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.

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.

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.

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

Domestic Violence as State Crime presents a provocative challenge to the way that domestic violence is understood and addressed. Underpinned by a radical feminist perspective, the central argument of this book is that domestic violence against women constitutes a patriarchal state crime. By analysing the international, collective, structural, and institutional dimensions of this harm, the author outlines a spectrum of state complicity ranging from passive bystander to active producer, participant, and perpetrator. The wide-ranging analysis in this book draws on data from comparable liberal-democratic contexts including Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, in order to comprehensively show how domestic violence state criminality functions in practice – even in the present and in supposedly progressive contexts. This analysis provides valuable insight into why this epidemic-scale crime is ever resistant to a diversity of contemporary interventions. Drawing its concepts into a cohesive whole, the book then posits an overarching feminist typological theory of domestic violence as state crime. It also considers how domestic violence might be addressed if we confront its state crime dimensions and adopt a more holistic and transformative approach to remedy, redress, prevention, and justice. An accessible and compelling read, Domestic Violence as State Crime offers an innovative scholarly and activist contribution to the study of violence against women, feminism, criminology, and the broader critical study of law, politics, and society. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in thinking differently about domestic violence and the state.

Women, Crime, and Justice: Balancing the Scales presents a comprehensive analysis of the role of women in the criminal justice system, providing important new insight to their position as offenders, victims, and practitioners. Draws on global feminist perspectives on female offending and victimization from around the world Covers topics including criminal law, case processing, domestic violence, gay/lesbian and transgendered prisoners, cyberbullying, offender re-entry, and sex trafficking Explores issues professional women face in the criminal justice workplace, such as police culture, judicial decision-making, working in corrections facilities, and more Includes international case examples throughout, using numerous topical examples and personal narratives to stimulate students’ critical thinking and active engagement