The Review of Gender Equality

Part of 4. Questions to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 11 December 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:25, 11 December 2018

Indeed, and the Cabinet Secretary and I have had a very good working relationship over this and we've been working very hard on it over the last couple of years, actually, haven't we? And I think that the statement is very reflective of that. We're very keen that women are deflected from prison or the criminal justice system where at all possible, that we work hard with the judiciary, including the magistrates, to ensure that they aren't given—there's no unconscious bias in the sentencing. There clearly is at the moment: the statistics show clearly that women go to prison at a much lower level of crime than men, and the Cabinet Secretary and I have had many discussions about the issue around losing family and children and what happens in the vicious cycle you describe. And I'm sure he'll be covering off all of those issues in his statement later on today.