Women, Crime and Criminal Justice - Assignment Example

Women, Crime and Criminal Justice of the of the Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Question C This work claims that prisons are unsuitable for women offenders and that they should be excarcerated. The following discussion proves this contention. A major feature of prisons is their overcrowding, which magnifies the inequalities. In addition, pre-trial detention tends to be disproportionate. In recognition of this inequitable situation, the Open Society Justice Initiative has spearheaded a global initiative in the area of pre-trial justice. The prime movers of this initiative have highlighted the following outcome on females. Females are, in general, detained in prisons that have been designed by men and are essentially meant to house male prisoners (Barberet, 2014, p. 163). As a result, females are compelled to adapt to a uniformity that has scant regard for their specific traits. Moreover, prisons are the culmination of several oppressions, including, class, ethnicity, indigenous status, and race. There is considerable discrimination against women in prisons, and this chiefly stems from their lesser proportion in the prison population. The security levels in prisons are grossly disproportionate to the lower seriousness of offending, which characterizes women offenders. Another disquieting feature of prisons, vis-à-vis females is their tendency to isolate women to a much greater extent than men. This arises due to the smaller number of incarcerated females, which leads to the presence of fewer prisons in a specific geographical area. As such, women prisoners are subjected to greater social stigma than their male counterparts (Barberet, 2014, p. 163). In addition, prisons pathologize and infantilize females, thereby subjecting them to greater oppression. Hence, women should not be imprisoned for the less serious crimes. In addition, the close similarity in the conditions of women in prison, across the world, has made it possible to formulate international norms and guidelines for prisoners. Several of the international guidelines have suffered setbacks, due to cultural relativity or the imposition of Western standards. Prison standards have not been affected to the same extent by these influences (Barberet, 2014, p. 163). A major cause for this relative insularity is the fact that prisons are predominantly a Western institution that have been imposed via colonialism. As a consequence, the issues created for women in prisons tend to be quite similar across the world. This is despite the disparities in the manner of operation of prisons, the categories of females who are incarcerated, the crimes that these females have been charged with or sentenced for, the resources provided to female prisoners in the prisons, and the problems envisaged by these females (Barberet, 2014, p. 163). Furthermore, it is commonplace for females to be arrested for less serious crimes than men. In the few instances that women engage in violent or serious crime, the media indulges in exaggeration. This unwelcome media attention upon such crime is due to the social perception that it is out of the ordinary for females to commit such crimes. Women are classified as mothers, monsters and whores, in order to describe female offending internationally. This has been employed, whilst scrutinizing the females who had committed genocide in Rwanda, suicide bombings in the Middle East, and the torture of suspected Islamic terrorists in Abu Ghraib (Barberet, 2014, p. 138). Nevertheless, it is believed by scholars that females engage in less crime than males, on account of differences in gender socialization, criminal opportunities, and morality. As such, females are brought up in an environment that does not encourage risk-taking conduct. In addition, women are supervised by their parents and caretakers to a considerable extent, and it is ingrained into their psyche that they have to be passive and obedient. Furthermore, gender stratification results in women having very few opportunities to carry out crimes. Thus, women are suppressed and confined to the domestic realm (Barberet, 2014, p. 138). As such, very few women belong to criminal gangs, organized crime, corrupt political networks and violent political movements. In addition, data pertaining to women offenders in the European nations is to be found in the European Sourcebook on Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. This information is collected with great care, and a classification of female offenders is provided on the basis of the type of crime committed. As of the year 2006, the proportion of female offenders varied from 4% to 40%, and the mean value was 15%. The Latvian females had the highest proportion of offenders, whilst the Albanian females had the lowest proportion (Barberet, 2014, p. 142). With regard to females suspected of completed homicide, their proportion varied from 0% to 17%. As such, the highest proportion of suspected female offenders for completed homicide belonged to Hungary, France and Finland with a proportion of 17%, 16% and 15%, respectively. With regard to minor assault, the proportion was between 4% and 28%, for aggravated assault it was between 2% and 14%, with the highest proportion of such females belonging to Germany and Lithuania. Suspected female robbers had a proportion between 1% and 14%, with the highest proportions being among the Finnish and Hungarian females (Barberet, 2014, p. 142). The above data pertaining to female offending indicates that women offenders are lesser in number when compared to their male counter parts. Conclusion Women offenders will be less in number when compared to males. Moreover, prisons were designed for the express purpose of incarcerating offenders without any gender discrimination. However, women require a different kind of prison, since their offences are not as grave as that of the males and their behavior is not that aggressive. Females require special treatment or lower level of punishment, due to the lesser seriousness of their offences. Since the female population in prisons is lower than that of the males, they are subjected to considerable discrimination. In addition, women are isolated in prison to a greater extent than males, due to their smaller numbers and the availability of fewer prisons in a specific area. These factors result in women offenders undergoing considerable depression, with its attendant psychological problems. As such, it can be surmised that a prison is a wrong place for women offenders and that they should be excarcerated. Question D In order to induce a larger number of women to participate in criminal justice, such as police, judiciary, and corrections, as a global initiative of UN Women, the following plan is to be followed. UN Women was formed in 2010 by the UN General Assembly, in order to promote and preserve gender