1st Edition

Women, Crime and Criminal Justice A Global Enquiry

By Rosemary Barberet Copyright 2014
    248 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    248 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Women, Crime and Criminal Justice is the winner of the Division of International Criminology’s Distinguished Book Award 2014 and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences International Section's 2015 Outstanding Book Award and the first fully internationalised book to focus on women as offenders, victims and justice professionals. It provides background, as well as specialized information that allows readers to comprehend the global forces that shape women and crime; analyze different types of violence against women (in peacetime and in armed conflict); and grasp the challenges faced by women in justice professions such as the police, the judiciary and international peacekeeping.

    Provocative, highly topical, engaging and written by an expert in the field, this book examines the role of women in crime and criminal justice internationally. Topics covered include:

    • the role of globalization and development in patterns of female offending and victimization,
    • how a human rights framework can help explain women´s crime, victimization and the criminal justice response,
    • global women’s activism,
    • international perspectives on violence against women, including femicide, violence in conflict and post conflict settings, sex work and sex trafficking,
    • women’s access to justice, as well as the increased role of women in international criminal justice settings.


    This book will be essential reading for those involved in the study of development, human rights, governance, security sector reform, international relations and public health, as debates about these subjects are intrinsically linked to the issues surrounding women, crime and justice. It will also be useful for students taking courses on gender, crime and criminal justice, violence against women, international criminal justice and gender studies.

    Introduction  Section I. Global Forces  Chapter 1: Theory and Method  Chapter 2: Women, Globalization and Development  Chapter 3: International Law, Human Rights, International Organizations, and Global Women’s Activism  Section II. Violence Against Women  Chapter 4: Violence Against Women in Peacetime  Chapter 5: Violence Against Women in Conflict and Post Conflict Settings  Chapter 6: Sex work, Prostitution and Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation  Section III. Justice for Women  Chapter 7: Women and Offending  Chapter 8: Women and Incarceration  Chapter 9: Women as Justice Professionals  Chapter 10: Conclusions and the way forward  Appendices: 1. Films  2. Biographies.

    Biography

    Rosemary Barberet is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department of the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, where she currently directs the Master of Arts degree program in International Crime and Justice. A native of Connecticut, USA who was trained in criminology in the United States (PhD, University of Maryland, 1994), she has spent most of her academic career to date in Europe (Spain and England).

    Dr. Barberet has chaired the International Division of the American Society of Criminology and currently represents the International Sociological Association at the United Nations. Rosemary Barberet was awarded the Herbert Bloch Award by the American Society of Criminology for service to the society and to the professional interests of criminology, as well as the Rafael Salillas Award of the Sociedad Española de Investigación Criminológica.

    'This is a challenging, innovative and comprehensive book; it will be essential reading for everyone interested in gender, crime & criminal justice.' - Frances Heidensohn, Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, UK

    ‘Employing smartly crafted prose and a sophisticated international, interdisciplinary and feminist lens, Barberet brilliantly "stretches criminology" to examine Women, Crime, and Criminal Justice around the globe. This groundbreaking book provides a nuanced analysis of the impact of global socioeconomic forces, gender inequality, international law, and human rights on both violence against women and justice for women, textured by rich examples from diverse international contexts. This book is essential reading for ALL criminologists!’ - Nancy A. Wonders, Northern Arizona University, USA

    ‘The transformative power of feminist criminology rests in large part on feminist criminologists’ ability to develop a global perspective on offending and victimization, criminal law, and legal processes. In this this book, Rosemary Barberet leads the way, providing a feminist comparative analysis of such topics as violence against women, gender differences in transnational crime, and women’s roles in legal institutions including war crimes tribunals and international peacemaking. This book is, in a word, groundbreaking.’ - Claire M. Renzetti, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Kentucky, USA

    ‘Immensely readable, this is a daring and refreshing book, challenging us to think well beyond the narrow tramlines of academic Anglo-American criminology, and national horizons. Using an interdisciplinary and feminist gendered perspective, Rosemary Barberet explores global perspectives on women’s offending and victimization and as criminal justice professionals. She sees women’s involvement as a continuum of acts and meanings, and is not afraid to confront the complexities of complicity in repression or exploitation. Using international and interdisciplinary scholarship and research and non-English language sources, she amply succeeds in her aim of "stretching criminology" and highlighting the necessity and benefits of a global and gendered perspective.’ - Margaret Shaw PhD, Crime and Social Policy Consulting, Montreal, Canada

    ‘This is a thought-provoking, provocative, expansive, refreshing and beautifully crafted book that fills a large gap - the internationalisation of the analysis of Women, Crime and Criminal Justice. Importantly, it also embraces sources and voices from the non-Anglophone world. The book will no doubt reinvigorate debates in criminal justice policy, criminology and feminist criminology. It is essential reading for a wide-ranging audience of policy makers, activists, NGOs and of course scholars, especially, but not only, criminologists and feminists across the globe. I commend it to you.’ - Professor Kerry Carrington, Head of School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

    'Ambitious, topical, highly engaging and impressively comprehensive, this book will be of interest to those studying or working in the fields of not only criminology but also violence against women, gender studies, international development, political science, public policy, health, economics and peace and security studies. As Barberet reminds us, looking globally is an ambitious approach but one with exciting potential implications, as success at this level could have a positive effect on girls’ and women’s lives across the world.'— Jessica Southgate, The Howard League for Penal Reform 

    'Rosemary Barberet’s new book... will excite instructors who have struggled to incorporate global perspectives on women and crime into their graduate and undergraduate courses... Women, Crime and Criminal Justice succeeds in presenting a concise overview of an extensive yet understudied field.'Judith A. Ryder, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books (Rutgers University)

    "Rosemary Barberet has written a book that illustrates criminology’s breadth, its self-awareness about problems of method, and its growing sensitivity to the ways in which national borders inform conceptions of crime and academic studies of crime control. Women, Crime and Criminal Justice is a testament to the field’s capacity to keep up with the changing shape of state power. It is also a glimpse at what remains to be done as scholars think through the relationship between gender, crime, and globalization." - Emma Kaufman, Yale University, Theoretical Criminology