Elsevier

Journal of Criminal Justice

Volume 29, Issue 4, July–August 2001, Pages 271-285
Journal of Criminal Justice

Feminism for the mainstream criminologist: An invitation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(01)00093-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Feminism has historically been peripheral to the study and practice of criminal justice; mainstream criminologists have not been widely exposed to feminist perspectives. This has contributed to perceptions that criminology is about men and feminism is only about women. Consequently, many criminologists and criminal justice practitioners have yet to understand, much less appreciate, the importance of feminism's contribution to criminology. To address this problem, this article explains some of the major feminist insights in the interrelated areas of epistemology, theory, methodology, and policy. Examples from the criminal justice literature are used to illustrate both the basis for feminist concerns as well as the diversity of feminist scholarship.

Introduction

It seems pro forma to begin an article on feminism deploring the fact that mainstream criminologists do not “get it.” This work, however, is authored by someone who herself did not always “get” feminism and only in recent years has come to recognize feminist insights as not just helpful to understanding the relationship between gender and crime, but essential. This article assumes that many criminologists' dismissal of feminism stems as much from ignorance and misinformation as deliberate, ideological resistance. The purpose here is neither to attack mainstream approaches nor to unequivocally defend feminist ones. Rather, this article represents an invitation to academicians and practitioners from all intellectual and professional backgrounds to consider the contributions of feminist thought in theory, methods, policy, and practice.1

The rapidly expanding body of literature on women and gender suggests that the days when a criminologist could pass off a study of men as being a general and generalizable study of crime are numbered.2 Accompanying the increased attention to gender has been increased opportunities for funding for research on women, gender, and crime. For instance, the 1994 Violence Against Women Act not only provided additional rights to victims of stalking, domestic violence, and sexual assault, but also marked US$1.6 billion for programs providing services to women victims of domestic violence. To take full advantage of the opportunities available to integrate gender into this research, teaching, and practice, however, requires an understanding of the myriad ways in which gender shapes both men's and women's experiences in the criminal justice system.

Feminist criminologists have been at the forefront in pointing out that when women and other marginalized groups are ignored, devalued, or misrepresented, society in general and the understanding of crime and justice in particular suffer as a result. “Feminism” and “feminist criminology” refer not to one perspective but a diverse set of perspectives that, generally speaking, focus on women's interests, are overtly political, and strive to present a new vision of equality and social justice (Rafter & Heidensohn, 1995). Feminists generally share a view that gender inequalities exist in society and that these inequalities should be addressed, though they may differ in their location of the source of the problem and the measures to be pursued.3 As will be described in greater detail below, feminist contributions to the understanding of crime and justice cannot be underestimated: Arguably “no other perspective has done as much to raise societal consciousness about the oppression of women and gender inequality” (Wonders, 1999, p. 113).

Despite feminism's impact on the study and practice of criminal justice, many scholars and practitioners lack an understanding of even the most rudimentary aspects of feminist criminological thought, much less feminism's relevance to criminal justice. Part of the problem is that much feminist scholarship is still published in specialized journals (e.g., Women and Criminal Justice, Gender and Society, Violence Against Women, Feminist Theory), included in “special issues” focusing on some aspect of women and crime [cf., Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 14 (2) (1998); American Psychologist, 54 (1) (1999); Homicide Studies, 2 (4) (1998); Corrections Today, 60 (7) (1998); International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 21 (2) (1997); Crime and Delinquency, 41 (4) (1995); Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 3 (2) (1992); Southern California Review of Law and Women's Studies, 2 (1) (1992); Social Pathology, 3 (2) (1997); Law and Social Inquiry, 19 (4) (1995); Justice Quarterly, 12 (1) (1995); Crime and Delinquency, 35 (1) (1989)] or receives book-length treatments that require more of a commitment than many nonfeminist criminologists are willing to invest.4 This literature frequently assumes a baseline level of knowledge that nonfeminists or scholars new to the study of gender and crime may not possess. As with other approaches, feminist scholarship often relies on terminology (e.g., “androcentricism,” “intersectionality,” “standpoint epistemology,” “gender essentialism,” “reflexivity,” “doing gender,” “hegemonic masculinity”) that — while widely recognized by many feminist-oriented criminologists — alienates rather than informs practitioners or scholars from more mainstream orientations.5

