Responding to Dependency

Mothering is a relevant matter in sentencing. Women’s criminal pathways are shaped by the derivative dependencies they experience as mothers. Mothering shapes their experience of incarceration, rendering it more onerous as a result additional punishment of separation from children and their socially-valued role as mothers. Law and societal reform is necessary for the legal system to account for the experience of mothers. In this chapter, specific proposals for law reform are presented to make the law more responsive to mother’s experiences. These proposals are developed from a case study of the operation of sentencing law in NSW, with insights from policy in the UK and Canada. The chapter concludes by making the case for systemic reform focused on supporting mothers through state support for their derivative dependency – the dependence they require as a result of the dependency work, they do for their children. Using Fineman’s concept of the responsive state, the chapter argues for the recognition of vulnerability, dependence and relationality in the law.