Tackling Double Disadvantage
Ending inequality for Black, Asian, minoritised, and migratised women in the criminal justice system.
10 Aug 2022
Our Chief Executive, Indy Cross, recently spoke to ITV News and Monifa Bob-Simon about the racist treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised women in the criminal justice system.
As part of a feature on the discrimination faced by minoritised women in prison, ITV News also spoke to poet Lady Unchained about her experience in prison, and Nina Champion, Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA). This April, the CJA and Independent Monitoring Boards published their report, Towards Racial Equality, on the treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised women in prison.
Commenting on the issue, Indy called for urgent and collaborative action:
“Let’s co-produce, co-design interventions with Black women, Asian women, minoritised women. Let’s ensure we’re recruiting Black, Asian, minoritised women into the prison system. That’s the only way we can tackle it. We need to act on this now.”
We know that too-often ignored, minoritised women face the ‘double disadvantage’ of gender inequality and racism when they encounter the criminal justice system. This stops them from getting the support they need both within the system and when they try to rebuild their lives outside, leaving them at risk of reoffending.
In partnership with Hibiscus Initiatives, Muslim Women in Prison, Zahid Mubarek Trust, Criminal Justice Alliance and Women in Prison therefore, we developed a 10-point action plan for change to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities and discrimination against Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women in contact with the criminal justice system.
Learn more about our work tackling racial inequality in the criminal justice system and read our action plan here.