Strong foundations and clear pathways

Women Offender Framework and Action Plan – June 2019 to June 2024

Women’s needs and the complexity in the lives of many of the women entering DCS cannot be ignored. Our approach for women seeks to enhance women’s self-efficacy and personal development. We strive to support women to address the significant interplay between their offending and their common experience of accumulative trauma, mental health issues, substance dependence, unhealthy relationships and poverty.

Over the past 10 years the Department has utilised strategy to raise the profile of the needs of women who become involved in the criminal justice system. The Department has embedded the role of Principal Advisor for Women Offenders, and the first strategic framework was launched in 2015.

During the last 5 years, many policy and operational changes have occurred within DCS, notably expansion of home detention, pre-release and front-end sentencing. This has been complemented by a comprehensive suite of rehabilitative programming, reintegration support services, as well as cultural supports and gender centric supervision models. Informed by theories on what works for women, the underlying drivers to women’s incarceration and criminal justice involvement have been targeted.

Key partnerships between DCS and a range of services and agencies have become integral to assisting us in achieving many outcomes for women. Our relationships with community, government and private sector organisations are highly valued by the Department, as we recognise that the contributions made continue to drive activity and achieve better outcomes for women with criminal justice involvement.

Research Findings

Evaluations and research have challenged status quo ideas and practices and called for a specific, shared vision for addressing offending by women.
Consistently emphasised in research is the importance of:

  • acknowledging women’s gendered and cultural needs in design of correctional environments, services and practices
  • designing and implementing approaches that strengthen the reliability and quality of service pathways to support women’s community reintegration
  • mandating planning and accountability requirements that reflect women’s priorities

Framework and Action Plan

The Strong Foundations and Clear Pathways: Women Offender Framework and Action Plan2 was developed based on consultation findings and research into effective engagement and intervention with women who offend.

While holding women accountable for the crime they commit, the initiative does not shy away from acknowledging the resilience and resourcefulness of women and their ability to focus on a new life pathway for themselves, their families and ultimately in connection to their communities.

Practical steps

To support implementation of the Strong Foundations & Clear Pathways2: Women Offender Framework and Action Plan a Ministerial appointed Workgroup was established. Comprised of government, business and community sector representatives, the Ministerial Workgroup provides a mechanism for overcoming obstacles to development and system change as well as to open up opportunity for input by a broad range of key interest groups into this important initiative.

Strong links are also being developed through the Ministerial appointed Workgroup to other Government priority reform areas including Justice Sector Reform, Justice Reinvestment, the Women’s Equality Blueprint 2023-26 and other Government strategies and advancements in areas of employment, higher education and skills.

Implementation

To support implementation of the Strong Foundations & Clear Pathways2: Women Offender Framework and Action Plan a Ministerial appointed Workgroup was established. Comprised of government, business and community sector representatives, the Ministerial Workgroup provides a mechanism for overcoming obstacles to development and system change as well as to open up opportunity for input by a broad range of key interest groups into this important initiative.

Strong links are also being developed through the Ministerial appointed Workgroup to other Government priority reform areas including Justice Sector Reform, Justice Reinvestment, the Women’s Equality Blueprint 2023-26 and other Government strategies and advancements in areas of employment, higher education and skills.

Community engagement - how you can help

We invite and encourage community, government, support agencies and business partners along with correctional staff to provide input into the ongoing advancement of this important initiative.

Next steps

I encourage all partners and stakeholders - internal and external staff, community groups, as well as women with lived experience, both in custody and community, to provide feedback and participate in this consultation.

Your reflections and experience are a vital part of our planning, to understand what has worked well over the last five years, as well as to provide inspiration for further improvement and new initiatives.

As we move to our next Women’s Framework and Action Plan, evaluation of the achievements of the last five years will provide a strong platform for future-focused activity for women within DCS.


This text is from the Chief Executive's Message which can be found in Consultation Paper: The Next Steps in Strategy & Action for Women.

    Documents

  • Download: WAP 2019-2024 Consultation Paper (5.9 MB PDF)
  • Download: 2019-24 Women's Action Plan Strong Foundations and Clear Pathways2 Booklet (764.5 KB PDF)
  • Download: 2019-24 Women's Action Plan Strong Foundations and Clear Pathways2 A3 (39.3 KB PDF)
  • Download: Women Offender Framework & Action Plan Consultation Paper 2019-2024 (1.9 MB PDF)
  • Download: 2014-19 Women Offender Framework and Action Plan (2.8 MB PDF)