The Invisible Woman: Gender, Crime, and Justice / Edition 3

by Joanne Belknap

Overview

This text covers women and the criminal justice system with a focus on three major areas: (1) female offenders and their treatment by the criminal justice system; (2) female victims of crime; and (3) female employees of the agencies of the criminal justice system. This is the only text to emphasize all three aspects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780495090557
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	07/27/2006
Series:	Wadsworth Contemporary Issues in Crime A
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

A lifelong advocate for women's issues and a renowned scholar and researcher at the University of Colorado's department of Sociology, Joanne Belknap is both a powerful feminist and a talented analyst of the criminal justice system.

Table of Contents

	Preface	XII
I	Introduction
1	The Emergence of Gender in Criminology	3
	Invisibility of Women and Girls in Crime	4
	Sex Versus Gender	11
	What Is Feminism?	15
	What is Feminist Method?	19
	Effect of Societal Images on Women in Crime	21
	Diversity Among Women	24
	Summary	26
II	Female Offending
2	Critiquing Criminological Theories	33
	The Traditional, Positivist Studies	35
	Strain and Subcultural Theories	40
	Differential Association Theory	43
	Labeling Theory	45
	Social Control Theory	47
	Marxist/Radical Theories	52
	Women's Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis	54
	Biosocial and Evolutionary Psychological Theories	56
	Feminist and Pro-Feminist Theories	58
	Summary	71
3	The Frequency and Nature of Female Offending	80
	Description of Offending	81
	The Importance of How Crime Rates Are Measured and the Roles of Gender, Age, Race, and Class	87
	Female Offending in Context	89
	Summary	117
4	Processing Women and Girls in the System	125
	Criminal Laws and Sex Discrimination	126
	Sentencing Laws and Sex Discrimination	129
	Three Hypotheses of Sex Discrimination in Crime Processing	131
	Chivalry and Paternalism	132
	Empirical Findings on Gender Differences in Crime Processing	133
	Summary	149
5	Incarcerating, Punishing, and "Treating" Offending Women and Girls	155
	History of Institutionalizing Females	156
	Women's Prisons Today	163
	Rates of Imprisonment	166
	Who Is in Women's Prisons and Delinquent Girls' Institutions?	168
	Girls' "Correctional" Institutions	171
	Psychological Aspects of Women's Imprisonment	173
	Parenthood: A Gender Difference among Prisoners	176
	Educational, Vocational, and Recreational Programs	179
	Health Care Services	182
	The Prison Subculture	186
	Co-Corrections	191
	Women and the Death Penalty	194
	Summary	195
III	Female Victims of Male Violence
6	The Image of the Female Victim	205
	The Link between Actual Victimizations and the Fear of Crime	207
	Effect of Culture on Gender Roles	210
	Gender Disparities in Power	212
	Threat of Violence	213
	Victim Blaming	215
	Victimization of Women and Girls of Color	218
	The Victimization of Women and Girls with Disabilities	220
	Summary	221
7	Sexual Victimization	227
	Defining Sexual Victimization	227
	Historical Issues in Defining Sexual Victimization	228
	Statistics on Sexual Victimization	230
	Who Are the Victims?	232
	Who Are the Offenders?	233
	The Victim-Offender Relationship	235
	Child Sexual Victimization	235
	Date Rape	240
	Marital Rape	246
	Sexual Harassment	249
	Sexual Victimization and the Crime-Processing System	253
	Summary	258
8	Woman Battering and Stalking	267
	Defining Battering and Stalking	267
	History of Identifying Battering as a Social Problem	270
	The Frequency of Battering and Stalking	272
	Walker's Cycle Theory of Violence	276
	Why Do (Some) Men Batter?	277
	Who Are the Batterers and Stalkers?	278
	Inhibitors to Leaving a Violent Relationship	281
	The Constant Threat of Danger	289
	Woman Battering and the Crime-Processing System	291
	Health Professionals	303
	Summary	305
IV	Women Workers
9	Working Women: Breaking the Barriers	319
	Movement from the Private to the Public Sphere	320
	Movement Toward Gender Equality	327
	Legal Implications	333
	The History of Women's Entry into Decision-Making Positions in the Criminal-Processing System	339
	Summary	350
10	Working Women: on the Job	356
	Legal Pressure for Women's Employment in Crime Processing	357
	The Current Rate of Women's Employment in the Criminal-Processing System	358
	Women as Tokens in the Workplace	362
	Women as Tokens in Crime-Processing Jobs since the 1970s	366
	Institutionalized Sexism	368
	Institutionalized Heterosexism	369
	Gender Similarities and Differences in Job Performances	369
	Organizational, Social, and Individual Resistance and Support Regarding Women's Work in Crime-Fighting Jobs	371
	Prisoner Privacy and Prison Safety: A Roadblock for Women Guards in Male Prisons	384
	Classifications of Women Employees in Male-Dominated Jobs	387
	Summary	391
V	Conclusions
11	Effecting Change	401
	New Theories	401
	Changing the Treatment of Female Offenders	402
	Changing Responses to Male Violence Against Women	409
	Changes for Women Crime-Processing Professionals	416
	Summary	419
	Name Index	427
	Subject Index	440

Editorial Reviews

This study of women as offenders, victims, and workers in the criminal justice system focuses on descriptions of the lives and experiences of real women. Belknap (criminology, University of Colorado, Boulder) considers and critiques the treatment that the victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence receive, the hostile environments that female police officers and prison guards report, and the inhumane conditions endured by female prisoners. From both political and historical perspectives, Belknap explores how gender and gender differences intertwine with race, racism, class, and sexuality distinctions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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