Conspicuous by their absence: Bearing witness to the silenced voices of black women in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Despite being the most overrepresented group of women in the Criminal Justice System (CJS), a significant lack of attention has been paid to Black women in academic literature and government policy in relation to this disparity. Using a Black feminist lens, this thesis seeks to illuminate the mistreatment, neglect, discrimination, and oppression experienced by Black women once in the CJS. The research highlights and bears witness to their voices and lived experiences through a process of Narrative Interviewing, one of the most effective tools for collecting data from marginalised groups. Additionally, Black feminist epistemologies namely, Critical Race Feminism (CRF) and Black Feminist Thought (BFT) are the theoretical frameworks that assist in providing powerful counter narratives to deconstruct negative stereotypes and promote agency. Eight women with experience of imprisonment in England and Wales were interviewed, producing 21 in-depth interviews. This thesis explores the lived experiences of Black women across all four major CJS agencies: the Police, the Courts, the Prison Service, and the Probation Service and highlight at every stage of the CJS, Black women are disproportionately discriminated against with consistently poor outcomes. The data suggests that, in an already problematic system, poor treatment and negative experiences are due to intersectional factors such as race, gender, religion, and class. The thesis ends with some considerations for how to minimise exclusionary practices and integrate Black women’s narratives into solutions to the highlighted issues.