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Exploring Sentencing Practice in England and Wales pp 93–117Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Sentencing Women: An Analysis of Recent Trends

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Abstract

This chapter analyses changes in the sentencing of women between 2000 and 2012. We update an earlier analysis conducted by Hedderman (2004) which explored why the number of women going to prison increased so steeply between 1992 and 2000. Since 2000, there have been important changes in sentencing policies and government responses to women offenders. Media portrayals have also shifted to emphasise a ‘ladette’ culture of female drinking, anti-social behaviour and violence. This chapter reflects on the consequences of these changes and considers how the sentencing of women has changed since 2000, including the use of custody and new sentences such as suspended sentence orders. It examines how far Labour’s policy of diverting women from custody during its second term of office fed through into court practice, and it assesses what has happened since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took power.

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Authors
  1. Carol Hedderman
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  2. Rebecca Barnes
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oxford, UK

    Julian V. Roberts (Professor of Criminology) (Professor of Criminology)

Copyright information

© 2015 Carol Hedderman and Rebecca Barnes

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Hedderman, C., Barnes, R. (2015). Sentencing Women: An Analysis of Recent Trends. In: Roberts, J.V. (eds) Exploring Sentencing Practice in England and Wales. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137390400_6

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