This mixed-methods study examines the impact of immigration status on the ability of Latina survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) to file for and obtain a domestic violence protection order. Undocumented Latinas living in shelter are less likely to know what a protection order is or how to obtain one. At the same time, undocumented Latinas are more likely to believe that their partner would follow an order and that police would arrest their partner for a violation. Latina survivors of IPV live at the nexus of multiple systems of oppression; therefore, understanding their experiences using an intersectional framework is critically important.
This article explores the diminished occurrence of victim-precipitated intimate partner homicide (IPH)—referred to as self-help homicide—perpetrated by Latinas when compared with Black and White women. Self-help homicide is a consequence of patriarchal terrorism. I endeavor to answer the following research question: What explains lower rates of self-help homicide perpetrated by Latinas relative to White and Black women? This question is addressed through a self-help/intersectional theoretical analysis of structural, institutional, and cultural barriers to criminal justice resource access. This diminished access increases the likelihood of IPH victimization.
In response to increasing Latino new destination migration in the United States, Latino sex trafficking networks have emerged in many of these areas. This article examines victimization experiences of Latina immigrants trafficked by a regional network operating in the Eastern United States drawn from law enforcement records and interviews with legal actors involved in the criminal case. The stories shared with law enforcement by the Latina victims gives insight into their lives, experiences in prostitution, and the operation of a trafficking/prostitution network (all lacking in the literature). Through the analytical frame of social constructionism, this research highlights how strict interpretation of force, fraud, coercion, and agency used to define "severe forms of trafficking" in the TVPA limits its ability to recognize many victimization experiences in trafficking situations at the hands of traffickers. The forms of coercion used in the criminal enterprise under study highlights the numerous ways it can be wielded (even without a physical presence) and its malleability as a concept despite legal definitional rigidity. The lack of legal recognition of the plurality of lived experiences in which agency and choice can be mitigated by social forces, structural violence, intersectional vulnerabilities, and the actions of others contributes to the scholarly critique of issues prosecuting trafficking cases under the TVPA and its strict legal definitions.
The increasing proportion of girls in the juvenile justice system has prompted courts to develop gender-responsive services. The present study examined data from a mid-sized county juvenile court to examine the effects of a group home intervention for girls. The study compared group home participants (n = 172) with girls who did not receive group home treatment (n = 814) using propensity score matching (PSM). Girls who received group home treatment were significantly less likely to re-offend in the 2-year follow-up period. Policy and practice implications for gender-responsive services as well as future directions for research are discussed.
Green criminology has drawn attention to the widespread forms of green victimization. However, green criminology has neglected female victims of green crimes, and area to which feminist criminologists can contribute. To draw attention to these issues, this article examines the medical and epidemiological literature published since 2010 related to the forms of green victimization women experience. Implications for examining the green victimization of economically marginalized female populations, the need to integrate feminist and green criminological research, and suggests that feminist analysis can also inform ecofeminist studies by more fully elaborating a position of the environmental/green victimization of women are presented.
The current study employs a prospective mixed-methods design to examine women parolees’ identities early in their supervision and the association of their identity development at that point to their record of subsequent arrests. Guided by narrative identity theory, we first conduct quantitative analysis of the relationship between redemption and contamination narratives and subsequent arrests. We then return to the qualitative interview data to search for additional explanatory themes that shed further light on women’s identity and desistance from crime. Results indicate that identity verification from parole officers and others increases women’s self-esteem and assists them in overcoming barriers to desistance.
This study utilized a fairly new measure of gender equality from the European Union to dissect the relationship between gender-specific homicide victimization rates and different forms of gender equality across a sample of European countries. Results showed support for a curvilinear relationship between financial equality and female and male homicide victimization, providing support for amelioration and backlash theories, but no support for absolute economic marginalization. While there were some similarities between the female and male models, there were enough differences to warrant further investigations of gendered theories of violent victimization.
With a majority of inmates being assigned some type of work while incarcerated, work assignments are a staple of U.S. prisons. These work assignments are likely to impact not only prisoner behavior while in prison, but also may impact their ability to obtain gainful employment after prison. Historically, it has been noted that work in prison has been influenced by gender and racial norms and stereotypes. These stereotypical assignments may not be beneficial for inmates, especially in a time when work assignments are increasingly providing the only work skills inmates may receive while incarcerated. Using a nationwide data set of prisoners incarcerated facilities, the current study uses multilevel modeling to examine the nature of work assignments for male and female state prisoners and whether these assignments are based on gender and/or racial stereotypes. Results indicate that there are indeed lingering stereotypes influencing work assignments for men and women in U.S. prisons.
Identity-based motivation theory identifies individuals’ perceptions of attainable possible selves as the future-oriented component of self-concept that is a necessary first step in an adolescent’s goal setting and motivation for action. This qualitative study analyzed data from interviews with 27 court-involved girls. Girls with histories of sexual assault and emotional abuse were less likely than others to have attainable possible selves. Girls with unattainable possible selves more often broke the law as adults and dropped out of school. Discussion of findings focuses on implications for future research and on potential intervention strategies to promote girls’ positive identity development.
