Feminist Perspective on Gender and Crime: A Critical Analysis

2 Theories of Criminal Behavior
Introduction
Gender and crime are two interrelated terms and help in bringing out different perspectives on
deviance. One of such perspectives is the feminists’ approach where the different aspects of
criminal justice system are stated to be affected as a result of the difference in approach adopted
towards the genders. Crime is something which is committed by both men and women, but it
also cannot be denied that men commit more serious crime against women and that women are
mostly the victims of criminal activities (Kruttschnitt, 2013). Feminist perspective majorly
relates to the stereotyping of the women in the criminal justices system, which includes them
being victims and even perpetrators of heinous crimes, in addition to being the justice providers
under this system, due to their perceived soft nature. The key belief of feminism is that men and
women are equal. The feminism perspective is thus aimed towards getting an equalized treatment
when it comes to gender and crime and also shows that there is equality between the genders
under criminology (Belknap, 2014). In the following parts, the feminist perspective has been
critically evaluated in order to analyse their contribution to criminology.
Critical Analysis
Feminism is not a single theory and expands to a diverse set of agendas and perspectives. The
need for feminism perspective stems from the fact that in all the guises of criminology, women
are ignored to a huge extent (Bryson, 2016). The formation, production and even the
dissemination of criminological knowledge is dominated by men and their discussions. It has
been stated that the developments in the 20th century criminology have been inhabited by men

3 Theories of Criminal Behavior
alone, and the experiences of women are not even registered for passing comments by the
researchers. Even when women are noted, the same is done just through the eyes of men or the
male youth. This is the reason why women are always deemed as victims of crimes or weak and
feeble creations. Women are victimized when it comes to crime and they become the target of
heinous crimes, particularly from sexual assault and domestic abuse. This perceived feeble
biological and psychological nature of women has portrayed them as victims of crime more often
than their male counterparts (Connell, 2014).
Criminal justice systems have, as per the arguments of feminists, neglected the victimization of
women and as a result of this ignorance, the female exploitation continues. Even when it is
known that crime is conducted against women more often than men, the conviction for rape
remains low, which shows the bias. Till a few years back, it was possible for a man to kill his
wife after raping her and plead provocation. Even though women used to stay silent in the past
about abuses and assaults, the changed times have led to voice being raised against such criminal
activities against women. There is also an underrepresentation of women in criminal justice field
which has further fuelled the need for a feministic perspective. Women, owing to them being
deemed as the caring section, are usually present in the Probation Service Staff. And when it
comes to the stricter positions, they are dominated by the males owing to them being deemed as
strict and stronger. So, the criminal justice system adopted an asymmetric approach towards
gender (Rosenfeld and Penrod, 2011).
Feminist criminology was born in late 1960s and 1970s and this was deemed as a second wave
of feminism movement which helped in projecting issues which had an impact over the women
in public domain. This view helped in gaining an understanding on the women being victims and