The criminal justice system is said to be a “gendered experience” Women, as victims, offenders and workers within the criminal justice system have historically been ignored, limited and, in some ways, completely absent. Chapter one covers the impact feminism has on the study of crime, including the three feminist movements, and how the experiences of a victim, offender or worker in the criminal justice system are influenced by gender. In addition, the chapter overviews both the positives and negatives of various data sources as well as the feminist methodologies that are helping to develop a greater understanding of women and crime.
According to the text, feminism plays a critical role in the understanding of how the criminal justice system responds to both women themselves and women’s issues. The first wave of feminism began with a focus on women’s suffrage and their right to vote. By the 1960s and 1970s, during the civil rights and women’s movement, the second wave of feminism began to expand their concerns to sexuality, legal inequalities and reproductive rights. This movement influenced criminologists to think differently about criminal behavior among women. Prompting them to delve into the inequalities, variance of offending and the response of the criminal justice system between men and women. However, they did not evaluate the topic of multicultural identity in their research at this time, leaving a narrow interpretation of the issue.
The third wave of feminism extended further to address the diversity among women; including their race, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality. Criminologists were now concerned with the individual. They were seeking answers to find out who, why and how. Who is the woman? Why is she offending? Lastly, how is this woman different from her male counterpart and how must the criminal justice system respond differently to her and her unique needs? The third wave correspondingly brought light to the female victim, her experiences and the response the criminal justice system has to women who are victimized.
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Feminism also promoted greater involvement in the workforce, including the criminal justice system. Criminologists were then concerned with the impact gender has on the way women work in historically male-dominated occupations, the unique issues they are faced with when they enter these types of occupations and how having women in these fields has changed the experiences for women victims and offenders. Progress has been made in feminist criminology, however, there is much more research to be done on the women involved in all aspects of the criminal justice system.
When it comes to being victims, men certainly have a place, however, women are the primary victims of certain violent offenses; generally knowing their perpetrator personally. With the high amount of violent crime towards women, there are a lot less of these crimes that actually get reported. If the victim does report the crime, charges are often not filed and most charges get reduced through plea bargains; leaving the offender with a simple “slap on the wrist” if anything at all.
The victims that do report these crimes have their own lives put on trial by the criminal justice system as well as society; often having to relive the crime and trauma a second time. Following the victimization, women have a variety of needs that are imperative to meet. However, high needs and a higher demand for services, has made resources limited to victims. Just as women are the primary victims for certain offenses, they are also the primary offender for certain offenses.
While men are the majority offenders in most crimes committed, women are the majority for offenses such as prostitution and status crimes. The gender gap is what scholars investigate when comparing the patterns of male and female offending. The criminal justice system responds to offenders differently by their gender. This is often based on societal expectations of how women “should” behave. When women commit crimes, it is often seen that they are not only violating the law but violating their gender roles as well. This often leads to them being punished for both. With more focus on women and changes on policies, greater amounts of women are being sent to prison. This is creating a higher demand for services and negative impacts on the future lives of “ex-offenders.” It is important to note that offenders can be victims as well.
Studies have continuously shown a connection between women with a history of victimization and those who go on to offend. Most women incarcerated have been abused, often in many forms. These victimizations and offenses continue in a vicious cycle that can be nearly impossible to get out of. EXAMPLE. While female victims and offenders have their own unique experiences and issues, female employees in the criminal justice system have their own as well.
Women have made progress in the historically male dominant occupations, however not enough. Women in these positions often face sexual harassment, issues with work-family balance, maternity and motherhood. Studies show how women manage these roles and how their experiences as women can impact the work environment. However, to better understand any topic, it is important to evaluate a variety of sources, including databases.
To gain a better insight to how frequently women engage in crime and how often they are victimized, it is imperative to look at how data on crime is gathered due to the different perspectives presented by each. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is a database provided by the FBI. Statistics for the UCR are based on annual arrests made by police agencies in the U.S. The arrest information includes offense type, age, race, gender, location and region. The UCR allows for an evaluation of crime trends over time. However, there are some issues.
The UCR does not account for crimes that are not reported, it only contains data on specific types of crimes, and in each event where multiple crimes are committed, the UCR only reports the most serious one. In addition, reporting annually cannot account for crimes committed one year if an arrest is made in the next year Lastly, not all agencies participate in providing their reports; potentially flawing the analysis of crime patterns.
To alleviate the issues faced by the UCR, another data source, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), has been implemented and is slowly taking the position of the UCR. The NIBRS collects data, similar to the UCR, however, it expunged the hierarchy rule. With this, the FBI gathers data on all offenses committed within one event as well as both completed and uncompleted crimes. While this system has the potential to give a greater understanding of the female offending patterns, it still is limited to only reported crimes.
In attempting to combat this flaw, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was created. It has been designed to reveal the dark figure of crime; the gap between reported and unreported crime. By conducting large interviews, the Bureau of Justice Statistics is able to make generalizations of victimizations within the U.S. population.
In addition to statistics on unreported crime, the NCVS provides data on crime rates. Other examples of data sources on victimization include the National Violence Against Women Survey (VAWS) and National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). Together with the UCR and NIBRS, these victimization data sources may be able to gain a greater understanding of the actual prevalence of crime and in understanding the experiences of the victims as well. As shown by feminist criminology, these experiences portray the life of women within U.S. society and help scholars to recognize gender as it relates to crime.
Feminist criminology places women’s realities and issues at the center of the research process. Through mostly qualitative methods, scholars dive deeper than those utilizing traditional criminology. They allow for emotions and values within the research process. However, there are critics of this process who believe that the process by which data is quantified does not permit easy documentation and others believe that quantitative data should pay a bigger role in feminist criminology. The most important aspect of feminist criminology is that there is no single method recognized as the feminist method. It is instead the method by which data are gathered as well as the connection between the researcher and his or her subjects.
