Research shows that most women in prison are victims-survivors of domestic and family violence (DFV) and/or sexual violence which increases both the risk and effects of criminalisation and incarceration. Most victim-survivors of DFV and sexual assault face numerous concurrent legal, financial, health, addiction, housing and social problems.
Despite the evidence that women who experience DFV, sexual assault, poverty, homelessness, mental illness and drug and alcohol dependency are at greater risk of criminalisation, there is currently no specialised criminal law service for women in NSW.
The JEC is working to address this through their Womens Service operating within the Homeless Person’s Legal Service (HPLS). Our Women’s Service provides free legal advice and access to a specialist support worker who works collaboratively with our solicitors. It also connects women with other support services, including crisis accommodation and specialist domestic and family violence supports.
Our solicitors provide a trauma-informed service focused on keeping women safe and preventing homelessness through early-intervention. This can involve empowering women to understand their rights as tenants, supporting them to apply for protection orders or referring them to family law support. We help women with financial issues, including by dealing with oppressive fines or debts, or supporting them to apply for victims of crime compensation.
Our expected outcomes are:
- Strong relationships which support effective service delivery and outcomes,
- Increased capacity to influence systemic legal and policy change,
- Reduced criminalisation, incarceration and recidivism of women who are victim survivors of DFV and sexual assault.
Direct target: 75 women, Indirect targets: 42 girls, 41 boys.
Immediate outcomes include:
- Clients are provided with legal advice,
- Clients are provided with legal representation,
- Referrals to external services outcomes with improved legal and social outcomes for women victims survivors of DFV and sexual assault who are charged with criminal offences.
We will measure our success using quantitative evaluation methods such as:
- # clients provided with legal advice
- # clients provided with legal representation
- # clients provided with legal tasks
Qualitative evaluation will assess the extent to which:
- Women engage with services to address the underlying drivers of their offending,
- Women build trusting relationships with lawyers and case workers,
- Women’s non-legal issues are effectively addressed,
- Women’s civil law and AVO matters are effectively addressed,
- Women feel supported throughout the criminal legal process,
- Relevant information is put to the courts demonstrating the link between women’s experience of trauma and their offending,
- Information put to the courts about women’s experiences informs sentencing outcomes.
Our work is guided by a diverse group of women in our lived experience advisory group, StreetCare, which includes stakeholders from community housing, mental health and domestic and family violence support services. These are the priority communities with whom we share our work in womens service. We also share the lessons and impact of our program through our Community Legal Centre networks, at conferences, and the JEC's social media channels. Our Homeless Persons’ Legal Service Principal Solicitor, Kira Levin, was a finalist in the 2025 Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice category of the Women Lawyers Association of NSW Achievement Awards, indicating that there is already a high level of awareness of our work. We engage with coalitions such as Keeping Women Out of Prison (KWOOP), funders and organisations that are actively advocating in for women to government and in decision-making fora.
The Justice and Equity Centre is a leading independent law and policy centre. We help build a fairer, stronger society by tackling injustice and inequality. We collaborate and partner with others to develop solutions and achieve social justice.
The JEC has been fighting injustice and inequality for more than 40 years. We were established in 1982 as the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and our early work was directed towards government accountability and public interest litigation. We changed our name in 2024 to reflect the focus of our work on social justice: making practical change to the lives of people experiencing disadvantage.
We use test cases and policy advocacy to challenge unjust laws and practices. We take on cases and causes that have an impact beyond an individual client and benefit the wider community, particularly people facing disadvantage. We work collaboratively and in partnership to maximise our impact. We work directly with people experiencing disadvantage by providing legal support and achieve positive outcomes at a personal and a systemic level.
We make change by:
– Exposing laws, policies and practices that cause or entrench disadvantage,
– Challenging decision-makers over actions that are unlawful or unfair,
– Identifying solutions to deliver fair, practical outcomes,
– Engaging with the public and decision-makers to bring about change,
– Empowering people to initiate, inform and influence positive change, and become leaders in social justice.
