Corrections_Today_September_October_2020_Vol.82_No.5

Communications & Publications

Bookshelf

“Women Lifers.” Shona Minson, a former criminal and family barrister and current post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford, wrote the book to answer two primary questions. As she writes in the introduction: “Firstly, why are children of defendant mothers who face separation from their mother as a consequence of criminal sentencing proceedings, treated differently to children who face separation from their parents by the state in the family court? Secondly, what are the implications of this differentiated treatment for wider society and for the state?” Minson divided the book into three sections in order to dive into these questions and look at how the incarceration of mothers in England and Wales. The first section, “The Foundations,” looks at how women are sentenced and the immediate impacts on their child or children. This section examines the court system in England and Wales, primarily as it has been impacted by new laws over the last three decades, as well as the rising statistics for incarcerated women. This section also explains the methodology of Minson’s research, explaining how she reached the decision to perform her study. She also explains the various groups she interviewed for this research, such as families where she spoke with either the child(ren) of the incarcerated individual, the caretaker of the child(ren) of the incarcerated individual, or both. The second section of the book, “Explanations for the Differentiated

Treatment of Children of Defendant Mothers,” includes three possible explanations for why the state treats children differently based on whether their mother is taken from them due to either adult sentencing procedures in criminal courts or due to neglect and abuse in family courts. Minson identifies the three explanations as the following: 1. Children are not adversely impacted when their mother is imprisoned; 2. The state duty of care towards children does not extend to children of defendant mothers; and 3. Sentencers are not permitted, or are unable, to consider the welfare of children of defendant mothers. Each of these explanations takes various studies into account, with the first examining physical changes to a child’s environment (change of caregiver, moving, etc.) to mental and emotional responses to this (grief, anger, acting out, etc.). The second explanation examines statutory and non-statutory obligations to children in England and Wales, drawing from laws like The Children Act 1989, both before and after it went into effect. The third explanation looks closely at sentencing guidelines while also taking into account judicial awareness. The third and final section of the book, “The Implications of the Differentiated Treatment of Children Whose Mothers Are Sentenced in the Criminal Courts,” looks at the implications for both wider society

Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child Written by Shona Minson, Palgrave Macmillan (2020), 279 pp. Reviewed by Alexander Carrigan, associate editor, American Correctional Association Last year, I reviewed a book called “Women Lifers: Lives Before, Behind, and Beyond Bars” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) in the July/August 2019 issue of Corrections Today. While the book was primarily about the challenges female inmates face serving life sentences or virtual life sentences, a notable section was about the issues this pertains to incarcerated mothers. Studies in the book talked about the limited communication these mothers had with their children, the mental and emotional difficulties that emerge when separated from their children, and included testimonies from incarcerated women to support and expand on the study. One of Palgrave Macmillan’s newest entries in their Palgrave Socio- Legal Series, “Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child,” expands on many of the ideas mentioned in

50 — September/October 2020 Corrections Today