Female Offenders Needs Assessment

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Female Offenders Needs Assessment

• Stephen Moore and Alex Collis,
• Anglia Ruskin University,
• Faculty of Health and Social Care

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Methodology

• Mixed methods approach, providing a more complete
  picture and improved confidence in findings
• Main components of the research
• literature and policy review
• statistical profiling of female offenders in
  Norfolk
• practitioner e-survey with follow-up interviews
  (n25)
• semi-structured depth interviews with female
  offenders (n36)
• Difficulties in accessing statistical information
  and interview sample (gatekeepers) particularly
  ref. HMP Peterborough and Kings Lynn Probation
  area

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(1) Literature and policy review

• Complexity of female offenders needs
  (interlinking issues) increasingly recognised at
  national policy level (WORP, Corston Report)
• Unemployment, low incomes and financial exclusion
• Unstable housing careers and experiences of
  homelessness, with implications for caring
  responsibilities
• Different patterns of substance misuse,
  particularly self-medication to cope with
  traumatic experiences
• High proportion of substance misuse issues among
  female prisoners
• Prevalence of mental health difficulties, and
  experiences of victimisation and abuse

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(1) Literature and policy review

• Importance of family relationships and parenting
  responsibilities (stigmatised as mothers, effect
  of child protection proceedings, motherhood as a
  motivator for change)
• Distinctive nature of womens needs has
  significant implications for service provision
• need for flexible, informal and broad-based
  support e.g. fast/open access, provision of
  childcare to maximise engagement
• importance of effective partnership working
• provision of women-specific services where
  appropriate

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(2) Statistical profiling - Norfolk

• Norfolk as a large rural county, with sections of
  the population having to travel significant
  distances to major conurbations where services
  are usually located
• Levels of income and deprivation lower than the
  average for England, with particular pockets of
  deprivation in Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn (and,
  to a lesser degree, Norwich)
• Above average population growth suggesting
  growing demand for services

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(2) Statistical profiling substance abuse
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(2) Statistical profiling numbers in treatment
(drugs)
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(2) Statistical profiling treatment success
(drugs)
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(No Transcript)
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Successful Treatment by Referral Source
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(2) Statistical profiling numbers in treatment
(alcohol)
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Alcohol Treatment Gender
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Female Offenders and Substance Misuse

• According to Norfolk Probation Area Offender
  Assessment System (OASys) figures, during the
  year preceding April 2009
•  
• Community Orders - 420
• Suspended Sentence Orders - 176
• Pre CJA2003 Orders - 21
• Licenses - 78
• Custody - 47
• (Note offenders might receive more than one
  punishment type)
•  
• 374 of these offenders had completed assessments
  by Probation, and of these a total of 296 women
  were identified as having drug or alcohol issues.
  
• Within this figure of 296, 126 had specific drug
  problems, 170 had alcohol problems with 58
  admitting to both drug and alcohol problems.
•  
• Accommodation 61 women did not live in
  permanent accommodation.

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(3) Stakeholder survey - strategy

• Cross section of agencies surveyed, covering both
  statutory and voluntary/third sector
• E-mailed questionnaire, with follow-up telephone
  interviews
• n25

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(3) Stakeholder survey key findings

• Variable definition of successful engagement
  (cf. absolute success)
• desistance from drug/alcohol use or maintaining
  levels
• desistance from offending or a change in patterns
  of offending (i.e. to less serious offences)
• greater levels of family stability
• housing needs met
• behaviour stabilised (e.g. reduction in
  complaints by/problems with other agencies and
  local residents
• raised self-confidence, emotional well-being and
  improved health outcomes
• simply attending - getting through the door

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(3) Stakeholder survey key findings

• Central importance of mental health and housing
• Gaps in current provision e.g. anger management
• Unnecessarily rigid eligibility criteria
• Problems reaching the necessary quality of
  partnership working
• Concerns around the geographical spread of
  service provision
• Problems for women in travelling the necessary
  distance to access services (additional
  priorities such as childcare issues also key)
• Complexity of processes and volume of
  questions/paperwork at the initial assessment
  stage, creating difficulty in building up
  necessary rapport

