Essay 22: Feminist critique of Traditional Criminology
INTRODUCTION
New surge of feminism engulfed USA, Britain & Europe in 1960s and 1970s
Most important characteristic of modern feminism was that for the first time research was being
produced by women, for women and about women
However, there was an earlier surge of feminism
Called “first-wave feminism”
Was a period of feminism activity & thought during 19th and 20th century
It mainly focused on legal issues such as women‟s right to vote
Ways which new surge differs from earlier surge of feminism
Mukherjee & Fitzgerald found crime rates in US was U-shaped: higher in 1900s, falling in 1938-1945
(war years) and rising 1950s-1970s
In 1900s women were fighting for their rights & committed crimes to be heard by violating laws
created by men
The new surge of feminism (since 1960) however deals with the liberation of women = to be
equal with men in workplace & at home, and equal contribution to sciences
Although Klein, Millman, Smart and Leonard all had their unique focus, their criticism against traditional
criminology was similar & centred around 2 issues, namely:
The invisibility of women offenders in Criminology and their at best marginal appearances, if they
were included
Example of marginalisation of women in Criminology: Researcher Thrasher published earliest book
on gang research in criminology (1927)
It had a very superficial analysis on girl gangs as his source of info was boys and he wrote
through the eyes of boys
Marginalisation as women are seen as insignificant to men = they aren‟t even used for their own
research
Also centred around what theories have been developed for women specifically based on research
that is limited & restricted
Women in general misrepresented in research = led to creation of stereotypes
Evidence of this stereotyping is seen in Traditional criminologists‟ theories
Pollak: argued that women have individual characteristics (like deceptiveness, revengefulness,
greediness & untrustworthiness) and they behave in certain ways because they are women, and
also commit crimes because of sexual motivation = this creates a sexist image of women, not all
are what he stated they are
Lombroso: stated women who commit crime have enormous wickedness, are predestined to be
criminal from birth & more vicious and dangerous than males = not all female offenders are
wicked but act out of pain
Thomas: saw females as passive & motionless, stated female prostitutions enter into it because
they wanted to satisfy their needs that expresses loss of family & community organisation
KLEIN
Published article titled “The Aetiology of Female Crime” (1973) = was misleading title, because she
didn‟t examine the causes/origin of female crime as suggested by article title
Instead she highlighted the continuity in works of most important traditional authors in Criminology,
namely Lombroso and Ferrero, W.I. Thomas and Otto Pollak
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