Feminist Theory, Crime, and Social Justice offers an insightful look at the primarily masculine-driven perspective on crime and justice through the lens of feminist theory. The book presents the argument that an increased understanding of the female crime typology, life course, and gender-specific programming will improve social justice for offenders. Discussions on the direct implications of the way society views crime and justice contribute to policy recommendations for helping to improve these views, specifically as they relate to female crime.

Feminist Theory, Crime, and Social Justice offers an insightful look at the primarily masculine-driven perspective on crime and justice through the lens of feminist theory. The book presents the argument that an increased understanding of the female crime typology, life course, and gender-specific programming will improve social justice for offenders. Discussions on the direct implications of the way society views crime and justice contribute to policy recommendations for helping to improve these views, specifically as they relate to female crime.

This collection re-imagines the field of criminology with insights gleaned from feminist theory. Works included here illustrate that gender is a key organizing principle of social life. This means that men and women have gender, that patriarchy as well as gender must be theorized, and that other systems of oppression such as race and class must also be studied to fully understand the crime problem and the criminal justice system. Finally, the articles collected here exemplify the feminist concern for thinking consciously about how and why we do our research with the crucial goal of producing knowledge that will promote social justice.

Miller's book makes clear the limitations of criminal justice policies which take no account of the effect on citizens who vary by gender, race and social class. Contributors show how desired social change can result from human and just practices.

Contributors from the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and South Africa analyze the impact of feminism on criminology in their countries, where feminist perspectives have challenged the basis of conventional criminology and altered the understanding of crimes such as domestic violence and child abuse. Some of the 11 chapters here are based on papers from the British Criminology Conference, Cardiff, July 1993. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Many feminists grapple with the problem of hyper-incarceration in the United States, and yet commentators on gender crime continue to assert that criminal law is not tough enough. This punitive impulse, prominent legal scholar Aya Gruber argues, is dangerous and counterproductive. In their quest to secure women’s protection from domestic violence and rape, American feminists have become soldiers in the war on crime by emphasizing white female victimhood, expanding the power of police and prosecutors, touting the problem-solving power of incarceration, and diverting resources toward law enforcement and away from marginalized communities. Deploying vivid cases and unflinching analysis, The Feminist War on Crime documents the failure of the state to combat sexual and domestic violence through law and punishment. Zero-tolerance anti-violence law and policy tend to make women less safe and more fragile. Mandatory arrests, no-drop prosecutions, forced separation, and incarceration embroil poor women of color in a criminal justice system that is historically hostile to them. This carceral approach exacerbates social inequalities by diverting more power and resources toward a fundamentally flawed criminal justice system, further harming victims, perpetrators, and communities alike. In order to reverse this troubling course, Gruber contends that we must abandon the conventional feminist wisdom, fight violence against women without reinforcing the American prison state, and use criminalization as a technique of last—not first—resort.

Women, Crime and Justice in Context presents contemporary feminist approaches to key issues in criminal justice. It draws together key researchers from Australia and New Zealand to offer a context-specific textbook that covers all of the major debates in the discipline in an accessible way. This book examines both the foundational texts and cutting-edge contributions to the topic and acknowledges the unique challenges and debates in the local Australian and New Zealand context. Written as an entry-level text, it introduces undergraduate students to key theories and debates on the topics of offending, victimization and the criminal justice system. It explores key topics in feminist criminology with chapters exploring sex work, prison abolitionism, community punishment, media representations of crime and victims, and the impacts of digital technology on gendered violence. Centring on an intersectional approach, the book includes chapters that focus on disability, queer criminology, indigenous perspectives, migration and service-user perspectives. The book concludes by exploring future directions in feminist approaches to crime and justice. This book will be essential reading for undergraduates studying feminist criminology, gender and crime, queer criminology, socio-legal studies, intersectionality, sociology and criminal justice.