equality and the empowerment of females (Barberet, 2014, p. 59). Traditionally, the justice professions have been the preserve of the male. Albeit, females take up the study of criminal justice and law in equal numbers as the males, their representation in the justice professions is significantly lower. The developed regions exhibited the maximum number of females in policing at 13%, whereas the global average is 9%. All the same, women can be found to a greater extent in the judiciary and prosecution. Females constitute 26% of the prosecution and 27% of the judiciary, across the world (Barberet, 2014, p. 190). Feminist activists and government agencies seized with promoting women’s interests, have compelled governments to employ a greater number of women in the justice professions. Thus, UN Women has been vociferous in its demand for the inclusion of a larger number of women in the justice professions. This organization has recommended support to the women’s legal organization. Furthermore, the erstwhile UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women has recommended such a course of action (Barberet, 2014, p. 193). Moreover, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court had stated that State Parties had to take into account the equitable representation of female judges in their judicial systems. These demands and quotas will ensure equality and legitimacy, in addition to improved access to justice for women. The importance of this issue can be illustrated by the example of several Islamic countries, where women are not permitted to talk to men to whom they are not related. Such females cannot approach a male police officer to lodge a complaint (Barberet, 2014, p. 193). . This highlights the importance of the gender of the official for accessing the justice system by women. Hence, the active involvement and consultation of the population served by the police, legal and judicial, and corrections systems, as well as the personnel involved with these systems, is essential for achieving the optimal functioning of such institutions. From the short-term perspective, participatory processes can provide assistance in a number of ways. Moreover, consultation, in isolation, constitutes a confidence generating measure. It establishes the benchmark for the manner, in which the new government desires to carry out its business. In addition, it has the capacity to furnish sector-specific and useful idea (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2015). As such, active involvement and consultation of the concerned people, will provide adequate support for achieving success with this mission. Additionally, it is essential to have interagency coordination for effectively implementing long-term evaluations and short-term measures. This is imperative for establishing a sector coordination system. Such coordination mechanism is comprised of the ministries of justice and corrections, and police; the head of the judiciary; police and corrections services; and heads of independent commissions vested with the responsibility of promoting transitional justice or human rights (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2015). Moreover, it is essential to realize that victims associations and civil society groups that participate in developing the strategy, tend to be better placed, with respect to describing processes and timelines to the population. Furthermore, participatory processes, permit a government that is suffering from resource scarcity to allocate the same to core services (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2015). This would provide it with the good will and experience of civil society groups. All the same, participatory processes have the capacity to generate hopes and expectations of communities. Hence, these processes have to be managed with great care, so that further grievances are not aired and expectations are not frustrated. Furthermore, a suitable evidence-base for resource allocation can be procured by conducting a comprehensive audit of the justice system. Such audit would consist of an analysis of the infrastructure; level of staff; mandates; procedures and policies; and the finances available with the critical ministries, police, prosecutions and corrections services, courts, and civil registration (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2015). This evaluation should record the budget; expenditure, institutional data; number of cases being taken up by each institution, and the most frequent types of crime in the nation. Such audits of the justice system will provide useful information relating to resource allocation by the concerned departments. For providing suitable access to women, in the concerned departments, acquiring such information is of considerable help. In addition, it is necessary to invest greater effort, if these rights are to be rendered more effective, and if the justice systems have to become more responsive to the requirements of females. As such, there is an urgent need to have in place, interventions on the supply, as well as demand side. Thus, the capacity of the institutions that implement the laws has to be enhanced significantly. In addition, the justice systems have to be made more accountable, so that predictable outcomes are promoted (The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 2011, p. 31). As such, women professionals in larger numbers, should be included in the justice and correction systems. Conclusion Moreover, proper procedures should be available for facilitating the access of females to justice and for improving the representation of women in judicial institutions. These measures are crucial on the supply side. Another critical necessity is the presence of systems for ensuring the implementation of laws. In addition, the demand of the females, regarding the enforcement of their rights, can be facilitated by improving literacy, enhancing access to legal aid services, and diminishing the expenditure involved in accessing legal procedures. Moreover, the relevant data has to be collected and widely disseminated, so that the difficulties associated with the access of females to justice become more visible. For realizing the UN Women agenda of women’s access to criminal justice systems, the above mentioned measures should be adopted. List of References Barberet, R. L. (2014). Women Crime and Criminal Justice: A Global Enquiry. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. (2011). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development . Washington DC, USA: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. United Nations Peacekeeping. (2015). Resource Note Sector Planning for Police, Justice and Corrections in Post-Crisis and Transition Situations. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://civcapreview.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=cswjc56btHk%3D Read More