This study examines rape myth use in eight English rape trials and assesses attempts by trial participants to combat it. Trial notes, based on observations, were analyzed using thematic analysis. Rape myths were used in three identifiable ways: to distance the case from the "real rape" stereotype, to discredit the complainant, and to emphasize the aspects of the case that were consistent with rape myths. Prosecution challenges to the myths were few, and judges rarely countered the rape myths. This study provides new insights by demonstrating the ways that rape myths are utilized to manipulate jurors’ interpretations of the evidence.
Recent popular criminological ethnographies of "the street" deal heavily with men’s underlying aspirations for and constructions of masculinity. However, the presentation of manhood in the street has essentialistic overtones and reduces complex variation among men to overly simplistic and often stereotyped depictions. In this article, I offer a discourse analysis of three well-known criminological ethnographies—Randol Contreras’s The Stickup Kids, Alice Goffman’s On the Run, and Victor Rios’s Punished—with three intentions in mind. First, I introduce the concept of "perilous masculinity" as a version of masculinity that dominates across these ethnographies. Second, I suggest that a more complicated (albeit contradictory) notion of street manhood is possible and can be culled from these works. Third and finally, I point toward and try to exemplify alternative readings of masculinities and street manhood about which future researchers as well as policy makers should be more self-reflexively aware.
This is a decades-old question. In 1988, Daly and Chesney-Lind suggested that criminology was awakening from its "androcentric slumber" thanks to feminist critiques. This article looks at the history of criminology in terms of when gender analysis was or was not introduced; in particular, a series of "missed opportunities" concerning gender are explored the work of Sutherland and that of Cohen, Sampson, and others. In some of this classical criminological scholarship, gender was initially identified as a major cause of crime but thereafter overlooked. The article also analyzes how critical criminologists continued to under-emphasize the importance of gender despite advancing the discipline through significant examinations of social inequalities and crime. The article also turns to contemporary challenges to the mainstream that emerged from later critical and feminist criminologists who have proffered innovative advances about gender and intersectional analyses regarding crime. The article concludes with thoughts about moving feminist criminology forward toward a more intellectually diverse and complete discipline.
Cultural criminology emerged in the mid-nineties with defining texts written by Jock Young, Keith Hayward, and Jeff Ferrell, among others. Since its inception, it has been criticized for its shallow connections with feminist theory. While in theory cultural criminology clearly acknowledges the influence of feminist scholarship, it has in practice often only superficially ‘added’ on gender and sexuality to its scholarly investigations. Yet, as we argue, research identified with cultural criminology has much to gain from feminist theory. This article reviews a range of cultural criminological scholarship, particularly studies of subcultures, edgework, and terrorism. We investigate three themes significant for feminist research: masculinities and femininities, sexual attraction and sexualities, and intersectionality. Such themes, if better incorporated, would strengthen cultural criminology by increasing the explanatory power of resulting analyses. We conclude by advocating that feminist ideas be routinely integrated into cultural criminological research.
Redemption research examines how much time must pass after a criminal offense before an offender is considered "redeemed." This study adds to redemption research by using a nationally representative sample from the United States to determine whether years to redemption found in prior research replicate and will be the first to determine whether there are gender differences. We also explore factors that influence who makes it to the redemption point. Findings reveal that while men reach the redemption point after 10 years, women reach the redemption point after 4 years. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.
This study examines the emotional and mental health effects revenge porn has on female survivors. To date, no other academic studies have exclusively focused on mental health effects in revenge porn cases. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between February 2014 and January 2015 with 18 female revenge porn survivors, and inductive analysis revealed participants’ experiences of trust issues, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and several other mental health effects. These findings reveal the seriousness of revenge porn, the devastating impacts it has on survivors’ mental health, and similarities between revenge porn and sexual assault.
Efforts to partner researchers and practitioners have the potential to significantly improve both research and response to non-fatal strangulation within the context of domestic violence. Non-fatal strangulation is far more common than most formal data suggest and is a highly gendered form of domestic assault often used to control or intimidate a partner; however, depending on how the assault takes place, it can leave little obvious physical evidence to an untrained investigator. The present study estimates the occurrence of strangulation cases and possible strangulation cases that may not be explicitly classified as such in official police reports due to inadequacies in law enforcement training. We offer a description of these types of cases as they compare with domestic violence police reports from non-strangulation cases. Results highlight the gendered nature of strangulation as well as the importance of practitioners and researchers critically reflecting on issues within the criminal justice system in an effort to redress inadequacies, hold offenders accountable, and save lives.
Despite progress in the application of routine activity theory to violence against women, much remains unknown about guardianship. The current study examined if presence of a capable adult guardian limited the risk of revictimization by an intimate partner, controlling for social support (N = 497). Analyses tested differential impacts of guardians by examining if the presence of the victim’s friends/family, abuser’s friends/family, and/or bystander during the earliest reported physical abuse incident or threat of abuse affected likelihood of revictimization within a year. Odds of revictimization decreased by 60% when the earliest reported physical abuse incident or threat of abuse occurred in the presence of the respondent’s friends/family. Implications for practices and research suggestions are discussed.
