An Underrepresented Overrepresentation: Highlighting the Challenges of Ethnic Minority Women in the English Justice System

This paper discusses the challenges that ethnic minority women experience in the English criminal justice system (CJS), that is, England and Wales. It provided a detailed analysis of how ethnic minority women are treated within the CJS, starting from the stage of arrest, prosecution, sentencing and prison. Essentially, it discusses the disproportionate representation and challenges that these women face compared to their White counterparts. It shows, through statistical data, that ethnic minority women's rights within the CJS are underrepresented, hence leading to their being overrepresented in their prison facilities. Additionally, these women are treated less fairly than their White counterparts while in these prison facilities. Unlike White offenders, ethnic minority offenders have expressed how they tend to feel unsafe in those prison facilities because of the constant abuse they experience at the hands of the prison staff and other White offenders. They tend to face high levels of racial discrimination and a lack of support in prison and when being rehabilitated back into the community. Lastly, this paper highlights a few strategies on how England and Wales can help address the issues faced by these ethnic minority women within their CJS. For example, the CJS needs to implement culturally sensitive training for all their staff members to help them understand how best to serve and treat the needs of the ethnic minority women in the system.