Sentencing Mothers in New South Wales

This chapter presents a case study of the treatment of mothers in sentencing courts in New South Wales, Australia. The chapter is based on research with judges of the District Court and magistrates and presents a unique insight into their understanding of mothering as judicial officers. The chapter demonstrates that the ways the legal system renders mothering experiences invisible creates an environment in which cultural framings of “good mothering” held by individual judicial officers can play a significant role in shaping the extent and nature of consideration that mothers receive when they are being sentenced. This is particularly the case in the lower courts, where procedural barriers and operation of “magistrate’s justice” (McBarnet, 1984) in the fast-paced environments of the lower courts undermine the adequate engagement with the complex legal constructs that limit consideration of mothering in sentencing matters, resulting in frequent circumstances where mothering is not considered at all. The chapter shows how, when it is present at all, consideration of mothering is primarily emotional and premised on empathy and judges own experiences of mothering, rather than recognising the enormous economic and political importance of mothers as care workers or the concrete ways vulnerability, inequality and dependency shape the paths women take to prison and their experience of incarceration.