Although qualitative research has informed Pathways Theory for decades, there are few quantitative studies that have explored this theory. This study utilizes a path analytic approach with measures of gender-responsive needs collected from 163 male and 103 female pretrial defendants. Results indicate the presence of a pathway to pretrial failure that includes childhood abuse, historical indicators of mental illness, and substance abuse for women only. The implications of this study are likely to inform the current practice of correctional risk/needs assessments and case planning, and to aid the development of more comprehensive and effective programs and interventions for justice-involved women.
This article examines digital media debate over sexual violence by analyzing news reports and reader comments on the rape allegations against WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Through analysis of the Guardian and New York Times, the article shows how this case became a flash-point for debate about feminist constructions of sexual violence. News reports amplified Assange’s defense that the allegations stemmed from feminist influence on Swedish law and would not be criminalized in England, provoking feminist and anti-feminist commentary. Thus, this article illuminates the salience of feminist constructions of sexual violence for digital news and points to broader social contestation over the meaning of rape fostered by digital media.
This article examines survey and interview responses from British Asian youths, primarily Muslims, to consider (a) this group’s perceptions of forced marriage (FM), along with their preconceptions around it, and (b) the ways in which they exercise their right not to marry. The findings suggest that learned discriminatory values and norms regarding gender roles remain integral to how marriage is perceived and how FM is perpetrated and experienced. Whereas women tend to be more compliant regarding their parents’ and family’s wishes, men are often motivated by a sense of pride and masculinity. Initiatives intended to understand FM, support the recovery of victims, and prevent the practice would benefit from incorporating a consciously gendered understanding, to actively challenge the socially constructed gender roles of affected communities.
Given that the acclaimed comic book series The Walking Dead allows readers to confront our greatest fears, as civilization has collapsed and zombies proliferate and prey upon the living, the paucity of literature addressing the gender dynamics in such a lawless society is disconcerting. In our analysis of 96 issues of the series, we explore the social construction of gender roles and the context of gendered violence and victimization in this post-apocalyptic world. Moving beyond a narrative analysis, we consider how comic art conveys that even in the zombie apocalypse, the patriarchal structure remains, the realities of sexism and gendered violence endure, and, sometimes, women literally pay with their flesh for trying to break out of stereotypical gendered constructs.
Criminology has historically exhibited a significant gender bias. Yet, spurred by feminist efforts, criminology has become more gender-inclusive recently. Research has documented this bias, and gains made by women. However, much of this research examines only gender bias, ignoring other important factors such as race. In this article, we examine gender and racial bias in criminology, conceptualizing the discipline as a Bourdieusian field, characterized by hierarchically arranged positions. We find that though women are present in nearly equal numbers to men, non-White people have a more limited presence, and White men dominate in positions endowed with the highest amounts of prestige and power.
Two long-standing explanations of converging violence gender gap trends in the United States are net-widening enforcement and offender-behavioral changes. We examine these explanations in an Asian context, democratic Taiwan. We use sex-specific arrests, conviction, and imprisonment statistics for violent offenses, 1989 to 2012, to identify whether Taiwanese gender gaps are converging across the criminal justice system. This study did not identify a female violent crime "wave" but mainly stability, failing to support the offender-behavioral change hypothesis. There is limited evidence of net-widening enforcement of felony assault and domestic violence, where disparate impacts on female arrest trends are identified solely for domestic violence.
Juvenile justice reformers and practitioners have long blamed mothers for juvenile delinquency, identifying maternal employment as a key cause of youthful offending. The current study uses data from registered voters (N = 10,144) to examine public views about whether maternal employment in two-parent households promotes juvenile delinquency. The results show that only a small minority of citizens blame working mothers for youth crime. The findings also reveal that views about the criminogenic consequences of maternal employment for children are predicted by factors that are strongly associated with gendered self-interest and exposure to nonegalitarian narratives. Implications of the findings are discussed.
This article examines a contemporary antagonism in gendered safety discourses—the imperative to be free in public space against the obligation to be safe and "properly" feminine. We argue that this produces (and is produced by) contemporary rape culture, which might be contested through recourse to an agonistic ethic. Using qualitative interview data, we examine how participants contest victim-blaming discourses, while limiting how far they will accept the female body’s right to occupy public space. This article has significant implications for approaching social justice, in particular justice for women and their right to occupy public space.
Assessments of the relationship between gender equality and gendered homicide have led to the development of two primary literatures: the first exploring backlash and amelioration effects, and the second examining the influence of exposure reduction. In addition, a third body of research has examined differences in intimate partner homicide (IPH) between rural and non-rural places. The current study contributes to these three literatures by exploring the relationship between gender equality and female-victim IPH in the context of backlash, amelioration, and exposure reduction while considering the influence of rurality. Results indicate the relevance of rurality to research on the relationship between gender equality and female-victim IPH.
