The Use and Gendered Impact of Short-Term Sentences on Women.

By Rose Thorp,

UCEN Manchester - Manchester Metropolitan University

Short-term prison sentences are disproportionately handed to women, specifically for low-level and persistent offending. Too often short sentences cause long-term damage to women’s and their families lives, and avoidable disruption is caused. Short sentences interrupt any community support women may have been receiving and make it incredibly difficult to successfully engage in rehabilitative services in prison. Limited positive change can take place when short sentences are being served and this is resulting in re-offending, and consequently short sentences are being used as a response and the cycle continues. This research paper will explore the use and gendered impact of short-term sentences on women and argue that despite the excessive use of them for women, there appears to be more disruption taking place and not enough rehabilitation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13866687

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The Media, Gender-Based Violence & Women’s Fear of Crime: An Exploratory, Interview-Based Study.

By Danielle Marie Larbi,

London Metropolitan University.

While the fear of crime in women has been researched, it is often reduced to a fear of the looming threat of sexual assault. There is insufficient research on the external factors that can affect the way women fear crime. Therefore, this study investigates whether media depictions of violence against women have any effect on the way they fear crime. Most types of media graphically depict violence against women, but they often misrepresent the realities of this type of violence. As such, this study aims to explore these depictions and their effects on women and their fear of crime. Seven semistructured interviews with female university students between the ages of 20-30 were conducted for this study. Through the examination of these interviews, it is discovered that there is evidence that both graphic and non-graphic media depictions of violence against women have a negative effect on the way women fear crime. However, it was also discovered that forms of factual media, in conjunction with multiple other factors, such as race and distrust in law enforcement, have a large effect on the way females fear crime. Moreover, it is argued that depictions of violence on social media have a large impact on this age range. Further research is needed to thoroughly understand how other factors interact with media.

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13866505

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Categories of Child Protection & Extra-Familial Harm: An Interview-Based Study with Practitioners Exploring the Limits of the Children Act 1989.

By Samantha Halil,

London Metropolitan University.

The Children Act (1989) is a long-standing piece of legislation that defines significant harm into categories of child abuse or neglect. This was built upon the concept of harm occurring inside the home, predominantly from parents/caregivers. In modern society, the four categories of harm, thus being physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect, remain unchanged, with a strong focus on parental capacity. However, with advancements in social media and contextual safeguarding cases on the rise across the UK, no category of abuse or neglect currently fits the concept of extra-familial harm and limited primary research has been carried out with social work professionals to explore whether the current categories of child protection, are relevant to extra-familial harm. This research paper aims to build upon research undertaken by Firmin (2022) and address the gap in legislation whereby extrafamilial harm is not listed as a category of abuse, and to explore with social work professionals through the method of structured interviews and thematic analysis, whether there is a need for a reform of current legislation. The paper provides a detailed analysis of how extra-familial harm is an emerging risk making up a large proportion of the social work caseload with child criminal and sexual exploitation being the main child protection issues faced by teenagers outside of the family home. Professionals also felt that there were strong links between looked after children (LAC) and further exposure to extrafamilial harm, and that the response of placing a child under local authority care, is rarely a solution to tackles cases of contextual safeguarding. Furthermore, workers felt that the category of neglect was widely used as a catch all category due to there being no relevant category for cases of extra-familial harm. The paper also provided an insight into the powerful emotions felt by parents whose children were placed into the category of neglect and felt judgement of a ‘failure to protect’. The overarching themes arising from the research paper, draws upon a need to establish amendments to current legislation, to reflect upon the changed risk profile of more risk coming from outside of the family home.

This work received the 2024 JCJD Dissertation Prize.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13866897

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