Feminist Criminology

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Gender has become an established and central topic in criminology and studies of criminal justice. The criminologist Lauritsen stated that “Men commit crime at higher rates than women” furthermore they are “involved in more serious and violent offending, and are more prone to recidivism” (Lauritsen et at 2009). He believed that this is one of the few undisputed ‘facts’ of criminology. Criminologists look at a range of issues in relation to gendered crime, this includes analysing actual patterns of behaviours and attitudes associated with crime and gender. Furthermore criminology looks at modern influences in relation to gendered crime such as media and technology’s influence. Yet it is still important to recognise some of the early work which…show more content…
A key feature of feminist contributions to criminology is the push to recognise gender as a social construct and not just a statistical variable. It is seen by many that there are three foundations to feminist criminology. Firstly, feminist empiricism of crime, control and justice to balance the absence of women from conformist work. Secondly, feminist standpointism which is the need to draw attention to place women’s experience at the centre of knowledge. Finally, feminist deconstructionism which draws upon postmodern insights relating to concepts and language. It is known that females account for a small percentage of all known offenders. When women were looked at it was only in terms of stereotypes (passive, domestic and maternal) which were based on women’s biological and psychological nature. Recently work has been done to provide more knowledge of the victimisation of women and the factors such as social and cultural associated with crime. Criminologists prior to the 1980s only studied male delinquency and crime. Furthermore feminist’s criminologists believe that there is a direct relationship between masculinity and crime while critical criminology challenges the assumption of positivism in explaining men’s…show more content…
Their research has scrutinized gendered crime and explored “the possibilities of critical life-history work with men for both theory, politics and practice” (Thurston and Beynon, 1995). At the center of criminology has been the deviant, under-achieving, young working-class male. Connell looked at key concepts of patriarchy, domination, oppression and exploitation through which men are deemed powerful. Following on from these criminological ideas on gendered crime the sociologist Messerschmit has applied Connell’s framework and ideas to the study of crime. This includes the idea of gender as a situational accomplishment and of crime as a means of doing gender. He scrutinizes gender roles along with class and race, which influence the occurrence and types of crimes in society. These ideas from Connell and Messerschmit help look at deeper issues that lead to gendered crime and can help further understanding of

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