Feminist Criminology Insights

The Invisibility of Women

• Criminology has historically been male-centric.
• The focus of criminological inquiry has been on male behavior.
• Women have been largely ignored in criminology, partly due to their relatively low rate of criminal offending.
• Violence against women has not been considered a major crime concern
• Feminist criminology aims to place women and an analysis of gender at the center of criminological inquiry.

The Women’s Liberation Thesis

• Increased female participation in the workforce will lead to more women behaving like men criminally.

Conservative Approach

• This approach emphasizes biological determinism.
• Focuses on inherent differences between men and women that explain female criminality.
• Women are viewed as naturally inferior, which accounts for their lower crime rate.
• Criminologists focused on a small group of women deemed pathological who assaulted women.
• The concept of “victim precipitation” blames women for sexual assault.

Violence Against Women

• The women's movement encouraged victims to share their experiences.

• Services for victims of abuse emerged, including rape crisis lines and centers, and shelters.

• Legislative reforms in Canada in 1983 included:

  • Husbands could be charged with assault.
  • Limits were placed on questions about victim's past sexual history to discredit their testimony.
  • The corroboration requirement for rape cases was dropped.
  • The doctrine of recent complaint for rape cases was eliminated.
  • A publication ban was enacted on the identity of the complainant.
  • Police were directed to lay charges in domestic assault cases.

• Montreal Massacre (1989) - 14 women were murdered in a shooting at École Polytechnique in Montreal, with the perpetrator claiming feminists were to blame for his failures in life.

• The 1993 Violence Against Women Survey found that half of women in Canada had experienced some form of physical or sexual violence, and almost half experienced violence by a man they knew.

• Indigenous women are five times as likely to die as a result of violence and are murdered or reported missing at a higher rate than other women.

Blurred Boundaries: Women as Victims and Offenders

• Most women who are criminalized have experienced physical abuse or sexual assault as children or adults.
• Indigenous women are significantly more likely to experience violence and abuse.
• Research on women's "pathways" shows a correlation between victimization and criminal activity.
• The criminalized woman becomes the "woman in trouble," needing help rather than punishment.

The Victimization-Criminalization Continuum

• Women's history of victimization often reduces their social support and options, making them more susceptible to criminalization.
• Intersectionality theory highlights how systemic factors like patriarchy, poverty, and colonialism intersect to contribute to women's vulnerability to victimization.
• This vulnerability limits their agency and capacity to make choices.

Feminist Approach

• Feminist criminology examines the broader social context of women's criminality.
• It explores the influence of structural inequalities based on class race, and gender on the lives of women who engage in criminality.
• Feminist criminology questions how social and legal responses to violence against women reinforce the problem.
• Feminist criminology seeks to include women's interests and perspectives in criminology, challenging the traditional male-centric view.