Despite evidence that males drink more than females, there is much to be learned about gendered explanations for sex differences in alcohol use. We use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data to investigate gendered self-concept as related to alcohol use and related consequences among a sample of emerging adults. Dominance Masculinity (e.g., being aggressive, forceful, dominant) was the most consistent predictor of alcohol-related outcomes for both males and females. Endorsement of feminine characteristics (e.g., compassion, understanding, sympathetic) was protective against binge drinking and social consequences for males whereas endorsement of general masculine characteristics (e.g., independent, assertive, leader) protected against social consequences for females.
The study addresses how young women navigate urban terrains that are characterized by high levels of interpersonal aggression and crime. It is argued that young women apply a range of gendered tactics to establish safety and social mastery, and that these are framed by the limits and possibilities imposed by a street-based hypermasculine script. The analysis rests on an ethnographic study among 25 young Danish women aged 13 to 23 experienced in engaging in street-based physical violence. The study suggests that explorations of female tactics can provide a useful method of analysis for understanding female agency in (hyper)masculine social terrains.
This research examines female gun ownership trends from 1973 to 2010. Nationally representative General Social Survey data are used to compare rates for male and female gun ownership. In light of the specific marketing trends by gun manufacturers beginning in the mid-1990s as well as previous findings within the literature, we test (a) whether an increase in female gun ownership is observed from 1973 to 2010, (b) whether female gun owners report increased fear of crime, and (c) the extent to which other gun-owning motivations, especially hunting, shape women’s gun ownership. Our analysis confirms a decline in women’s gun ownership, but in contrast to previous studies emphasizing a link between fear of crime and female gun ownership, we find that hobbies and lifestyle factors may better explain women’s interests in firearms. We could conclude by highlighting avenues for new research that better take into account the heterogeneity of gun ownership in the United States.
From the 1970s onwards, women’s participation in gangs in the mainstream Western social contexts has been increasingly researched. However, the experiences of women in other cultural settings are rarely discussed. This qualitative study focuses on female members of the black-society style criminal organizations (BSSCO) in China. It starts with reviewing literature on female gang membership and on BSSCO so as to locate its discussions in the international criminological framework. This is followed by a methodology section, and then it analyses the empirical findings. This article seeks to provide some theoretical insights into the construction of female criminal membership in broader social contexts.
Gender socialization is a key factor in explaining gender differences in managing fear of crime and risks in public space. By emphasizing the continuing role of traditional norms that underline women’s vulnerability and prescribe safekeeping, previous studies have ignored the role of increasing gender equality, alternative norms that prescribe women’s independence and strength, and resistance to traditional norms. Based on in-depth interviews with 28 couples, this article explores women’s ambivalence and resistance toward traditional norms, how talk and practice reflect mixed messages on how to "properly" do gender, and aligning as well as conflicting views and roles within couples.
Between 1975 and 1980, 13 women, 7 of whom were sex workers, were murdered in the North of England. Aside from the femicide itself, the case was infamous for police failings, misogyny, and victim blaming. The article begins with a discussion of the serial murder of women as a gendered structural phenomenon within the wider context of violence, gender, and arbitrary justice. In support of this, the article revisits the above case to interrogate police reform in England and Wales in the wake of the murders, arguing that despite procedural reform, gendered cultural practices continue to shape justice outcomes for victims of gender violence. In addition, changes to prostitution policy are assessed to highlight how the historical and ongoing Othering and criminalization of street sex workers perpetuates the victimization of this marginalized group of women.
This article argues for the value of narrative criminology for feminist explanations of women’s lawbreaking. Contemporary theories note the significance of material gendered inequalities; however, narrative offers a way to include discursive aspects of gender. Drawing on recent developments in narrative criminology, this article analyzes how women may "talk themselves into" lawbreaking. Analysis draws on interviews with three women with diverse experiences in the drug trade and shows how drug trafficking was narrated as impossible, meaningful, and inevitable. A narrative approach therefore offers ways to understand how for some women, under some circumstances, lawbreaking may become meaningful.
This study examines workplace interpersonal relationships and the factors related to sexual identity disclosure using qualitative data from 15 in-depth interviews with lesbian police officers. Findings suggested that (a) factors surrounding job performance were more influential than sexual orientation and the degree of disclosure on interpersonal working relationships, and (b) sexuality disclosure within the police department was a multifaceted and dynamic process. We discuss policy implications and provide directions for future research.
Street-based sex work is commonly portrayed as a social nuisance in the urban landscape. However, a wealth of research has shown how sex workers on the street experience frequent harassment from other members of the public in the course of their work. This article explores the experience of street harassment among women working on the street in New Zealand, where sex work is decriminalized. In this article, I consider the social, legal, and cultural factors that underpin the street harassment that the women described. I consider the significance of this form of harassment when situated in the "workplace" of street workers in a decriminalized street-based sex industry. I argue that these experiences are inextricably linked to the continued subordination of women in contemporary society and to social norms regarding female sexuality. I argue that challenging this harassment is critical in supporting the human rights of street-based sex workers, but that doing so requires a fundamental shift in societal views on women and sexuality in general.
