Public Says Prison Not The Answer For Women

The public favour providing women offenders with drug treatment, mental health care and community sentences rather locking them up, according to new research from MORI for the Fawcett Society.

When offered a list of possible ways to cope with the increase of women in prisons over the past 10 years, more than eight in ten people (82 per cent) favoured providing more treatment centres for offenders with mental health problems. This was followed by more residential drug treatment (supported by 74 per cent) and greater use of community sentences (68 per cent). In contrast, fewer than half of people supported more prisons and one per cent supported tougher penalties.

Technical details

MORI conducted 1,006 interviews by telephone among a representative quota sample of British adults aged 16+ between 5-8 March 2004. Data were weighted to match the known demographic profile of adults in Great Britain.

Q There has been an increase of over 280% in the number of women in prison in the last 10 years. There are a number of different things that could be done to cope with this. Of those I read out, which, if any, would you like to see?