RAPID EVIDENCE ASSESSMENT OF EVIDENCE REGARDING THE LINK BETWEEN IDENTIFIED NEEDS OF FEMALE OFFENDERS AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR

Rapid Evidence Assessments (REA) are a form of literature review which have been developed as a way of achieving transparency, structure and balance in the assessment of what is already known about a policy or practice issue, within a shorter time frame than would be possible with a fully developed systematic review. There is good evidence that female offenders have high levels of psychological need and that these needs are often linked to histories of physical and sexual abuse as both adults and children. This REA is being been carried out to establish what is known about the needs of female offenders, the relationship of those needs to offending, and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at female offenders and designed to reduce re-offending.