The sexual assault of a child has a profound impact on not just the child, but those closest to them. This research examined the ways that women react and cope with the sexual assault of their child within the framework of their role as mothers, or how they are able to "do mother" in the aftermath of the assault. A total of 21 mothers who had a child sexually assaulted were interviewed across the state of Illinois. The experiences of these women are presented and discussed within the feminist literature regarding the societal role of mother.
Few studies have examined whether social ties influence concerns about reentry among women in prison. Given that a systematic understanding of reentry has the potential to inform research and policy efforts to assist women with transition, this gap is limiting. Our study addresses this void by testing whether social support affects reentry concerns (family, employment, financial, and stigma) among incarcerated women. Results indicate that visits reduced all concerns; receiving letters had a less consistent effect, but they too, were associated with reduced worry. In addition, experiencing multiple types of support influenced reentry concerns among women. Research and policy implications are discussed.
In this article, we explore perceptions and presumptions in relation to rape, raped women, and rapists, among medico-legal professionals who perform forensic medical examinations in rape cases. We draw upon data from in-depth interviews conducted with forensic medical examiners and forensic nurse practitioners in one area of England. Findings reveal that many of these personnel hold particular views centered broadly on the vilification of victims and the vindication of perpetrators. We conclude that these perceptions and presumptions may hold concerning implications for both victim experiences and evidentiary and judicial outcomes.
Through the use of popular culture constructs, individuals are exposed to an overabundance of images that validate rape myths. Although studies have examined rape in popular culture, little attention has been given to the use of rape myths in comic books as a means to reinforce hegemonic masculinity. Using a convenience sample taken from popular comic book series, this content analysis examined the prevalence of rape and the myths used to create such portrayals as well as discuss the negative impact the perpetuation of rape culture has on society. Findings indicate that the reinforcement of rape myths is present within mainstream comic books. Rape myths that were supported included a number of rape survivor, rape perpetrator, and victim blaming myths.
Despite increased attention on girls’ delinquency, evidence-based interventions have been largely lacking. We aim to (a) describe the design and implementation of a gender-specific program for juvenile justice-involved girls and (b) present prospective data on three cohorts of participants. Fifty-two girls were enrolled in the program called the Girls Advocacy Project (GAP). Key risk and protective factors were identified based on existing literature and assessed. Over time, youth reported greater resilience and self-efficacy; fewer risk behaviors, including violence, crime, and substance use; and decreased distress (e.g., depression, anxiety, and anger). Hypothesized program mechanisms and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Recent research finds that youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are disproportionately incarcerated in juvenile justice systems. These systems have paid little attention to this subgroup in terms of their unique needs and risk factors. Using a feminist perspective, we analyze in-depth interviews with juvenile justice staff to better understand their perceptions about working with these youth. We examine the challenges for staff, for facilities, and for the girls, as well as consider staff recommendations for changes in policies or programs that are needed to support girls who identify as LGBT.
Based on qualitative data from three sites (N = 76), we describe prostitute women’s agency and problematize dominant assumptions. Prostitute women exhibit creative, resilient, and rational conduct. Rejecting victimhood, our respondents demonstrate moral reasoning, make choices, work systems that dominate their lives, and assert power and control when they can. Their resistance, while serving a symbolic function, also expresses their system savvy and self-advocacy that produce measurable benefits. We distinguish between "being manipulative" and context-specific ethical conduct intended to further their survival.
Since the 1994 Violence Against Women Act was signed into law, women seeking safety from intimate partner violence have increasingly sought civil protection orders. Each year, approximately 1 million civil protection orders are issued in the United States. Research suggests that protection orders can help to reduce intimate partner abuse. Moreover, protection orders can offer a variety of reliefs to survivors, including stay away orders, division of property, and custody and visitation stipulations. However, little research has examined factors related to specific conditions of protection orders, particularly around visitation. Given that batterers often use children and visitation as a further tactic of power and control, it is important to reveal which variables are related to visitation decisions and conditions within protection orders. Structured observations of protection order hearings were conducted in family courts involving women seeking orders against male partners. Visitation arrangements determined by judicial officers in hearings tended to be informal; the court provided little support or information. Legal representation only mattered for offenders. Implications for judicial training and for systems advocacy will be discussed.
Many scholars argue that intimate partner violence is too complex to address through the "one-size-fits-all" approaches that are common in most criminal justice venues. Instead, they advocate for coordinated approaches that address the unique circumstances of each offender. For 3 years, El Paso County ran a "Pilot Program," which applied in-depth analytical tools to tailor court orders to each defendant. The program, to which offenders were randomly assigned, ran parallel to the county’s "one-size-fits-all" program, providing a rare opportunity to assess the efficacy of each approach. We find the Pilot Program significantly increased compliance and reduced the likelihood of recidivism.
