The launch of the Women’s Justice Board on 21 January 2025 marks a significant moment in rethinking how the UK treats women in the criminal justice system. Campaigners have stressed that women’s offending is often rooted in trauma, domestic abuse, poverty and addiction. Prisons rarely address these issues and often deepen the harm.
Chaired by Prisons Minister Lord Timpson, the Board brings together senior figures from government, research and the voluntary sector. Its mission is to reduce the number of women in prison, expand community-based alternatives, and prioritise those facing the greatest vulnerabilities, including pregnant women, young adults and women of colour. With more than 3,600 women currently in custody, plans to move hundreds into rehabilitation and treatment settings could even allow the closure of at least one women’s prison.
The need for change is urgent: four in five women in prison have a history of significant head injury, most linked to domestic violence, and one in three self-harmed last year. More than half are mothers.
But the Board has faced immediate criticism for excluding women with lived experience—an omission charities warn risks policy blind spots.
The Women’s Justice Board signals real momentum. Now its credibility depends on centring the voices of women who know the system first-hand.
Read Keisha Clarke’s full article on The View 15 here The View Magazine Issue 15 Autumn 2025 Digital Edition – The View – for women with conviction