Feminism and mainstream criminology seem trapped in, if not a vicious cycle, at least an unproductive one. Historically, feminism has had a peripheral relationship to the discipline on the whole and mainstream criminologists have not been widely exposed to feminist perspectives. Many men and women continue to assume (falsely) that “feminism is about women, while criminology is about men” (Naffine, 1996: pp. 1–2), which, in turn, keeps feminist perspectives marginal to the discipline.6 The result is that many academicians, practitioners, and policymakers have yet to understand, much less appreciate, the importance of gender and feminism's contribution to criminology.

To address this problem, the present work dedicates itself to explaining some of the major feminist insights in the interrelated areas of theory (including theories of knowledge), methodology, and policy to criminologists unfamiliar with feminism. Following an overview of how gender was addressed in the study and practice of criminal justice, examples are presented that illustrate feminist concerns as well as the diversity of feminist scholarship.7

Section snippets

Women and gender in criminology

When the question arises as to why many standard criminal justice texts dedicate relatively little attention to women, one of the most oft-cited responses is that women comprise a small percentage of those involved in the criminal justice system. For example, according to official crime statistics, women comprise only around 7 percent of prison inmates and 11 percent of jail inmates, 21 percent of those arrested, and 14 percent of all sworn officers in large police departments Federal Bureau of

Feminist epistemologies

Epistemology refers to “theories of what knowledge is, what makes it possible, and how to get it” (Harding, 1991, p. 308). Feminist perspectives have made more progress in fields that have stronger traditions of interpretive understanding such as literature and history. By contrast, the criminological tradition continues to be deeply embedded in the scientific method (Naffine, 1996). Much of mainstream criminology is rooted in claims that “science is value neutral” and “scientific methods

Theoretical contributions

Charges that criminology is “male-centered” (or “androcentric”) raise hackles among students, practitioners, and scholars alike who incorrectly reduce the criticism to an attack on the sex of the researchers. The reality is that women are vulnerable to androcentric bias just as men are capable of overcoming it. Male dominance of the discipline contributes to androcentricity, but is by no means the only source.

Ideally, theoretical development is grounded in a larger literature, building upon the

Research methodology and methods

Just as feminists vary in their theoretical orientation and their views of how knowledge should be acquired, “there is not a distinctive feminist methodology but rather a feminist perspective on the research process” (Taylor & Rupp, 1991, p. 127). With this in mind, the following sections discuss major feminist methodological themes as they are manifested in criminological research. These themes relate to the choice of topic, choice of research methods, the subjective experiences of doing

Policy and action

In reviewing the presidential addresses to the American Society of Criminology, Ngaire Naffine (1996) observes that increasingly, mainstream criminologists are encouraged to be applied and practical, to inform policymakers, and contribute to the public debate about crime. Here again is an area where feminist criminology has proven valuable to the larger criminal justice arena. Feminists have always placed a premium on policy and action; one of feminism's defining components is a standing and

Conclusions

“If I can't dance, it's not my revolution.” Emma Goldman's statement may make a great T-shirt, but her view is hardly universal among feminists. While feminist criminologists generally agree that a transformation of criminal justice discipline is desirable, there is less consensus regarding how to go about actually carrying it out. Do feminists wait for mainstream criminology to invite them to the dance? If invited, do feminists attend even if it means being reduced to standing against the

Acknowledgements

This article has benefited greatly from the thoughtful suggestions offered by Lynn Chancer of Fordham University, Mona Danner of Old Dominion University, and Helen Eigenberg of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

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