Routledge Gender and Justice: New Concepts And Approaches

Questions about gender, justice and crime are constantly in the public arena, whether they focus on young women getting drunk or taking drugs, or the rising numbers of women going to prison or committing violent crimes, or reports of macho behaviour on the part of men in the military, law enforcement or professional sport. This book provides a key text for students seeking to understand feminist and gendered perspectives on criminology and criminal justice, bringing together the most innovative research and work which has taken the study of the relationship between gender and justice into the twenty-first century. The book addresses many of the issues of concern to the established feminist agenda (such as the gender gap, equity in the criminal justice system, penal regimes and their impact on women), but also shows the ways in which these themes have been extended, reinterpreted and answered in new and distinctive ways. Organised into sections on gender and offending behaviour, gender and the criminal justice system, and new concepts and approaches, Gender and Justice: new concepts and approaches will be essential reading for students taking courses in criminology and criminal justice, and anybody else wishing to understand the complex and changing relationship between gender and justice. Review This thematic collection of essays edited by the leading feminist criminologist Frances Heidensohn, sets the agenda and parameters for the epistemological study of feminist criminology in the twenty-first century. It should therefore be compulsory reading on all criminology courses and of significant interest to criminal justice professionals. Heidensohn was instrumental in establishing the study of gender, crime and justice into mainstream criminology, forcing its masculine establishment to consider the effect and impact of law and the criminal justice process on women. She has continually challenged the invisibility and marginalization of women from a feminist perspective in both criminological theory and public policy railing against gender-blindness and leading to the shift in position today where women are now regarded in principle as a subject equally worthy of introspection. Despite such advances, disappointingly the evidence from some of the contributors is that in some areas nothing much has changed in the last 20 years – both theoretically and in terms of societal and penal responses. On a positive note, the authors offer opportunities and ideas to address this, suggesting ways forward, and confirming that so much more can be achieved where criminology and feminism work together as effective and complementary partners. The book is divided into three parts; one of its strengths is that all the chapters are well-structured, accessible and eminently readable – the hallmarks perhaps of a gendered approach? All are supported by empirical evidence, primarily qualitative rather than quantitative, again reinforcing the successful integration of feminist and criminological perspectives. Part One comprises five essays exploring gendered differences and similarities identified in specific criminal contexts. Mike Shiner argues that traditional research into drug culture has failed to identify and achieve this. He utilizes empirical research to show that it is the identification of these gender differences that are fundamental to understandings of drug culture.For example teenage females appear to grow out of drug use faster than males from age 17 onwards, prompting further inquiry. Kirstine Hansen challenges the longstanding assumption that in relation to crime offending there is a clear and stereotypical gender gap between males and females. Using analysis into self-reported offending, she argues that the traditional approach of predicting the likelihood of male/female offending based on gender stereotypifications should be replaced with research that focuses more on the fluctuations in certain groups (eg