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(3) Stakeholder survey key findings

• Need for more flexible support (out-of hours,
  outreach, more personalised approach to problems,
  more relaxed environment and informal settings
  for sessions)
• Services continue to be biased towards males aged
  19-24, continued disadvantage of female service
  users

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(4) Offender interviews - strategy

• Initial structured section (15 minutes) asking
  factual questions about
• offending behaviour (incl. previous convictions)
• drug and/or alcohol use (onset, link to
  offending)
• engagement with services (incl. referral source,
  non-completion)
• Second unstructured section following prompts
  from first section and a topic guide (designed
  using findings from the literature) which covered
• offending history
• patterns of drug and/or alcohol use
• other key factors incl. family relationships
  (partners and children), education, income
  levels, health and housing

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(4) Offender interviews sample

• Sample identified in initial profiling stage, and
  based on a reflection of identified offending
  patterns across Norfolk
• Sample accessed via Probation Service and other
  agencies such as the Matthew Project (EAR
  workers)
• Areas covered
• Cromer (n 5)
• Great Yarmouth (n 13)
• Norwich (n 18)
• Problems accessing sample in HMP Peterborough and
  Kings Lynn

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsIncome and
Housing

• Benefit receipt, low incomes and unstable
  employment
• Care and cleaning - where employed, women took
  jobs which fitted in with caring
  responsibilities
• Unstable and insecure housing with multiple moves
  and extensive periods of homelessness
• Difficulties maintaining tenancies, due to a
  combination of low income, drug dependency and a
  chaotic lifestyle
• Homelessness left women vulnerable to further
  victimisation/abuse
• Release from custody without suitable housing
  arrangements in place (barrier to effective
  resettlement, slipping back into the cycle of
  drug use and acquisitive offending)

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsMental
Health

• Many of the women interviewed reported
  experiencing significant mental health problems,
  which often started in childhood or adolescence
• Self-harming, eating disorders, post-natal
  depression
• Common experiences of loss/bereavement drug
  and/or alcohol use began or escalated for women
  as a way of dealing with emotional difficulties
  (self-medication)
• Contact with mental health services often either
  non-existent or sporadic, negative experiences
  and perceptions of a widespread lack of support
• Help seen as poorly-targeted and chronically
  under-resourced

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsChildren,
partners and extended family

• Many of the interviewees were mothers, whose
  children were either in foster care or had been
  adopted
• Offending and/or substance misuse often escalated
  in response to the loss of custody of children
• Many expressed their frustration and distress at
  lengthy court proceedings and apparently
  inconsistent or unfair treatment by child
  protection agencies, or the difficulty of
  complying with conditions imposed on them
• However other women saw social services
  involvement as generally reasonable and, although
  they disliked it, thought of it as something with
  which they needed to comply

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsChildren,
partners and extended family

• Becoming a mother was seen by many as a turning
  point and a major motivator for change
• Partners often influenced womens drug use, with
  several reporting feeling pressured into taking
  drugs by their partners often when they were
  attempting to stop using
• Several interviewees had been in extremely
  violent relationships, often with other substance
  users (effect on housing stability)
• Importance of partners being able to access
  services jointly
• Loss of contact with families, often as a
  deliberate choice (minimising the effects of
  their behaviour on family members, lifestyles
  often simply too chaotic to maintain contact)

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsChildren,
partners and extended family

• Women often chose not to contact children out of
  concern for their welfare, and shame at the
  effect of their behaviour on dependants
• Importance of family as a source of support,
  particularly in avoiding having children taken
  into care
• Financial support from family and friends could
  prevent women from having to commit offences to
  finance their drug habit
• Realistic views of the damage caused to family
  relationships, and the work needed to repair
  those relationships
• Powerful sense of obligation to family members
  and their need for support could provide a
  powerful motivation to change

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsPatterns
of offending and substance misuse

