Table Of ContentW o m e n
a n d t h e
C r i m i n a l
J u s t i c e
S y s t e m
Failing Victims
and Offenders?
Edited by
Emma Milne,
Karen Brennan,
Nigel South and
Jackie Turton
Women and the Criminal Justice System
“Just over ten years ago the Corston report highlighted that the prison sys-
tem was largely designed by men for men. The papers included in this volume
reflect on women’s experiences in the criminal justice system: they consider
what has, or has not, been achieved in the period since Corston, the current
state of play, and what we need to think about in terms of future strategies.
Its focus is on women’s involvement in the criminal justice system as a whole,
rather than being simply characterized as ‘victims’ or ‘offenders’. Written by
both leading experts and those relatively new to the field, it provides a timely
and refreshing perspective that will be of great interest to academics and policy
makers alike. The insights contained in each of the papers underscore the need
for women’s experiences to be at the centre of debates on crime and criminal
justice policy.”
—Jayne Mooney, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA
Emma Milne · Karen Brennan · Nigel South
Jackie Turton
Editors
Women and the
Criminal Justice
System
Failing Victims and Offenders?
Editors
Emma Milne Nigel South
Middlesex University University of Essex
London, UK Colchester, UK
Karen Brennan Jackie Turton
University of Essex University of Essex
Colchester, UK Colchester, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-76773-4 ISBN 978-3-319-76774-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76774-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934664
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018, corrected publication 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
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Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
We would like to dedicate this book to the professionals, volunteers and
academics who work to improve the experiences of women as they come in
contact with the criminal justice system.
We are grateful to the following for funding contributions that enabled us
to run the conference that formed the basis of this book, as well as several
follow-on activities: University of Essex ESRC Impact Accelerator funds,
CHASE DTP—Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-
East England, the Centre for Criminology and the School of Law at the
University of Essex, the Royal Statistical Society and Palgrave Publishers.
The original version of the book frontmatter was revised: The affiliation of
the book editor Emma Milne has been corrected. The erratum to the book
frontmatter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76774-1_11
vii
Contents
1 Women and the Criminal Justice System—Moving
Beyond the Silo 1
Karen Brennan, Emma Milne, Nigel South and Jackie Turton
Part I Women as Victims and Offenders
2 Rape Myths in the Criminal Justice System 15
J. M. Gray and M. A. H. Horvath
3 False Allegations of Sexual Violence: The Reality 43
Charlotte Triggs OBE
4 Domestic Abuse: Predicting, Assessing and Responding
to Risk in the Criminal Justice System and Beyond 67
Aviah Sarah Day, Angela Jenner and Ruth Weir
ix
x Contents
5 Criminalising Neonaticide: Reflections on Law
and Practice in England and Wales 95
Karen Brennan and Emma Milne
6 Understanding Violent Women 119
Emma Milne and Jackie Turton
Part II The Criminal Justice System: Failing or Improving?
7 Sentencing Women in the Transformed Probation
Landscape 143
Gemma Birkett
8 Why Training Is Not Improving the Police Response to
Sexual Violence Against Women: A Glimpse
into the ‘Black Box’ of Police Training 167
Elizabeth A. Stanko OBE and Katrin Hohl
9 Why Focus on Reducing Women’s Imprisonment? 187
Jenny Earle
10 Women, Crime and Criminal Justice: Tales of Two Cities 221
Loraine Gelsthorpe
Erratum to: Women and the Criminal Justice System E1
Index 245
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Dr. Emma Milne is Lecturer in Criminology at Middlesex University.
She gained her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Essex. Her
research interests are in feminist criminology and women offenders. The
wider context of Emma’s work is consideration of social controls and
criminal justice regulations on all women, notably in relation to preg-
nancy, sex and reproduction.
Dr. Karen Brennan is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex.
Her research interests focus on the criminal law/practice in the context
of childbirth and motherhood. Her published work examines the his-
torical, socio-legal and gendered aspects to the criminal justice response
to infanticide, and she is currently exploring the potential role of the
criminal law on the issue of obstetric violence. She is also interested in
the role of compassion in the criminal law and criminal justice practice,
particularly in the context of assisted dying.
xi
xii Editors and Contributors
Nigel South is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and
Director of the Centre for Criminology, University of Essex, and a
visiting Adjunct Professor at the Crime and Justice Research Centre,
Queensland University of Technology. He has published widely on var-
ious aspects of criminology and criminal justice including crime, ine-
qualities and citizenship, and on public health and community services.
In 2013, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American
Society of Criminology, Division on Critical Criminology, and in 2014
was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Recent books
include A. Brisman, E. Carrabine and N. South (eds.) (2017) The
Routledge Companion on Criminological Theory and Concepts, Routledge.
Jackie Turton is a Professor in the Sociology Department at Essex
University. She joined the University after a career in the health service and
has taught sociology and criminology since 1996. Jackie is an experienced
qualitative researcher and has completed projects for the Home Office,
Department of Health and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child
Health linking her research and analysis with policy and practice. Jackie’s
teaching and research interests have focussed on domestic crime in particu-
lar child abuse as well as women as victims and offenders. She has taken
part in discussions about female child abusers on Woman's (Radio 4) as
well as child abuse more generally on local radio. Her book Child Abuse
Gender and Society (2008) is a critical reflection of her research in this field.
Jackie has recently been working with a multidisciplinary team devel-
oping an evaluation strategy for community projects set up to support
women (often victims themselves) who have “repeat losses to care”—
children removed because of child protection concerns. Her recent
co-authored publications detail the problems and difficulties for this set
of women and the issues for evaluating small feminist-led community
initiatives. She took on the role of Deputy Dean (Education) for the
Faculty of Social Sciences at Essex in August 2016.
