So it seem there are fantastic plans to change how prison works for our 4000 female prisoners, (though for now
it seems government attention is not on the 78,000 male prisoners, except to
build bigger prisons). For you see over the last few years the number of female
convicts is going up, and the number of male convicts is going down.
So before I examine the
changes themselves with all the care and attention of Jeffrey Dahmer to his potential
love interests, I’ll explain to you a little bit about why the male to female
ratio of convicts in the UK is so massively skewed. I will do this in the form
of our current new media i.e. in a nifty, numbered, easy to digest little list
because I know that walls of texts are bad for the attention span of anyone
born around the year 2000.
1) Women
commit crimes differently to men.
Note: Not
different crimes, different methods. While men and women fly off the handle and
do dumb stuff at equivalent rates, women are much more likely to be given a
free pass (see point 2). When committing serious crime (such as murder) men
tend to opt for a more “personal” approach, using their fists, knives or (where
possible) a handgun. On the other hand women tend to favour poison, employing an intermediary, or vehicular homicide. As you can imagine one is significantly
easier to investigate and tie an offender to then the other, one of my favourite
little trivia facts is that in this country we have one man who works with the
police who has helped lock up 95% of the poisoners (mostly women), of course
this man is only responsible for 8% of the population so there are a LOT of
people mysteriously dying of “prolonged illnesses” and the law remains none the
wiser. To use a less dramatic crime (arguably) in Intimate Partner Violence men
and women offend at equivalent rates; women favour psychological and emotional
abuse, whereas men tend to resort to physical abuse, and let me tell you they
are both equally as damaging, except one gives you clear evidence to stage a police
and/or social services intervention.
2) Society
doesn’t like to put women in prison.
Women are arrested
80% less often for equivalent crimes, charged 70% less often for equivalent
crimes, convicted 70% less often for equivalent crimes, and then receive approximately 30% reduced sentence
when comparted to their male counterparts for equivalent crimes. So for every
100 men in prison for a crime there will statistically be about 2 women who
will be serving shorter sentences for the same offense. While the number is
actually closer to 20, this is down to a lot of factors (including the aforementioned
methodology of crime), but suffice to say it shows what the lady justice’s
blindfold may be in place, but she certainly gives your primary sexual organs a
once over before lending her judgment.
3) Women
have babies.
Because it
seems our legal system is still stick in the Victorian age, or they take
their cues from histrionic morons
who insist that mothers are parents where fathers are glorified babysitters and/or
potential sex offenders. Of course, criminal fathers make bad parents, but criminal
mothers are just misunderstood… The law tends to baulk at the notion of putting
a mother of any children behind bars, even if that means letting a repeat
offender go despite a recidivism rate that makes Vald the Impaler look like Vlad
the Interesting Dinner Companion.
Okay,
I’m getting side-tracked; but three is a good number for a list right? It’s a
magic number! Plus I violently object to putting complex ideas and problems
into soundbites as it just leads to people being under the mistaken impression they
are somehow informed after reading a few sentences on Wikipedia.
….Focus
Jay, focus….
The
current plans outlined go for “Softer options” for women prisoners, less time
in prison, better rehabilitative support, lower security, that kind of thing.
Here
is why that is a dumb idea: As mentioned above it is hard to get a women
into prison, with so many chances to get away with a crime it means that only
the very worst of offenders are in
prison, people who were unable to lean on the many ways to avoid prison because
of the viciousness or severity of their crimes, or their generally hostile
attitude toward law, order, and their fellow humans. They are statistically
likely to be some of the people who are in prison to protect society form them,
rather than any real hope of rehabilitation. So while I am generally in favour
of rehabilitation over punishment, I recognise that a percentage of people in
any population are going be of the kind that can’t mesh with society and need to be kept apart from it because
they are dangerously insane or morally bankrupt.
Secondly:
These ladies represent a tiny fraction of the overall prison population. If you
really wanted to bring the numbers down and alleviate the strain on the public
budget you’d focus on prisons, not just women’s prisons. It’s a transparent attempt
to appeal to “the left” under the guise of equality, while ignoring a very real
and very serious problem.
On
that note; Thirdly: It’s harmful to women, and gender equality. You cannot be a protected class and still be
expected to be treated equally. If there are two standards and you have the
better deal, then you’ll be treated as “lesser” by those who face the greater
adversity. A core part of the human psyche is the understanding that authority and
respect comes with responsibility, you want to be taken seriously you have to
be willing to put yourself on the line. If you hide behind your gender, your
race, your sexuality, your religion, or any other demographic you can think of
to excuse yourself then you will not be respected as an equal; you’ll be categorised
along with children as “protected class”. Sure you’ll get away with a lot more,
(like avoiding prison time) but you’ll not be allowed to sit at the grown up
table either. If you institutionalise that protected class then you’re creating
serious social problems down the line, you’re taken agency and respect away
from women, you’re telling people that they cannot be truly held accountable
for their actions in the same way men are. So you’re left with the actions of
women who are successful being dismissed as well as women who are criminal.
So
in short if you want equality you have to recognise that people will respect
you when you take the whole of the turd sandwich that is life, rather than
complaining that you just want the bread. I'm a firm believer that women and men are equals, and this means that they are equally responsible for their actions and equally capable of reprehensible actions. I'll treat you the same as I treat everyone regardless of any demographics or classes you ascribe to, equality is fair, but it's not always nice.
