The original aim of this research was to examine the efficacy of the gender specific community based provision offered to young women by Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire youth offending services. It was also to consider whether girls responded more positively to a gender specific approach. During the preliminary preparations it became apparent that this would require research with a larger sample size. Accordingly, taking into account the limitations of the sample group, and without a matched
cohort who had not attended the gender specific programmes, sustainability became the main focus of the research proposal.

The approach to this research is qualitative. The original purpose of the research was to attempt to establish why some women engage well with services and achieve their care-plan goals, whilst many others recognise that they need intervention and treatment, but refuse to engage with it. However, two major factors emerged during the interview phase, and these re-directed the research to address the following questions:
• What are the real underlying causes of female drug use?
and
• Does the treatment system recognise them and make adequate provision for women?

There has been a focus on increasing levels of participation in volunteering in recent years but volunteering opportunities for offenders and ex-offenders have been neglected, despite the fact that it is argued that volunteering can help reduce re-offending. The objective was to discover whether women who had volunteered found it to be a positive and beneficial experience. The research examined the wider issues around volunteering and by doing so sought to draw up a good practice guide. A further aim was to raise awareness of the specific issues for women ex-offenders.

The research looks at the uses of museum and gallery education with female offenders. It aims to:
• provide evidence that working with the arts has a positive effect on the rehabilitation of female offenders;
• argue that participation in arts projects for offenders is their cultural entitlement and should be facilitated by the authorities as a human right;
• investigate the problems that arts organisations have in delivering projects to female offenders and suggest ways to overcome these problems.
This qualitative research used observations, questionnaires, field notes and semi-structured interviews through to participation and action research. Projects were undertaken with the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A), in HMP Askham Grange and in HMP Holloway.

The key question raised by this research is 'to what extent does living in a rural area impact on the successful resettlement of female offenders and the specific disadvantages that they face’. The research examines how aspects of rural crime may differ from urban crime, and the particular difficulties female offenders in a rural environment face when complying with a court order or prison licence. The main focus of the research is the availability and accessibility of community based partnerships and agencies in rural areas. The research is based on interviews with eighteen women who were interviewed in the probation office where they reported – five in Carlisle, eight in Barrow-in-Furness, four in Whitehaven and one in Workington. Key-workers from various agencies were also interviewed and the problems of delivering a service to offenders in rural areas discussed

The objective of this project was to examine the processes that assist with effective resettlement for juvenile girls with specific reference to the work of the Rivendell Unit* by:
• identifying the concerns that young women and staff have about effective resettlement specifically in terms of gender;
• identifying successful current practice for this group in resettlement;
• identifying barriers to effective resettlement; and
• charting the experience of resettlement for these young women and follow-up issues over a set period of time.

The aim of the research was to look at what specialist support services exist in prison for street-based sex workers. The main objectives were: to ascertain what specialist services exist in prison for sex workers; to explore how the services are accessed and delivered; to assess the awareness amongst prison based staff of the needs of sex workers in their care; and to examine prison-based strategies for supporting the needs of sex workers in prison.

This study explores female need and provision within Approved Premises settings, primarily the particular needs of female residents/offenders including bailees, probationers
and licensees. The study examines the structure of support to help women regain control of their lives, to empower them to progress to the next stage, ie. semi independent/independent living. It aims to highlight the strengths, weaknesses and, effectiveness of regimes in reducing offending for women; and to identify
any gaps which exist.
NB. The term Approved Premises refers to (Home Office) defined standards of practice.

This research project focusses on older women in the criminal justice system and aimed to:
• ascertain what proportion of older women offenders (50+) make up the growing prison population;
• examine community sentences and other punishments given as an alternative to custody, for this group;
• provide a focus on the rehabilitation and resettlement of older women on their release from prison, especially those with drug and alcohol problems;
• examine the role of outside agencies in the resettlement of older women offenders and to determine their effectiveness.
The research is based on interviews with offenders, magistrates, judges, justices’ clerks, probation officers, representatives of voluntary organisations, a deputy prison governor and government ministers.

The aim of this project was to explore the relationship between what women in the criminal justice system want and need to desist from further offending, and what criminal
justice and other associated agencies provide. A review of the literature exploring these issues, together with the information generated from the women’s accounts of their experiences, form the evidence contained in the full report.

Griffins Research Paper 2002/01 is the report of a study of the resettlement issues facing women lifers before release. This follow-up research focussed on the women’s actual experience of release:
• to explore whether the women had been adequately prepared for release and whether they received sufficient support to assist with their reintegration into the community; and
• to consider whether the reality of release corresponded with the women’s expectations before release.

This purpose of the study was to investigate and identify the self-employment opportunities available for female offenders on release from custody and in the community. The research involved interviews with women in custody, business support organisations, financial institutions and entrepreneurial women who have had experience of the
criminal justice system. A key aim of the research was to produce information about self-employment in a guidebook format for the use of women in custody and the community — the ‘Self-employment Guidebook’.