This investigation explores sex offender bill sponsorship by male and female legislators from both political parties to determine if female policymakers legislate in a "different voice." Quantitative results indicate that sex offender bill sponsorship often transcends differences of gender, race, or political affiliation. However, the in-depth qualitative findings revealed that female policymakers viewed sex crimes and sex offender laws more broadly than male legislators noting the multiple contexts in which sexual victimizations occur, and as connected with the larger social problem of violence against women. In comparison, male legislators focused on predatory child molestations as their motivation for sex offender bill sponsorship. Findings suggest that relying only on descriptive statistical analysis to study gender and policymaking, such as voting patterns, is likely to miss subtle, but significant, differences in women’s policymaking.
Until 2012, the New Orleans criminal justice system forced persons convicted of certain prostitution offenses to register as sex offenders under an antiquated (1805) statute that criminalizes oral or anal sex in exchange for compensation. This article explores attitudes and beliefs that enabled Louisiana’s misuse of the sex offender registry against primarily indigent African American street-based sex worker women and transgender individuals. Findings presented here derive from a feminist interdisciplinary (cultural anthropology and law) methodological strategy that included qualitative ethnography, quantitative examination of Louisiana’s 64 parish-specific sex offender registries, and legal/policy analysis.
For a study of occupational barriers, qualitative and quantitative data were generated from surveys collected from 168 women working in 34 federal law enforcement agencies and varying in race, ethnicity, age, rank, and tenure. All women report at least one occupational barrier in the workplace. Pervasive negative attitudes from male colleagues, lack of high-ranking female role models, and work–life balance issues prove to be the biggest barriers women face in federal law enforcement. Despite the obstacles, women not only persist against the challenges but also highlight the unique attributes of federal law enforcement to the policing research community.
This article brings together research on parole governance with women’s experiences of reentry. In particular, drawing on longitudinal qualitative interviews with a group of women leaving prison and returning to their communities, the present study highlights the way parole structures women’s reintegration efforts post-incarceration. The women’s experiences highlight how parole governance intersects, conflicts with, and complicates their efforts to return to their communities and transition out of the gaze of the penal state.
Historically, crime groups rarely included women, but debates continue over whether women today are more violent, or have greater involvement in mixed-sex or all-female crime partnerships. We analyze variability in sex stratification of violent crime groups over time, and across situational offense characteristics, utilizing co-offending data from Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR; 1980-2007) for homicide and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS; 1995-2007) for robbery, felony, and simple assault. Descriptive and multivariate results show crime groups remain highly sex-stratified and male-dominated, particularly when the offense is serious, instrumental, and involves strangers and/or access to weapons. Opposite-sex partners are more likely for expressive violence victimizing family/intimates.
Homelessness and incarceration are closely linked among women, and rates of these marginalizing circumstances are increasing. Nonetheless, few studies have examined differences between female inmates who were previously homeless and female inmates who were not homeless prior to incarceration. Results indicated that women who were homeless prior to incarceration were more likely (relative to their non-homeless counterparts) to have experienced childhood molestation, adult sexual assault, and arrests for prostitution and to have been in treatment for substance misuse. Homeless and non-homeless women did not differ significantly on measures of psychological adjustment. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research will be discussed.
Barroom sexual aggression—especially unwanted groping, kissing, and touching—is ubiquitous and largely unregulated. While research explicates how alcohol interacts with other precipitating factors to cause incidents like fistfights, the causes of less serious forms of sexual aggression remain understudied. Normalization of non-consensual sexual contact in bars means much of it goes unnoticed and is difficult to quantify or predict using conventional statistical methods. We use 126 young people’s narratives about experiences with barroom aggression to explore how/when it is tolerated or socially sanctioned. We find that alcohol, context, and gender shape attributions for sexual aggression in public drinking settings.
Currently, two studies have examined perceptions of prostituted youth and factors associated with negative assessments. The male- and majority-race nature of criminal justice agencies and research on rape victim culpability attributions underscores the importance of addressing perceptions of this population as paramount to effective intervention. This research used 357 student survey responses to investigate observer characteristics correlated with blameworthiness assessments. Findings demonstrated sexist attitudes and observer race correlated with blameworthiness directed toward prostituted youth with no victimization history disclosure, and prostitution myth adherence and observer childhood abuse correlated with blameworthiness directed toward prostituted youth whose victimization history was disclosed. Research and policy implications are discussed.
The abusive experiences of Hui Muslim women in China are understudied. Data from interviews with 14 women who lived in west China examine the dynamic nature of domestic violence they have experienced. The Hui women were vulnerable to the violence because of their low social status and minority ethnic identity. Under the oppressions, a fear of being ignored, discriminated, and marginalized resulted in the women’s tolerance or silence toward abuse. However, the Hui women are not only powerless but also resistant to violence. Their negotiation of the self under a social control and structural inequality reveals their autonomy and wisdom.
