CHAPTER APPLICATION PAPER 1
Chapter Application Paper
Coral E. Flores Tolentino
Liberty University
CJUS 700: Theories of Crime
February 25, 2024
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Abstract
Feminist Criminology is an intricate and evolving branch of criminology. Due to its
evolving nature, there are many branches in the feminist criminology concepts and there are
different aspects of it that affect the world and how it is viewed. Feminist criminology goes in-
depth into the needs and desires of a specific group of women and their ideals of how society
should perceive them. However, the disparities are easy to see in not only the treatment of
women in society but also how they are treated within the criminal justice system and in the
legality of their actions.
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Chapter Application Paper
The world is constantly changing and with that change comes a never-ending evolvement
of our laws and the concepts that make up our criminal justice system. Laws must evolve to keep
up with the demands of society, in this case the never-ending change that society partakes in.
There are certain factors that must be considered as the criminal justice system also evolves,
factors like race, gender, and economic disparities. These factors help criminologists understand
the parameters of the current laws and how they must change to be applicable in the current era.
Gender tends to be one of the factors of much attention. How does the criminal justice system
handle gender differences? Feminist Criminology was first introduced in the 1970s during a time
where women were starting to move away from the traditional roles of homemaker and entering
the workforce in large numbers. Due to these changes, women had to adapt to the new world
they were entering which sometimes clashed with their day to day. Feminist criminology was
created based on the discomfort that women experienced during these transitions, a new
“branch” of criminology emerged.
Feminist Criminology
Feminism has been a growing ideal and it has brought forth new concepts that have
influenced the criminal justice system. Feminist criminology has numerous branches and some
of them do not necessarily work jointly with the others. Different branches may focus on
different ideas and have a different goal to obtain. Due to these differences and the different
meanings given to these branches, feminist criminology is not one easy to study or comprehend.
It is quite intricate. The traditional criminology theories took the time to expand upon the nature
and criminal behavior of men and how they pertain to each other. However, theorists realized
that these theories could not be used to study the criminal activity or behavioral activity of
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women. To understand women, women had to be studied separately from their male counterparts
and the biased had to be removed to come up with concrete information. Bias in studies made it
hard to understand and pinpoint where women fell in the numbers as far as criminal activity was
concerned. It was often regarded that “men commit the vast majority of the crimes” (Snipes et,
al. 2019).
Society has always regarded women as inferior or as subordinates to men. There was
even the notion that women could not commit certain crimes because it was impossible to
believe that women, the “weaker” gender could commit those crimes. So, how should women be
punished? To what degree should women be punished? Should it depend on the crime, or should
their gender be taken into account? The criminal justice system was first developed to handle
men and their crimes. Women were given lesser sentences for the same offenses that men
committed. For example, a non-violent crime such as a theft, a woman could simply walk away
with a fine and maybe some community service while a man committing the same crime would
be given a jail sentence, a fine and community service. The woman could escape jail altogether.
As evolved as we have become, that type of disparity is still seen today, and my example did not
consider other biases such as race because that has been known to make an impact as well.
Women still tend to get away with less time or punishment for the crimes they commit, even if a
male has committed the same crime. There have been cases where a couple committed a crime
together and the woman receives less time than her partner. The criminal justice system is
starting to move towards a more equal way of sentencing, especially in cases of violence. Child
abuse cases are especially heinous and women who partake in these acts are given equal
sentences to their male counterparts. The nature of the crime tends to sway the punishment
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regarding gender and the disparity that it causes. Society is starting to see criminals as criminals
regardless of their gender or their gender identity.
Crime was regarded as something that only males took part in. Freda Adler and Rita
Simon had their own theories as to why the crimes that women were committing were regarded
as typically male dominated crimes. Freda Adler had a theory that women were becoming more
masculine and more competitive. Rita Simon argued that the reason for the rise in crime
pertaining to women as the suspect was due to the change in societal roles. Women were leaving
the traditional roles of being in the home and were entering the outside world. Women were
going to work and due to their impending adaptation into the society they were entering, they
also started to partake in “traditional” crime. Both Adler and Simon had a point in their theory as
going into the workforce could be seen as a masculine trait to have in certain eras, it could all be
perspective which makes these feminist theories even more complicated. They both argued that
liberation from traditional women’s roles would increase crimes committed by women (Snipes
et, al., 2019). Women have always committed crimes; it is just harder to create a statistic on those
numbers if they go unrecorded due to them happening within the home. However, when women
decided to leave the home, the opportunities for criminal activity increased.
