Presenting research that should underpin effective practice with women who offend, this work aims to help professionals meet the needs of this group as well as providing a theoretical resource for policy makers and academics. It covers patterns of female offending and black women in prison.

Presenting research that will underpin effective practice with women who offend, this unique and thought-provoking text aims to help professionals meet the needs of this group as well as providing a theoretical resource for policy makers and academics. The authors, coming from a variety of professional and research perspectives, discuss important issues concerning women in the criminal justice system, including:
*the increase in custodial sentences for women
*black women in prison
*patterns of female offending
*drug use and the criminal justice system
*the needs of women on release from prison. Calling into question the relevance to female offenders of research conducted with men who commit crime, the contributors provide a comprehensive knowledge base on women and crime for professionals who work in this area. With a broad range of contributions, this book will be helpful to probation officers, social workers, policy makers and others who work with female offenders.

Part I Female offending and responses to it: Female offending - a theoretical overview, Loraine Gelsthorpe
breaking the mould - patterns of female offending, Michele Burman
from
"a safer to a better way" - transformations in penal policy
for women, Jacqueline Tombs
why are more women being sentenced to custody? Carol Hedderman. Part II Women in the criminal justice system: living with paradox - community supervision of women offenders, Judith Rumgay
service with a smile?
Women and community "punishment", Gill McIvor
women in prison, Nancy Loucks
women's release from prison - the case for change, Christine Wilkinson
black women and the criminal justice system, Ruth Chigwada-Bailey. Part III Contemporary issues: risk, dangerousness and female offenders, Hazel Kemshall
the "criminogenic" needs of women offenders - what should a programme for women focus on? Carol Hedderman
women, drug use and the criminal justice system, Margaret Malloch
working with girls and young women, Susan Batchelor and Michele Burman
no place like home - accommodating women who offend, Gill McIvor.