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Nowadays, issue of female imprisonment has become one of the important human rights matter in the world. The paper explores, based on international statistics, now more than half a million women and girls are held in penal institutions throughout the world, either as awaiting trial, pretrial detainees (remand prisoners) or having been convicted and sentenced. The statistics related to the women entered into the prisons from selected years in Iran declare that during this period, 90,498 women suffered from the custody. The major objective of the paper is to demonstrate the need of reducing women prisoners. In this regards the criminal justice system as a whole has a particular role to offer social assistance both to the women and to their families and to find and implement alternatives to imprisonment for women.
INTRODUCTION
The rate of increase in the number of women prisoners is much greater than that for men.1 In many countries, in all regions, the female prison population has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. In most countries, women constitute a minority of the prison population: usually between 2% and 8%. 2 Prison systems and prison regimes are almost invariably designed for the majority male prison population—from the architecture of prisons, to security procedures, to facilities for healthcare, family contact, work and training. Prisons tend not to meet the needs of women prisoners, and women in prison are affected by imprisonment in a particularly harsh way.
Everyone has human rights, and responsibilities to respect and protect these rights may, in principle, extend across political and social boundaries. The greatest harm is done to the prisoner and his or her family. For instance, over 80 percent of imprisoned women are mothers. Worrying about their sons and daughters is a constant ordeal. Behind the pain of separation lies the ominous prospect that it may be permanent, since according to one
Scotland has achieved considerable success with arrest referral and diversion from prosecution schemes for women. Under arrest referrals, such drug-using accused are offered treatment and related services at the point of arrest. It is aimed at people whose offending may be linked to drug use and is entirely voluntary on the offenders’ part. In practice, arrest referral workers visit the accused in a custody cell or less often in a court setting, offer advice and information on her addiction and may refer her to the appropriate services. Arrest referral feeds into Scotland’s drug strategy, which is committed to increasing the number of drug users in contact with drug treatment and care services by 10% every year until 2005. Drug treatment considerably reduces criminal behaviour, with every dollar spent on treatment saving three dollars of enforcement.
Scotland piloted diversion from prosecution schemes in 18 local authorities for two years from April 1997. In diversion, the accused are referred to social workers or other agencies, where appropriate, rather than routing them through criminal justice proceedings. After reviewing the pilot, Scotland opted to focus the programme on specific groups, including female accused.
Beginning in 2003-2004, females represented 48 percent of all diversion cases.13
Diversion strategies for women operate best when they seek to offer social assistance both to the women and to their families. Many women who come into contact with the criminal justice system are responsible for young children, so that their detention in prison will cause great disruption of those vulnerable lives as well.
Overall crime patterns of women differ from those of men. Women are often used as drug couriers to smuggle drugs across international borders. Although technically guilty of drug trafficking, authorities need to understand the pressures that may have been brought to bear on them to commit the crime and should adjust their sentences accordingly. The previous box provides a practical example of a programme targeted at female offenders.14
are similar to those recommended for others. However, courts may find that some alternatives are easier to apply to women than to other groups. For example, a high percentage of women are detained for non-violent offences, thus making it easier to release them conditionally prior to trial.
Courts must bear in mind the position of women in society when considering alternatives to sentences of imprisonment. The requirements of community sentences may require modification to meet their needs and to allow them to cope with responsibilities for child rearing. As women tend to be poorer than men overall, particular attention may need to be focused upon ensuring that, if they default on fines, they do not end up in prison automatically. Women are often good candidates for early release conditionally or unconditionally. Systems that use amnesties or pardons by the head of state may give them special consideration.15
The involvement of the following individuals and groups is essential.
The criminal justice system as a whole needs to work to find and implement alternatives to imprisonment for women.
Governmental and non-governmental organizations that focus on women’s issues should be encouraged to consider the issue of women’s imprisonment and to contribute to discussions on how alternatives to it can best be found.
INTRODUCTION
The rate of increase in the number of women prisoners is much greater than that for men.1 In many countries, in all regions, the female prison population has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. In most countries, women constitute a minority of the prison population: usually between 2% and 8%. 2 Prison systems and prison regimes are almost invariably designed for the majority male prison population—from the architecture of prisons, to security procedures, to facilities for healthcare, family contact, work and training. Prisons tend not to meet the needs of women prisoners, and women in prison are affected by imprisonment in a particularly harsh way.
Everyone has human rights, and responsibilities to respect and protect these rights may, in principle, extend across political and social boundaries. The greatest harm is done to the prisoner and his or her family. For instance, over 80 percent of imprisoned women are mothers. Worrying about their sons and daughters is a constant ordeal. Behind the pain of separation lies the ominous prospect that it may be permanent, since according to one
Scotland has achieved considerable success with arrest referral and diversion from prosecution schemes for women. Under arrest referrals, such drug-using accused are offered treatment and related services at the point of arrest. It is aimed at people whose offending may be linked to drug use and is entirely voluntary on the offenders’ part. In practice, arrest referral workers visit the accused in a custody cell or less often in a court setting, offer advice and information on her addiction and may refer her to the appropriate services. Arrest referral feeds into Scotland’s drug strategy, which is committed to increasing the number of drug users in contact with drug treatment and care services by 10% every year until 2005. Drug treatment considerably reduces criminal behaviour, with every dollar spent on treatment saving three dollars of enforcement.
Scotland piloted diversion from prosecution schemes in 18 local authorities for two years from April 1997. In diversion, the accused are referred to social workers or other agencies, where appropriate, rather than routing them through criminal justice proceedings. After reviewing the pilot, Scotland opted to focus the programme on specific groups, including female accused.
Beginning in 2003-2004, females represented 48 percent of all diversion cases.13
Diversion strategies for women operate best when they seek to offer social assistance both to the women and to their families. Many women who come into contact with the criminal justice system are responsible for young children, so that their detention in prison will cause great disruption of those vulnerable lives as well.
Overall crime patterns of women differ from those of men. Women are often used as drug couriers to smuggle drugs across international borders. Although technically guilty of drug trafficking, authorities need to understand the pressures that may have been brought to bear on them to commit the crime and should adjust their sentences accordingly. The previous box provides a practical example of a programme targeted at female offenders.14
are similar to those recommended for others. However, courts may find that some alternatives are easier to apply to women than to other groups. For example, a high percentage of women are detained for non-violent offences, thus making it easier to release them conditionally prior to trial.
Courts must bear in mind the position of women in society when considering alternatives to sentences of imprisonment. The requirements of community sentences may require modification to meet their needs and to allow them to cope with responsibilities for child rearing. As women tend to be poorer than men overall, particular attention may need to be focused upon ensuring that, if they default on fines, they do not end up in prison automatically. Women are often good candidates for early release conditionally or unconditionally. Systems that use amnesties or pardons by the head of state may give them special consideration.15
The involvement of the following individuals and groups is essential.
The criminal justice system as a whole needs to work to find and implement alternatives to imprisonment for women.
Governmental and non-governmental organizations that focus on women’s issues should be encouraged to consider the issue of women’s imprisonment and to contribute to discussions on how alternatives to it can best be found.