There are five aspects of feminist thought according to a study by Daly and Chesney-
Lind. The five aspects of feminist thought are important to consider because other studies have
taken their work and expanded on it. While this study was conducted in 1988, a lot of other work
has derived from these 5 principles if you will. The first principle is gender is not a natural fact
but a complex social, historical, and cultural product; it is related to, but not simply derived from,
biological sex difference and reproductive capacities. The second principle is gender and gender
relations order social life and social institutions in fundamental ways. The third is gender
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relations and constructs of masculinity and femininity are not symmetrical but are based on an
organizing principle of men’s superiority and social and political-economic dominance over
women. The fourth is systems of knowledge reflect men’s views of the natural and social world;
the production of knowledge is gendered. The fifth and last is women should be the center of
intellectual inquiry, not peripheral, invisible, or appendages to men (Lind, 1988).
Feminist Criminology Schools
One of the schools of though for feminist criminology is liberal feminism. Liberal
feminism is the feminism used to bring forth attention to the issues that women phase in society.
They take a deep dive into women’s rights and the need for equality and opportunity. Another
section of liberal feminism pertains to how women fit into society and looking for avenues to
evolve and lessen those issues. The central idea behind liberal feminism is equality, they seek for
the role of women to be fair and equal in the workforce especially in careers that are
predominately dominated by males. Liberal feminism may be described as an equal rights
approach in that the focus is largely on securing the same legal rights for women that men enjoy
(Renzetti, 2018). Renzetti pinpoints that men and women should be equal, and this is the
foundation of branches that make up feminist criminology.
The branch of feminist criminology that challenges liberal feminism is radical feminism
due to its central concept of patriarchy (Snipes et. al., 2019). The definition of patriarchy is a
social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal
dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line
(Webster, 2024). According to radical feminism, gender inequality and sexism is the fundamental
form of oppression (Renzetti, 2018). Today’s society still has some oppression, but it has evolved
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to become more equally accepting of women in different roles, but there are some feminists who
still believe that the wide disparity that feminism was set to destroy is still prevalent.
Another form of feminism is known as Marxist feminism in which these feminists
believe the root of male dominance lies in men’s ownership and their control of the means of
economic production (Snipes et al., 2019). Marxist feminists believe that men control the
economy and women are only used as means of pleasure to them. This type of feminist believes
that acting out against these ideals are regarded as crimes and women will be punished in the
criminal justice system for not conforming to those ideals. The type of crimes represented in this
are property crimes or crimes of sexual nature such as a different sexual identity. In a study
conducted by Nicole Rafter and Elena Natalizia, they concluded that criminality would be
redefined, legal codes revamped, sexist and class-based practices ended, and patriarchal notions
of women’s proper role within capitalism discarded. Currently, we are seeing how the view on
those roles have changed and how women are now able to work and even marry their same
gender, things that were unheard of before. Women are revolutionizing and gaining the equality
they rightfully desire. (Rafter et al, n.d.).
Another kind of feminism is socialist feminists. They argue that women’s liberation must
be sought in ties with the social and economic justice of all people. They want to end male
supremacy as a key to social justice. They want to tear down capitalism and patriarchy. They aim
to expand the role of women beyond that of caregiver. Socialist feminism takes into account the
class and economical issues that persist in society to achieve their goal of helping women.
