Introduction

Baroness Corston, in her 2007 Review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system, believed that ‘an integral part’ (Corston, 2007: 11) of the women's reform agenda involved ‘educating the public’ on matters of women's offending and imprisonment. Calling on the then Labour government to assume this responsibility, Corston hoped that ‘this may go some way to … encourage a reasoned and enlightened debate’ (Corston, 2007: 11). Four years and a change in political administration later, Corston's response to the Coalition government's Breaking the cycle consultation (its first official foray into criminal justice policy making) expressed frustration about the lack of penal progress for women, and argued that ‘reducing the number of women in custody would be welcomed by the public and supported in the media’ (Corston, 2011: 3). While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to document the extent to which the public may support a reduction in the female prison population, it will drill deeper into the second part of this assertion. Based on empirical data gathered from interviews with directors of national penal reform organisations, former Justice Ministers and senior civil servants, social commentators and journalists from across the spectrum, this chapter will critically explore the role of the national print news media in the development of women's penal policy. In investigating the viewpoints of journalists working on crime and home affairs, it will simultaneously explore the extent to which the news media is viewed as a policy-making ‘tool’ by those seeking to reform the penal system. With an overarching focus on the endeavours of penal reform campaigners, it will shed more light on this specialist network of policy actors.

Like others engaged in lobbying, making arguments perceived as having traction with the political elite is a key part of campaigners’ work (Mills and Roberts, 2012: 8), and they do so through variously undertaking a combination of lobbying, media work, research and campaigning on criminal justice issues (Mills and Roberts, 2012: 8). While individual mission statements, ideologies and choice of rhetoric may differ, the overarching ‘problem’ as far as women's penal reform campaigners are concerned is the unnecessary overuse of imprisonment for non-violent female offenders (who make up the majority of the female prison population) and the lack of gender-specific policies in a criminal justice system dominated by men.