Women`s Imprisonment Abolition Critique

Assignment Brief

Critically examine the following quotation: ‘Women’s imprisonment is, for several reasons, a prime candidate for abolition. Those reasons can, first, be derived pragmatically from the characteristics of the female prison population and, then, be related more fundamentally to possible shifts in the social control of women…’ (Carlen, 2002, pg. 90)

You will be assessed on:

• Use of academic literature
• This means academic journal articles and books. This does not include random finds from the internet, reports from organisations, media articles or any other material that is not academic. This is an academic piece of work and should be informed by wider academic debates.
   
• The extent to which you are critically engaging with the literature
• This means that you should not be writing descriptively, but instead critically. Descriptive writing is simply setting the background within which an argument could be developed. In this case, you are only presenting the situation as it stands, without providing any analysis or explanation. An essay that is purely descriptive will receive a low grade because you are regurgitating ideas but not taking them forward in any way. When you are critically writing you make effort to contribute to the wider academic debate. To do so, you consider the bigger debates surrounding the topic and evaluate them, using evidence. A much higher level of skill is clearly needed for critical writing than for descriptive writing, and this is reflected in the higher grades awarded.
   
• Whether or not you form well-structured and grammatically correct sentences that clearly convey your point.
• There should be no awkward sentences. Make sure you proofread your work for errors. If sentences are convoluted, it makes it difficult for the reader to understand you.
   
• Good paragraph structure and the development of an overarching argument
• You should structure your paragraphs in a logical manner. They should both form and help evidence your points as well as link to an overarching argument. This overarching argument and narrative should be clear in the conclusion.
    
• A good introduction and conclusion
• An introduction should introduce your topic in a couple of sentences in order to attract the attention of the reader. Avoid vague sentences. It should then indicate the structure of your essay, e.g. This essay explores…. It discusses…. It then addresses… X is highlighted….
• If you have been developing an argument throughout your essay, then your conclusion should be easy to write. It should not be a summary of your key points but should bring together all the arguments and points you have made to highlight the overarching argument/narrative. You’ve laid out all the pieces of the jigsaw throughout your essay and now you are stepping back to draw attention to the overall picture.
    
• Referencing style
• Please ensure that you are referencing correctly. We use the Harvard referencing style. You must also make sure that your reference list is presented in the correct format and that you are being consistent in your use of italics, etc. 
    
• Overall presentation and proofreading
• Font colour and size should be the same throughout, unless there is a good reason for the difference (e.g. in the report you have much more flexibility, but it should still be presented professionally). Please use double line spacing, or at 1.5 at least as this allows us space for comments when grading. There should be no, or very few, typographical errors.

REFERENCING AND PLAGIARISM

You are required to reference throughout your assignment and you must adhere to the correct academic conventions for doing so. Appropriate referencing is necessary to produce a high-quality piece of academic work. It is, therefore, a crucial factor in determining the judgements made – by both internal and external examiners – about the appropriate grade awarded.

Students must use Harvard referencing. Citations, quotations and reference lists should rigorously follow the University Library Harvard 2017/18 referencing style guide. This is available for you to consult at https://library.abertay.ac.uk/media/ctr%20harvard%202017-18.pdf

It is your responsibility to ensure that you avoid plagiarism.

Do not copy something from a book, journal article or online source and attempt to pass it as your own. Likewise, do not use a thesaurus to change just some of the words. This is still plagiarism. If you are paraphrasing, there must be almost none of the same words, but the meaning of the quote or idea should still be captured by your own words.

Plagiarism shows a lack of respect for researcher’s work and is a form of academic misconduct with penalties that include expulsion.

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES AND POLICY

GUIDELINES

Please ensure that you include a title page at the start of your essay. This should list your name, student number, course title, assignment title, date, word count, and name of tutor or module leader

Your work should be in an easy-to-read font (e.g Arial, Verdana etc.) It should be double-line-spaced with no less than moderate margins. You will be graded, in part, on the presentation of your work, including writing style, sentence structure, paragraph formation and professionalism.

POLICY

The School of Business, Law and Social Sciences requires that all students submit an electronic copy of their coursework (unless the ACME Module Descriptor states that an exception to this has been made). Students are expected to submit coursework in the following manner:-             

1. An electronic copy of the coursework is uploaded to the Turnitin file created within the module MyLearningSpace folder by 23.59 on the Wednesday of submission. (N.B. Any student failing to submit an electronic copy of their work, will be deemed to be guilty of Academic Deceit, and will consequently have an NS0 entered into their unit assessment record on OASIS).

2. Any student who submits their work after the 23.59 Wednesday deadline will have their work graded in accordance with the School’s Late Submission Policy. Where coursework is handed in late and there are no valid mitigating circumstances, the work will be accepted up to 2 days late. Late coursework will be adjusted on a sliding scale with one letter grade deducted for each day late for the first two days after which the only grade awarded will be 0NS

Sample Answer

Women’s Imprisonment and the Case for Abolition

Introduction

The imprisonment of women has long been a contested issue within criminology and feminist scholarship. Pat Carlen (2002, p. 90) argues that women’s imprisonment is a prime candidate for abolition, based on both pragmatic considerations about the female prison population and wider questions of social control. This essay critically examines Carlen’s claim. It explores the characteristics of women in prison, including their social and economic marginalisation, before considering broader feminist critiques of how the criminal justice system polices women’s behaviour. The discussion draws on academic debates around abolitionism, penology, and gender to evaluate whether the abolition of women’s prisons is a realistic or desirable goal.

Characteristics of the Female Prison Population

Pragmatic arguments for abolition often begin with the distinct characteristics of women prisoners. Research consistently shows that women in custody form a small proportion of the overall prison population, generally less than 5% in England and Wales (Ministry of Justice, 2022). Many women are imprisoned for non-violent and low-level offences, such as theft or drug-related crimes (Gelsthorpe & Hedderman, 2012).

A significant proportion also face socio-economic disadvantages, including poverty, unemployment, and poor education (Carlen, 1983; Worrall, 2002). Mental health problems, histories of abuse, and substance misuse are also disproportionately high among women prisoners (Prison Reform Trust, 2021). From a pragmatic standpoint, the prison system appears ill-suited to deal with these issues, which are rooted in social inequality rather than criminal intent.

Critics therefore argue that imprisonment fails to address the root causes of women’s offending and instead exacerbates social exclusion (Corston, 2007). Short custodial sentences, in particular, are seen as counterproductive, as they disrupt family life and increase the likelihood of reoffending.

The Social Control of Women

Carlen’s statement also points to a more fundamental critique of how women are socially controlled. Feminist criminologists have highlighted that women are often criminalised not only for breaking the law but also for transgressing gender norms (Heidensohn, 1985; Smart, 1990). For example, women who commit crimes are frequently judged more harshly if they are also perceived as “bad mothers” or as failing in traditional feminine roles.

This links women’s imprisonment to broader systems of patriarchal control. Carlen (1990) argued that the criminal justice system enforces a “gender deal” in which women are expected to conform to roles as carers and dependents. Those who fail to uphold this deal are more likely to be punished. In this sense, imprisonment functions less as a neutral response to lawbreaking and more as a mechanism of social discipline.

By relating women’s imprisonment to wider social control, Carlen and others place the issue within debates about penal abolitionism more broadly. The question is not just whether prisons are ineffective but whether they perpetuate inequalities and reinforce oppressive gender relations.

Continued...