17 Mar 2026
Yesterday (16 March 2026) the Ministry of Justice published a report from the Women’s Justice Board, alongside an announcement of £31.6 million in funding for women’s services.
We welcome the Board’s recommendation for the Government to publish and deliver a Young Women's Strategy within the next year. We particularly welcome the specific focus on care leavers, along with a recommendation for all actions in the report to be developed with an anti-racist, intersectional approach to address the disparities faced by Black, Asian, minoritised and migratised women. The Government must commit to developing and delivering a Young Women's Strategy, to create clear pathways to support for young women who have distinct needs, reduce reoffending, and end lifelong cycles of harm.
Our Young Women’s Justice Project has run for six years, and was the first national platform to highlight the needs of girls and young women in contact with the criminal justice system (CJS). Over the course of this work, we have long campaigned for the Ministry of Justice to develop a strategy focused on young women in touch with the CJS, centring their needs for the first time in Government policy. We know that young women in contact with the CJS often experience a complex combination of problems, taking place in a wider context of discrimination and inequality. They are an invisible minority - overlooked in both policy and practice - on account of their gender, and their age, which is why a strategy focused on their needs is so vital.
Young women in contact with the CJS very often experience multiple unmet needs, have extensive experience of trauma and abuse, and require specialist, gender-specific support. These needs could include support around: domestic abuse and other forms of VAWG; mental health issues; experience of racism; exclusion from education; experience of the care system; homelessness; substance use; and child removal. These experiences often overlap with and compound one another. They can also act as drivers of offending, with young women criminalised for their vulnerabilities, rather than offered care or support.
At all stages of contact with the CJS, including arrest, courts and sentencing, probation supervision, and custody and resettlement, young women need wrap-around support – which is why a cross-cutting, strategic approach is so desperately needed. Our research shows that:
- 54% of young women (18-25) in prison have experienced domestic abuse, which goes up to 58% for those serving longer sentences of 4+ years.1
- Up to 90% of girls in contact with the youth justice system have experienced abuse from a family member or someone they trusted.2
- 63% of girls and young women serving community sentences have experienced rape or domestic abuse.3
- In 2024, young women (18-24) accounted for over a third (35%) of all recorded self-harm incidents in women’s prisons. This problem is even more acute for young women aged 18-20 who make up 2% of the women’s prison population but account for 17% of self-harm incidents.4
We know that any strategy needs to be ambitious and cross-cutting, working across departments to ensure these young women receive holistic care. The strategy must have a specific focus on the needs of Black, Asian, minoritised and migratised young women, and care experienced young women. Black, Asian, minoritised and migratised young women in contact with the CJS face the trauma and double disadvantage of both institutional misogyny and racism, as well as greater barriers in accessing support, and reduced access to specialist services. This double disadvantage feeds into racial disproportionality: our data analysis shows that since 2018, young Black women have received custodial sentences at a rate that is 34% higher than young white women.5
The need for a strategic focus on young women in contact with the CJS is clear, and the recommendation from the Women's Justice Board offers a clear window of opportunity to centre the needs of young women in policy, and to embed an age-responsive approach to the needs of women in the CJS. We urge the Government to acknowledge the breadth of evidence demonstrating the need for this, and commit to the Women’s Justice Board’s recommendation of publishing a Young Women’s Strategy within the next year.
Indy Cross, Chief Executive of Agenda Alliance, said:
At last, we have a firm recommendation for a strategy that addresses the distinct needs of young women in the criminal justice system. Now, more than ever, this strategy is necessary: young women in the CJS experience indefensibly high rates of self-harm, domestic abuse, and have high reoffending rates. These are not issues that can be addressed without sharp focus, and the expertise of the specialist sector that work with young women.
Crucially, young women are not a monolith. Any strategy must take care to address disproportionate experiences and outcomes for racially minoritised, migratised, and care experienced young women, and meaningfully consult with the organisations who tirelessly advocate for them.
A strategy focusing on young women in the CJS is something we at Agenda Alliance have consistently advocated for. However, this is just the first step in a significant shift that is needed within policy and practice. Beyond strategies, consistent, sustained and meaningful action is needed from all professionals working to support young women. We are ready to work with the Government in the implementation phase, and hope it will accept this recommendation as a matter of urgency.
Our thanks go to many of our Alliance members who sit on the Women’s Justice Board, who have consistently advocated for the needs of young women in the CJS, as well as the specialist organisations in our Alliance who have helped develop the wider recommendations.
- Ministry of Justice (2025) Identified offender needs, custody and community, 31 October 2024
- Agenda Alliance (2022) “We’ve Not Given Up”
- Ibid
- Agenda Alliance (2025) Agenda Alliance responds to over 20,000 incidents of self-harm in the women’s estate in just one year
- Home Office (2025) Outcomes by Offence Data Tool