offenders
• Ensuring community-based alternatives and early intervention are available to reduce reoffending.
• Improving training for justice and social work professionals to respond effectively to women’s needs.
• Coordinating services across health, social work, and justice sectors for a more integrated response

The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 led to the formation of new national body, Community Justice Scotland and the Scottish Government’s latest strategy, The Vision for Justice in Scotland, was published in 2022.

Gender, disability, intersectionality and the CJS

“Scotland can lead the world in transformative justice. A smart justice system replaces ineffective short sentences with a problem-solving focus on addiction, mental health, poverty, social exclusion and adverse childhood experiences – and recognises prevention is better than cure”.

Source: Karyn McCluskey, Chief Executive Community Justice Scotland, quoted in ‘Why focus on reducing women’s imprisonment in Scotland?’ Prison Reform Trust Briefing, October 2017

Scotland has introduced three Community Custody Units, (CCUs) innovative female detention facilities, the first of their kind in the UK, designed to be trauma-informed and gender-specific in preparation for community reintegration. The core principle is to provide a less restrictive, more domestic, environment that helps women develop independent living skills and maintain community and family ties to reduce reoffending.

An evaluation of these units was published by Scottish Government in December 2025. The Scottish Prisons Assessment and Review of Outcomes for Women (SPAROW), includes some positives, the report also highlights some concerns, including lack of consistency in approach, and limited, joined-up “through-care”. The report sets out ten key recommendations, including more training for officers, a call for the culture of continuous improvement to be embedded in the CCUs, investment in technology such as body scanners to replace body searches, and a review into through-care arrangements.

“Intersectionality is an analytical tool that we use for the purpose of equality and human rights monitoring to show the distinct forms of harm, abuse, discrimination and disadvantage experienced by people when multiple categories of social identity interact with each other."

Source: Women’s Justice Leadership Panel

The Scottish Government’s Women’s Justice Leadership Panel (WJLP) was established to “demonstrate that the experience of women in the justice system is different to men, and to promote consistent understanding of gendered issues”. Recognition of the intersectional barriers raised for women as victims, specifically of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), is the focus of Scotland’s Equally Safe Strategy, and outwith the remit of this review. However, it is notable there are evidenced overlaps of women as victims of GBV and women as offenders.

The WJLP 2023 report, The Case for Gendered and Intersectional Approaches to Justice discusses the intersectionality of Gender and Disability, but in a limited sense, focusing on women with Learning Disabilities specifically. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the intersection of gender and disability, specifically in relation to the so-called “hidden disabilities”, and the CJS, as crime victims, suspected perpetrators or offenders.

A report from the Prison Reform Trust Mental health, autism and learning disabilities in the criminal courts Information for magistrates, district judges and court staff (2017) recognises the impact of communication and social interaction differences on individuals encountering the CJS. Co-existing conditions, and other strands of intersectionality, are also highlighted.

There is still a great deal of misunderstanding of what to be Autistic or have ADHD means for any individual, and how it may influence their experience of contact with the CJS. The Prison’s Reform Trust also highlights that “Many people with autism who come into contact with the criminal justice system will not have a diagnosis of autism...”

The Footsteps project, as described below, initially focused on autistic women, and women with mental health conditions, encountering the CJS as suspects/offenders, then evolved to include a range of intersectional vulnerabilities.

Example 16: A trauma-informed, holistic and partnership approach to working with women who face multiple disadvantages in England

The example is based primarily on information obtained from the following source:

• The Footsteps Project, St Giles Trust - End of project evaluation report, AVA (2018)

This project has been included as an example of an intersectionality-aware project that has been delivered as a pilot, and evaluated as having positive outcomes. The project took a trauma-informed, holistic and partnership approach to working with women dealing with multiple disadvantages.

Initially seeking to work with autistic women and women with mental health conditions, the two-year project was evaluated by Action Against Violence (AVA). The project was delivered across three geographical areas: Yorkshire, Norfolk and London. It sought to make a difference to Autistic women and women with personality disorder(s) involved in the criminal justice system and who face multiple disadvantages through the delivery of a holistic, person-centred and trauma informed support service.

Over the 2018-20 period, 296 women were supported. Following an average of six months’ support, the number of clients feeling isolated or alone decreased from 65% to 37%; those who felt able to deal with daily life at least most of the time increased from 53% to 74% and those taking care of themselves ‘most’ or ‘all of the time’, from 40% to 67%.

Through responses to Women’s group feedback forms, 95% indicated that women had felt able to meet new people and build positive connections through accessing the group.100% of women providing feedback via women’s group feedback forms indicated that they would recommend it. 100% of professionals working directly with clients agreed that the project had had a positive impact on the women they were (jointly) working with.

In 2024-2025, the Footsteps staff team of five in North Yorkshire supported 187 women and achieved substantial positive outcomes around issues such as housing, welfare benefits and finances, employment, engagement with services and children. Each has required complex casework. Cases have included helping mothers on release from prison to be reunited with their babies, women at risk of domestic abuse to stay safe and support for transgender women and those whose first language is not English, helping them overcome barriers and access support to rebuild their lives.

The team won the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year at the Inspire Justice Awards on 24 September 2025.

Of further interest: Data Design within the CJS

With limited data or gender-focused analysis to inform policy, and with the ever-increasing reliance of all information systems on AI, a research project underway through the international partnership organisation, Innovative Prison Solutions, is of interest. Its concept is the development of a bias-free AI system for the fair prediction of recidivism, emphasising gender equality perspectives. FAIR-PReSONS is conducting a gender analysis, which maps the potential different impact of the project and its activities on women and men, girls and boys including reference to diversity. This involves systematically collecting related data (e.g., release papers) from prisons and criminal justice organisations.

Expected outcomes include a bias-free AI system for the fair prediction of recidivism, emphasising a gender equality perspective.

Justice System – Craigforth’s observations

This is an area in which Scotland can be seen to have, in many ways, taken a global lead in terms of gender-awareness with processes and facilities to improve the experience of women when encountering the Criminal Justice System (CJS) as suspects, offenders and as victims. The specific case included here has been picked in order to illustrate where there is a gap in visibility, understanding and accommodations in this context, including, for example, for the neurominority population, Autistic women and women with ADHD (often co-occurring).

Both the Prison Reform Trust 2017 and the WJLP 2023 reports highlight issues of intersectionality for disabled, ID and autistic women within the CJS. The case illustrated here is only one example of a possible response that might point the way to others.