This study examines the relationship between gender and juvenile justice processing outcomes for status offenders. The feminist criminological concept of judicial paternalism suggests that official justice systems, as gendered institutions with traditional patriarchal norms, will treat delinquent girls differently than delinquent boys. This paternalistic effect should be especially prevalent for status offenses, which are used to enforce institutional (parental, school, civic, parochial) authority. Using 1999-2001 juvenile processing data for 3,329 status offense referrals to the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs (N = 3,329) and controlling for age, race, prior history, type of status offense, and measures of social class and urban environment, our results indicate that (a) girls outnumber boys among status offenders, (b) girls are more likely than boys to have their petitions filed for review, (c) girls are less likely than boys to be adjudicated guilty, and (d) girls are just as likely as boys to receive an incarcerated custody sentence as opposed to probation. We argue that these results illustrate the manifestation of the juvenile justice system as a gendered institution in which the adjudication of status offenders reflects judicial paternalism.
A systematic review of the literature on women and policing for the period of 1972 to 2012 was undertaken to determine how gender was incorporated in research and how this scholarship changed over time. The analysis indicates that the majority of research on women in policing is typically directed at understanding the role of gender in policing. The volume of published research increased over the period, but of the three major domains of research (job performance, job experience, and blocked opportunities), the majority of growth occurred in job experience domain. Blocked job opportunity research, which has important policy implications, experienced only a moderate increase. The majority of research on women in policing was found to be published in specialty academic journals including gender specialty journals and policing specialty journals. The impact of publishing primarily in these outlets is discussed.
U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) Study data of homicides by far-right extremists and arsons and bombings by environmental and animal rights extremists suggest that compared with men, relationships are catalysts for women’s involvement in domestic terrorism; recruitment and opportunity differ by ideology and are not always effective in victimizing their intended hate group. We suggest an inter-disciplinary approach that considers criminological principles of strain theory along with sociological emphasis on gendered social networks and the strength of weak ties.
In this exploratory study, we examined the relationships between religious factors, trauma histories, and life satisfaction and alcohol-related outcomes in adult sexual assault survivors. A mail survey was administered to a community sample of African American survivors (N = 836) in the Chicago metropolitan area. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that for non-religious women, interpersonal trauma was related to greater frequency of heavy drinking. For moderately religious women, interpersonal and contextual traumas were related to more frequent heavy drinking. For highly religious women, religious coping was related to less frequent heavy drinking. Implications are drawn for research and treatment of female survivors.
The purpose of this article is to present a gender-sensitized approach to Institutional-Anomie Theory (IAT) that recognizes the pervasiveness and import of gender at the institutional and cultural levels. Drawing on feminist literature, we discuss the gendering of the family and the economy, and the implications of such gendering for understanding the social organization of American society and the "institutional balance of power," as explicated by Messner and Rosenfeld in Crime and the American Dream. At a cultural level, we propose that the tendency to conceive of men as normative helps reconcile two seemingly incompatible premises in IAT: the claim that there is a dominant form of social organization that characterizes American society and the empirical observation that cultural orientations and institutional involvement actually differ dramatically for males and females. From a social structural perspective, we describe the varying ways that institutions are by their very nature gendered and how the gendering of institutions can promote and sustain economic dominance—a particularly criminogenic institutional order. Based on these insights, we conclude by proposing some testable hypotheses about the interconnections among gender stratification, institutional structure, and societal levels of crime.
Feminist pathways research has influenced theoretical development by challenging the gender neutrality of mainstream explanations for offending and victimization. This approach has also influenced data collection, analytic methods, and perhaps most importantly, gender-responsive policies and practices. This review examines the pathways to crime framework as a theoretically driven, empirically rigorous method for studying female offending and victimization, and for informing gender-responsive correctional programming and treatment. After outlining initial pathways contributions, we discuss feminist scholarship driven by the pathways framework and the impact of this research. We conclude with a summary of future directions for pathways-based analyses.
Drawing from 12 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with prosecutors, attorneys, victim advocates, social service providers, and police in an urban Midwestern city, challenges to identifying and prosecuting sex trafficking cases are examined. Challenges to identification included trafficking techniques such as coercion, online solicitation, hidden venues, and interstate movement, as well as issues with police reporting and investigation. Challenges to prosecution involved police reporting errors and evidentiary requirements, the statute of limitations, overlapping jurisdictions, and issues with victim testimony. The aim in highlighting such obstacles is to emphasize the dynamics that may contribute to lowered numbers of identified and prosecuted cases, and consequent underestimation of sex trafficking prevalence. Implications for policy and practice are drawn from these findings.
The purpose of this article was to examine emotional labor skills and the acculturation of extreme masculine values as two pathways by which gender may influence the behavior of officers in the field. The results indicated that female officers were less likely than male officers to assimilate hypermasculine beliefs into their identity. Lower levels of hypermasculinity were related to an officer’s perceptions of less negative behavior by citizens and fewer complaints. In addition, the findings suggest that female officers are more likely to use caring strategies, such as empathy, whereas males are more likely to use cognitive behavioral strategies.
