INSTITUTE OF LAW AT THE LITHUANIAN CENTRE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES

NEWS

The FemiJust project conference „A just punishment for women? Punitive practices and female offenders‘ experiences“ took place

The Research Council of Lithuania co-funded Project “Defeminised criminal justice: female offenders’ penalties and their experience of punishment” (Femijust) partner team consisting of Law Institute of the Lithuanian Center for Social Sciences, University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology and Vytautas Magnus University organized a conference „A just punishment for women? Punitive practices and female offenders‘ experiences“, that took place on the 23rd of June 2021.

The conference discussed the issue of fair punishment for women, analyse trends in the interpretation of women’s criminal behaviour and the composition of criminal activity, as well as delve into the applicable punishment mechanisms and practices. Presentations were delivered by members of the academic community, practitioners and other representatives.

Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge Loraine Gelsthorpe and researcher Jane Dominey during the presentation „What works with women?“ presented the lessons from their research, the importance of community centres for women and stressed the importance of seeing women first, offenders last. Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences researchers dr Rūta Vaičiūnienė and Liubovė Jarutienė during the presentation „Gender & Sentencing in Lithuania: more mercy for women?“ presented the results of their study and tendencies of women imprisonment in Lithuania. Dr Simonas Nikartas in the presentation „Pains of probation: experiences of Lithuanian women under community supervision“ presented the experience of offender women on Probation in Lithuania. Dr Artūras Tereškinas in his presentation „Emotional work and emotional rules in Panevėžys correctional facility, Lithuania“ drew attention not only to the execution of the sentence itself but also to the emotional aspects and importance of imprisonment. Lecturer in Law at Dundalk Institute of Technology, dr Aoife Watters in the presentation „Women’s experiences of imprisonment in Ireland“, presented her study, which examined the characteristics of the penitentiary system in Ireland itself and also compared the differences between men and women imprisonment. Dr Arta Jalili Idrissi, a Lecturer at Staffordshire University, presented „Women’s imprisonment in Latvia: the clash of the Soviet and neoliberal ‘titans’“ where she viewed women’s imprisonment through three realms: the material, procedural and ideological. Marguerite Schinkel, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, provided a detailed analysis of the inappropriate detention and non-assistance of women in Scotland while reading her presentation „The experience of persistent imprisonment for women in Scotland“.Criminology and Criminal Justice System Research Group member and researcher Ares Batlle in the presentation „Are we treating self-harm as misconduct in female prisons?“ presented her research where she analyses disciplinary regime, misconduct and self-harm. María Izco Rincón, a researcher that works at the Department of Public Law, University of Malaga, presented her research about Spanish prisons and answered a question: “Are gender, age and nationality factors of discrimination in prison life?”. Researcher and a member of the European Society of Criminology Andreia de Castro Rodrigues read the presentation „Female offenders’ perceptions about penal sanctions purposes and their own penalty“ presented her research about the Portuguese prison system.

You can watch the video of the conference here.

We would like to sincerely thank all the presenters for their shared insights and invaluable experiences.

The conference is part of the Research Council of Lithuania co-funded project “Defeminised criminal justice: female offenders’ penalties and their experiences of punishment” (FemiJust). You can find out more about the project here.