Literature review: Best practice with women offenders

This paper examines literature on best practice with women offenders. It attempts to use the principle of systematic review although the general scarcity of material on the topic makes this difficult and we have had to source many studies with less than rigorous methodology. The review focuses on general principles of effective practice with women including, Aboriginal programs, transition and reintegration programs, offending behaviour programs, personal development programs, programs and services for young women, women with a disability and programs and services for women from culturally diverse backgrounds. In some cases, however, we were unable able to locate relevant studies which addressed good practice with these groups.