This paper presents the findings of a quantitative study undertaken at South African Police Service stations across the Western Cape Province, measuring what we term committed intake compliance with sexual offences law. Fifty police stations were surveyed for compliance with the first layer of procedural and service requirements for receiving a victim’s report of a sexual offence. On average, stations complied with only 68% of the measured requirements. The authors analyze patterns in compliance that likely contribute to the drop-out of rape and sexual assault cases from the criminal justice system.
Recent research has been focused on the portrayal of intimate partner homicides in the news media with specific emphasis on the most commonly occurring type, femicides (the murder of a female intimate partner by a male intimate partner). One important finding in the analysis of intimate partner homicide is the striking number of femicides that are followed by perpetrator suicide. Whereas homicide followed by suicide is a rare occurrence in the context of crime generally, within the context of intimate partner homicide, femicide–suicide is common. The present research utilized content analysis to explore the media coverage of a near population of femicide–suicide cases in the North Carolina from 2002 to 2009 (n = 86). An examination of the article titles showed that the majority of titles (54%) assigned to the articles describe the crime as an ambiguous homicide or homicide–suicide and do not indicate the relationship between the perpetrator and victim. In comparison, results show that 78% of the articles’ text defined the homicide–suicide as domestic violence. Specifically, in cases where the news coverage defined the femicide–suicide as domestic violence, the authors identified 4 media frames used (1) femicide–suicide by a male perpetrator, (2) femicide–suicide due to loss of perpetrator control, (3) femicide–suicide as a mercy killing, and (4) femicide–suicide due to jealousy. Implications for societal perceptions of violence against women as well as corresponding victims’ policies/services are presented and discussed.
Feminist (gendered) pathways theorists maintain that female criminality is largely survival-based, and tied to a constellation of factors including early trauma, ensuing mental health issues, and poverty. Based on items drawn from the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument, multidimensional scaling was performed to elucidate the respective thematic structure of background and offending characteristics of 663 female and 1,175 male juvenile offenders under community supervision in New York State. Although the gendered pathways theme emerged exclusively for females, a theme closely resembling the traditional antisocial pathway depicted in mainstream correctional literature was also evident among females. Theoretical integration is therefore recommended.
Alongside literature on how crime and crime control reproduce racial inequality, less attention has been paid to how the social construction of crime reproduces masculine privilege. To address this gap, I examine 71 interviews with gun carriers. While gun carriers actively promote guns to women, they tend to assume a masculine perspective on crime by emphasizing fast, warlike violence perpetrated by strangers—the kinds of crime men, as opposed to women, are likely to face. Extending theories of vulnerability to gun politics, I argue that the social construction of crime is a key vehicle through which gender is reproduced.
This article seeks to extend the sex trafficking literature by addressing the knowledge gap surrounding sex traffickers. In addition, this analysis broadens Antonopoulos and Winterdyk’s (2005) analysis by contending that sex traffickers in various sociohistorical contexts use neutralizations based on the intersectional vulnerabilities of their victims. An examination of the sociocultural influences on traffickers’ use of techniques of neutralization contributes to a deeper understanding of sex trafficking and its cultural and social bases. This is essential to combating the practice as effective countermeasures must address the motivations, cultural constructions, and exploitation of intersectional identities that support sex trafficking.
This research is a content analysis of photographs in 23 introductory criminal justice and criminology textbooks published between 2008 and 2012, replicating the original work of Baro and Eigenberg analyzing changes of gender depictions in introductory criminal justice and criminology textbooks and adding an examination of gendered interaction patterns. Findings support women continue to be marginalized in introductory criminal justice and criminology textbooks some 20 years after the initial study while images of gendered interaction patterns are largely absent. A discussion of the findings as well the study and praxis of criminal justice and criminology are presented.
This interdisciplinary, qualitative study explores why individuals called the police in noncriminal, verbally aggressive situations and how they perceived police responses. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 individuals, mostly women. While some reported positive perceptions of the police response, the participants’ accounts underscored the seriousness of verbal violence and revealed that when women seek help from police they often perceive the resulting response as inadequate and/or unfair. This study highlights the importance of recognizing that verbal violence is often part of a "fabric of abuse" that may include criminal behavior and considers implications for police practice.
The experiences and impact of sexual victimization are often complex, with recent research suggesting the need for deeper consideration of how sexual assault coupled with additional stressors may affect Black women’s disclosure of sexual assault and their coping strategies. Utilizing Black feminist criminology as a theoretical framework, we conducted a narrative case analysis of qualitative interviews with nine Black women to understand how multiple traumatic events impact their disclosure and coping patterns. The findings of this study show the need for scholars and policy makers to address these unique issues faced by Black women.
Criticisms of restorative justice (RJ) for gendered violence conceptualize RJ as diversion. A case study of a therapeutic postconviction RJ model for a severe case of intimate partner violence (IPV) shows that benefits manifest postconviction primarily due to the lengthy amount of time between the crime and the RJ proceeding in that victims are ready to participate and offenders have had time to develop empathy and accept responsibility. While diversionary RJ may risk more harm and fail to accommodate victims’ needs, lessons learned from postconviction RJ can contribute to the quest for more satisfying justice responses to crimes of gendered violence.