Our vision and values

LACW’s vision is that all women in Victoria can access pathways out of the justice system through exceptional legal representation and support. 

We are committed to being the leading provider of specialist, gender-responsive legal and case management services to women throughout Victoria, delivering a holistic response with a focus on criminal defence. 

What do we do?

LACW provides specilalist legal representation and advice to women, trans and gender-diverse people throughout Victoria in the following areas:

• Criminal defence advocacy;

• Infringements and fines;

• Victims of crime assistance;

• Intervention orders.

Instead of dealing with the client's legal issues in isolation, LACW provides a client-centred, case-management approach through an integrated social work and case management team that links clients in with the support services they need to overcome the issues that have brought them before the criminal justice system. This reduces the risk of imprisonment and further entrenchment in the criminal justice system, benefiting the individual, her family and children, and the community by reducing women's criminalisation and diverting resources away from the costly and ineffective prison system. 

Why is LACW needed?

• For several years, women have been the fastest growing cohort in Australian prisons. Between 2009 and 2019, the female prison population in Australia increased by 64 per cent, compared with 45 per cent for males.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are grossly over-represented in these figures. As at 30 June 2022, 11% of all females in prison were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – an imprisonment rate of 217.2 per 100,000 as opposed to an overall imprisonment rate for women of 15.4 per 100,000.  Over 30% of LACW's clients are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander women. 
• There are high numbers of women in custody on remand - that is, they have not been found guilty or sentenced. As at 3 September 2024, 44% of women in prison were on remand. Furthermore, of all female prisoner discharges to date in 2024, 64% were not sentenced during their episode in custody, indicating that women are still being held in prison in relation to matters that do not in fact warrant a custodial term.
• Housing large numbers of unsentenced women in custody is expensive. The Productivity Commission has estimated that prisons cost the taxpayer $330 per prisoner per day, with other estimates placing this cost higher at $391.18 per woman, per day.

• Many women share common pathways towards criminalisation. A service for women that understands and addresses those issues is better placed to interrupt the tragectory that sees these women enter and re-enter the criminal justice system.

How can you help?

Without our assistance, a large number of our clients would go unrepresented, and become further entrenched in the justice system, compounding the disadvantages they already face due to factors such as poverty, housing instability and family violence.

Your donation will assist us in providing early intervention and effective case-management to these women who would otherwise miss out on assistance.

"Few women in custody are serious violent offenders, most have caring responsibilities, many are the victims of violent relationships and offend under the influence of drugs or to support drug use. Specific services within prisons are limited, so the solutions must lie in alternatives to incarceration and greater support...." (Victorian Ombudsman, 2015)