Gender Criminology
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Statistical data has been used to show the disparities in the criminal justice system as it
pertains to arrests and criminal rates. Women make up more than half of the world’s population
but only account for about fifteen percent of criminal arrests. They also only make up about four
percent to nearly thirty percent of all arrests (Danner, 1997). The high criminal rates pertaining to
males can be attributed to societal norm and how gender roles are viewed. The way that a young
girl is raised versus the way a young boy is raised. Women tend to be at home and young girls
are raised to be home. Parents to be stricter with young girls than they are with young boys thus
allowing boys more freedom to do as they please which in return results in them looking for
trouble. Men having the freedom to be out of the house due to work gives them the opportunity
to break the law and be caught breaking the law. Women who had the role of staying at home
would be less likely to commit a crime because the opportunities to commit those crimes would
not present themselves in the home. The statistics have been constant in that men will commit
more crimes than women will. While the number of crimes committed by women has risen due
to their shift out of their traditional role, there is still a large difference in the numbers. Many
believe that these differences are due to the way society views men and the need to punish their
behavior because they should automatically know better. Snipes states that “doing gender,” is an
approach to gender that assumes that the feminine gender role is something that must be
accomplished in the context of specific situations. Snipes, 2019). Gender is a social construct
that is constantly updated in today’s society. However, it is the approach of men and women
having specific roles in society is far reaching in multiple cultures and the way of life in some of
those cultures.\
Can Jesus be referred to as a feminist? According to the website, Christianity, Jesus had a
radical approach towards women in his era two thousand years ago. The Middle East has always
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had a male dominated culture and this was no different back then. Women were viewed as
second class citizens with very few rights, and this is still the case in some middle eastern
countries. While Jesus may not be considered a feminist by modern standards, his attitude
towards women back then was revolutionary as he challenged patriarchy repeatedly. He prayed
not only for men but for women. He performed miracles not just for men but for women as well
and he treated them and viewed them as equal to men. He treated them with equal respect. There
are numerous books in the bible which document encounters with various women in which he
acted with compassion and care. In the book of John, he speaks to a Samaritan woman,
something that not respectable Jew would do. Jesus took his followers through Samaria and
when he stopped at the well, he casually struck up conversation with the Samaritan woman.
In the book of Genesis, chapter one verse twenty-seven, the bible reads, “So God created
mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created
them. While he created men first and then gave him a companion, he still said he created them
both in his image not one to be better than the other but due to the way he created them, Eve was
meant to be of help to Adam. Adam was called to lead his household, it is what God intended in
the Garden of Eden, for there to be an order without sin. However, due to their sin of eating the
forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree, they created more work for themselves thus dooming the
world into having to worry about all these rules and the issues of inequality that have stemmed
since then. Women have a place in which they must fallen and obey but that does not mean they
are less than the men whom they are surrounded by. Simply the rule of women in society is
meant to be different because men and women are biologically different, and one cannot exist
without the other.
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In conclusion, the ideal criminal justice system is fair and just to all. No matter one’s
race, gender, social class, economic class, or any other identifier. Nothing should show bias and
affect how someone is judged as it pertains to the law. The goal of the justice system should be to
treat every offender equally unless there is a true need to treat them differently such as a mental
health condition. The criminal justice system should have no room for bias, but it is
unfortunately one of the biggest challenges that it faces.
References
Marxist feminism: Implications for criminal justice - Nicole Hahn ... (n.d.).
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001112878102700106
Person, M., C., & Renzetti. (2018, April 9). Feminist perspectives: 7 : V2: Routledge handbook
of critical crimin. Taylor & Francis.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315622040-7/feminist-
perspectives-claire-renzetti
Person, J.E., M., & Danner. (2019, July 18). Gender inequality and criminalization: A socialist
feminist perspectiv. Taylor & Francis.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315864259-2/gender-inequality-
criminalization-socialist-feminist-perspective-legal-social-control-women-mona-danner
Jesus the feminist. Christianity. (n.d.). https://www.christianity.org.uk/article/jesus-the-feminist
The holy bible: Containing the old and new testaments ; translated out of the original tongues
and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. (1986). . American Bible
Society.
Snipes, J., Bernard, T., & Gerould A. (2019). Vold’s Theoretical Criminology (8th ed.) New York,
NY: Oxford University Press
