Why are more NZ women in jail?

More young women are getting involved in crime, according to the police commissioner. While the causes of this are uncertain at present, it is reflected in the prison population.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush, briefing MPs at Parliament last week, was unable to explain the rise of serious wrongdoing among women and young people generally. However, he suggested that social media might be to blame.

Some of the motivation ‘‘is actually about people getting notoriety’’, he suggested. ‘‘On social media people will upload their activities quite quickly thereafter. My concern [is] that some of these crimes are driven out of wanting a few minutes of fame.’’

Perhaps Bush is speaking from experience. He might have specific cases in mind when he speaks of crimes being committed in front of a camera and then uploaded to social media to boost the offenders’ fame – or infamy.

But, with the greatest respect to him, the increase in the number of women behind bars is too large to be attributed merely to people seeking notoriety online.

In September 2012, there were only 511 women behind bars. This means the female prison population has gone up more than 56 per cent in just five years.

Of course, it is true that the prison population generally has risen over that time, but the number of men behind bars has not gone up quite as much. In September 2012, there were 8112 men in prison. By September last year, the number was 9670 – an increase of 19 per cent.

The increase in the female prison population then is rising nearly three times as fast as the number of male prisoners.

This is despite the fact that the justice system tends to send men to prison more readily than women. New Zealand research has found that women are less likely to be jailed for similar offending, and receive lighter sentences when they are.

But Department of Corrections data also reveals some other startling common factors shared by many women behind bars. More than two-thirds of them – 68 per cent – have been the victim of family violence. The proportion who have suffered family violence, rape or sexual assault, or a combination of these, tops 75 per cent. Three quarters of women in prison have diagnosed mental health problems (compared with 61 per cent of men) and 52 per cent are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (compared with 22 per cent of men).

These statistics, and the rises in prison populations overall, suggest that the motivations that drive women’s offending are far more complicated than a sudden need to appear on social media.

The Labour-led Government has pledged to reduce prison numbers by 30 per cent over the next 15 years. Justice Minister Andrew Little maintains that the increases in recent years are due to ‘‘out-of-control’’ penal policies that have brought failure.

A review of the criminal justice system needs data and evidence to enable better understanding of why the numbers have been heading in the wrong direction.

-Stuff