A recent report titled ‘Community Service and Probation for Women‘ revealed that women are engaging in crime due to poverty and illiteracy.
At least 61 per cent of women handed non-custodial sentences between 2013 and 2015 had gone beyond primary school only, a few of them completed primary education and 21 per cent had gone to secondary school.
The report by‚ Thailand Institute of Justice, showed that 4 per cent of the offenders were clerical officers while 3 per cent worked for the government.
It was also revealed that most of these women were low-income earners. As can be expected, lack of or minimal education limits women from accessing opportunities to earn a decent living and explains to a large extent the economic hardship they are experiencing.
Unfortunately for us, the overall number of offenders given non-custodial sentences in Kenya has been rising steadily.
In 2013, some 38,585 Probation Orders and Community Service Orders were issued to both male and female offenders. The number rose to 51,604 in 2015 due to the increasing number of women engaging in crime.
At least 97 women were interviewed in Nairobi, Bungoma, Kisii, Mombasa, Nakuru, Nyeri, Kapsabet, Makindu and Garissa. According to the report, it is worth noting that the figure includes women serving only one day. This is the reason we should take care of girls to ensure that they do not engage in crime.