Sherrard Conversation | "Why Don't More Women Appeal?"

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Learning Outcomes:

After this session, students should be able to:

• Recognise the strengths and limits of the criminal appeal system;
• Analyse the reasons women find it difficult to access their right to appeal;
• Assess the role of barristers in creating or alleviating barriers to appeal;
• Evaluate the criminal appeal system's ability to achieve justice for vulnerable women.

Links to the Professional Statement, wider workings of the Bar, administration of justice or a public interest matter

“Recent research has highlighted the particular vulnerabilities of women in prison, leading to concerns that women may have particular difficulties successfully accessing their right to appeal. There has been no prior research of women's experiences of appealing, so this research project set out to assess the barriers faced by women seeking to overturn unsafe convictions or unfair sentences in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).” (Sakande, 2019). This session is of extreme importance to both students and members, as it not only highlights the lack of support for women in the justice system, but also how the appeal process itself can present very real barriers for them.