• History of committing acquisitive crimes, usually
  theft/shoplifting, and handling of stolen goods
• Violent offences less common
• Entering the criminal justice system seen as an
  opportunity to access help Sometimes you need
  to be caught to get the help
• Prison seen by many as the only way of accessing
  treatment (unavailable in the community, lengthy
  waits)
• Frustration at an overall lack of a preventative
  approach to problematic drug use (services not
  available until matters had reached crisis point)
• Direct link perceived between drug use and
  offending behaviour

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsPatterns
of offending and substance misuse

• Progression onto crack use seen as particularly
  problematic (e.g. involvement in prostitution,
  increased risks to personal safety) - I would do
  worse things to get it
• Distinction drawn between marijuana use (commonly
  seen as a normal adolescent activity) and the
  use of harder drugs
• Difference compared with alcohol use, with women
  reporting that they had no need to commit
  acquisitive crime to fund their drinking as
  booze is cheap enough to get
• NB. public order offences committed under the
  influence of alcohol (not seen as real
  offending?)

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsEngagement
with services

• Majority of interviewees had engaged with
  services on multiple occasions, and rates of
  non-completion were high
• Referrals came from a variety of sources (police,
  prison officers, probation, social services, and
  family/friends) although none of the women
  reported being referred by a GP
• Self-referral was either alone or with a partner
• Majority felt that engagement with services had
  helped them manage/reduce their substance use
• Previous failures in engaging with services not
  necessarily seen as a fault of the services
  themselves (emphasis on personal responsibility)

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsEngagement
with services

• Changes and improvements in personal motivation
  seen as the key catalyst for successful
  engagement with services, alongside the provision
  of a supportive environment in which to achieve
  change
• Identification of turning points e.g. age
  milestones
• Accessing support seen as a long and difficult
  process to negotiate often due to lack of trust
  in authority
• Identification with particular workers cf.
  specific services
• Value placed on a friendly, open, non-judgemental
  and non-intrusive attitude - and the focus on
  service users capabilities rather than deficits

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsEngagement
with services

• Workers as an important source of emotional
  support (unwilling to disclose to families)
• Flexible approach of workers was highly valued
  (being given a second chance to engage)
• Importance of providing ongoing support beyond
  statutory, time-limited engagement period They
  dont just leave me, and thats the good thing
  about them
• Importance of providing immediate, responsive
  support
• Need for out of hours and weekend support

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(4) Offender interviews key findingsEngagement
with services

• Coverage of services in some areas seen as
  problematic, particularly North Norfolk (also
  applied to associated services such as
  bereavement counselling)
• Value of peer-to-peer support (empowerment,
  empathy)
• Need for involvement in practical activities
  (structure and routine) e.g. group work giving
  access to peer support and coping strategies

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(5) Conclusions and recommendations

• Potential tensions between importance of drawing
  on insights and experiences of services users in
  shaping services, and pre-defined service
  parameters
• Overall provision of services is effective, but
  there is potential for improving coordination
  (particularly with reference to the areas of
  mental health and housing)
• Difficulties in disseminating/sharing information
• Maintain and strengthen the flexible and
  personalised nature of the support provided to
  female clients (one worker as a main point of
  contact, building trust) in order to maximise
  womens engagement particularly important in
  transition periods e.g. release from custody

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(5) Conclusions and recommendations

• Recognise the importance of other family members,
  particularly partners (availability of joint
  access to treatment)
• Recognise the need for increased support to
  service users who are mothers
• Recognise the need to support extended family
  members (centrality to effective resettlement
• Further work needed on mental health issues faced
  by female service users (potential improvements
  to partnership working and service provision)
• Prioritising women-only services where possible

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(5) Conclusions and recommendations

• Addressing concerns about geographical coverage
  of provision (difficulties of travelling to
  services, particularly acute in Norfolk)
• Need for closer liaison with housing agencies
  (central to effective resettlement) and further
  provision of supported housing
• Investigate the possibility of setting up peer
  support networks (equipping women with life and
  employment skills)
• Acknowledge the importance of providing a clear
  and consistent structure to each day in order to
  build the foundations of a drug free life and a
  positive future