The traumatic personal experiences of criminalised women in the criminal justice system often go unnoticed.
Their experiences are ignored; their needs minimised; their support and treatment an afterthought.
Through the publication of short articles, we are providing a space for women's voices to be heard. Madeline Petrillo, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, is telling their stories. She uses their own words where possible, as recorded in a series of interviews for a project examining women’s pathways to desistance from crime. All names and other identifying information have been changed.
Why we are publishing these stories
The origins of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies was in the provision of therapeutic interventions for criminalised individuals. Early figures in our history included Dr Grace Pailthorpe, Dr Edward Glover, Professor Sigmund Freud and Professor Carl Jung. The Portman Clinic, now part of the NHS, was established by the Centre in 1933 to treat patients.
In recent years, the traumatic experiences of criminalised populations, and the toxic nature of much mainstream criminal justice work, has become one of our core concerns.
- Our Justice Matters for Women initiative highlighted how current criminal justice responses are harmful for women. We are working with a growing network of individuals and organisations who want to identify and support alternatives that sit outside of the criminal justice system.
- Our My Story report, published in 2011, combined in-depth conversations with young people in prison, with insights from psychotherapy to offer a unique insight into the severe, multiple and prolonged trauma experienced by many who, while still children, go on to perpetrate serious, violent acts.
- Our One Small Thing project worked with staff in women’s prisons and in the community, developing approaches grounded in understanding, fostering positive outcomes for all. We call this trauma-informed practice.
- Our research into trauma and harm in women's prisons examined women’s lifetime experiences of trauma – not forgetting the ‘here and now’ of multiple stresses in prison – to provide evidence for new directions in prison management and community-based options for women.