Introductory description

Gender, Crime and Justice will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between gender, crime and its social context. This module explores sociological and criminological approaches to the study of deviance, gender and crime in contemporary society.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Part 1: Context

1. Introduction to the module: Gender and Patterns of Offending.
2. Feminist Perspectives in Criminology
3. Masculinities and Crime

Part 2: Patterns and Representations of Offenders and Offending
4. Gender, Victimisation and the Fear of Crime
5. Media Representations of Male and Female Offenders
6. Reading Week
7. Queering the body under the criminal justice gaze

Part 3: The Gendering of the Criminal Justice Profession
8. Gender and Policing
9. Women and men in the Criminal Justice Professions
10. Gender and Crime in a Global Context. Module overview

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Main learning outcomes: Gender, Crime and Justice will provide students with a critical understanding of the relationship between gender, crime and justice in contemporary society. The module enables students to: Describe and assess a range of theoretical accounts of gender; crime and justice; To develop the understanding of the social, economic and cultural dimensions of gender, crime and criminal justice;
• To develop an understanding of the links between sociological theorizing of gender, crime, justice and the socio-historical context in which these theories emerged;
• To build on existing ability to apply research evidence to understandings of deviance, social control and related social problems.
• To demonstrate a critical awareness of the treatment of male and female offenders and victims within the criminal justice system;
• To demonstrate a critical understanding of how issues of race and ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, age and gender affect processes of criminalisation;
• To develop skills in accessing and evaluating relevant literature for independent study, research and essay writing.

Indicative reading list

Background Reading
Agozino, B., ((1997) Black Women and the Criminal Justice System. Ashgate Publishing
Carlen, P. (1983) Women’s Imprisonment, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Carlen, P. (1998). Sledgehammer. London: Macmillan.
Carlen, P. (ed) (2002) Women and Punishment: the Struggle for Justice. Cullumpton, Willan Publishing.
Chapter 4)
Carlen, P. & Worrall, A. (2004) Analysing Women’s Imprisonment, Cullompton: Willan.
Corston, Baroness (2007) The Corston Report: A review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the
criminal justice system, London: Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/corston-report/

Davies, P. (2011) Gender, Crime and Victimisation, London: Sage.

Gelsthorpe, L. & Morris, A. (eds) (1990) Feminist Perspectives in Criminology, Milton Keynes: OUP.
Heidensohn, F. and Silvestri, M. (2012) ‘Gender and Crime’, in M. Maguire, R. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds.)
The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (5th edition), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moore, L., Scraton, P. and Wahidin, A. (2018), Women’s Imprisonment, Decarceration and Case for
Abolition: Critical Reflections on Corston. Routledge.

Silvestri, M and Dowey-Crowther, C. (2016), Gender and Crime (Key Approaches to Criminology), Sage.

Wahidin, A. (2013), Gender and Crime in C. Hale, K. Hayward, A. Wahidin & E. Wincup (eds) Criminology,
Oxford: Oxford University Press (3rd ed).

Walklate, S. (2nd Ed.) (2004) Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice, Cullompton: Willan.
Westmarland, L. (2002) Gender and Policing: sex, power and police culture, Cullompton: Willan.
Worrall, A. (1990) Offending Women, London: Routledge.
Wykes, M. and Welsh, K. (2009) Violence, Gender and Justice, London: Sage.

Subject specific skills

To demonstrate knowledge and understanding with the development, nature and theories of gender and crime;

To demonstrate knowledge and understanding of feminist social theories relating to gender and crime;

To understand the socio, cultural and historical constructions of victims and offenders

To be able to apply case studies and give examples incorporating theories of gender and
crime.

To understand the relationship between gender, crime and justice and the intersections of ethnicity, age and sexual orientation.

Transferable skills

To effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms
to specialist and non-specialist audiences and deploy key techniques of the discipline effectively

To develop existing skills and acquire new competences that will enable them to assume significant responsibility within organisations.

The qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment require the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making.