Thousands of Women Pointlessly Arrested Every Year

Women suffering from poverty, mental health illnesses and victims of domestic and sexual abuse are being arrested unnecessarily and criminalised, according to MPs. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System (APPG) published a report arguing that police resources were being ‘wasted’ as women were inappropriately held in custody before being released without being charged. The study drew on data from five police forces in the UK covering 600 arrests of women which found 40% of arrests resulted in no further action. It cited examples of women being arrested for non-violent offences including a woman arrested for begging outside a supermarket and another woman for repeatedly walking into a main road.

Almost 100,00 arrests of women were made during the year in 2019. Out of 43,000 arrests for alleged violent offences, 19,000 led to no further action being taken, the APPG report finds. The report found that many of the women who were arrested were victims in a domestic abuse incident. Almost three-quarters of the women arrested were previously known to the police due to being victims of sexual violence. The report stated that forces do not always have to arrest in situations like these, and that positive action should be taken, such as finding alternative accommodation or a safe place for the woman to go. You can read the report on the website of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Read more: Kaya Kannan, Justice Gap, https://is.gd/eP1MbS