Feminist Criminology

Feminist criminology emerged in the 1970s as a critical response to the male-dominated theories and practices of mainstream criminology. It challenged the neglect of women’s experiences both as offenders and as victims, criticizing criminological theories for treating male behavior as the norm and simply assuming that it applies to women. Feminist criminology also exposes the gendered power relations underlying law, crime control, and the criminal justice system itself.

Key Points

Theory

Feminist criminology emerged in the 1970s as both a critique of existing criminological theories and a project to develop new, gender-aware approaches. While its roots can be traced to radical and conflict theories, feminist criminology explicitly challenges the male-centered assumptions that dominate traditional criminology. It argues that most criminological theories have been developed primarily based on male offenders, treating men as the implicit norm while neglecting the experiences of women.

Feminist criminology investigates the ways in which gender shapes offending, victimization, and the responses of the criminal justice system. It emphasizes that women’s lower recorded crime rates cannot be understood without accounting for gender-specific socialization, structural inequalities, and power relations. For example, norms prescribing passivity, dependency, and respectability have historically limited women’s opportunities for certain crimes, while also framing their deviance as more transgressive or pathological when it occurs.

Feminist criminologists also analyze how crime and control reflect and reproduce gendered power structures. They have explored how laws and enforcement practices regulate women’s sexuality, labor, and reproductive rights. Scholars have highlighted the differential treatment of women in the criminal justice system—sometimes more leniently in keeping with paternalistic stereotypes of female weakness, but often more harshly when women transgress gender norms (e.g., violent women or „bad mothers“).

Feminist criminology is not a single, unified theory but an interdisciplinary and evolving perspective. It spans several strands, including liberal feminism (focused on formal equality), radical feminism (highlighting patriarchy and male violence), socialist feminism (linking gender and class oppression), and intersectional feminism (analyzing how gender intersects with race, class, sexuality, and other axes of inequality).

Important feminist criminologists include scholars such as Carol Smart, Kathleen Daly, Meda Chesney-Lind, and in the German context Gerlinda Smaus and Monika Frommel. Their work has expanded criminology’s scope by incorporating critical analyses of power, inequality, and the social construction of gender itself.

Critical Appraisal & Relevance

Feminist criminology has fundamentally reshaped the field by questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about crime and justice. It exposed the gender biases embedded in theories that ignored women or misrepresented them based on male norms. By highlighting women’s victimization—especially male violence against women—it challenged criminology to take issues like domestic violence, sexual assault, and exploitation seriously.

At the same time, feminist criminology has not been without debate and critique. Some early feminist theories risked universalizing „women’s experiences“ without accounting for differences of race, class, sexuality, and geography. Intersectional feminism has since worked to address these gaps, emphasizing that women’s pathways into crime, their victimization, and their treatment by the justice system are shaped by multiple, intersecting forms of oppression.

Overall, feminist criminology remains a vital, evolving approach that continues to critique structural inequalities, advocate for victims, and demand more just and inclusive criminal justice policies.

Implications for Criminal Policy

Feminist criminology has had significant impacts on criminal policy and public debate. Since the 1990s, there has been increasing recognition of issues like violence against women, sexual assault, domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriage, and reproductive coercion. These issues have prompted legal reforms, specialized policing units, victim advocacy programs, and efforts to improve the criminal justice response to gender-based violence.

Moreover, feminist critiques have emphasized the need for criminal justice systems to avoid reproducing gendered inequalities. This includes challenging paternalistic assumptions about women offenders and ensuring fair treatment while recognizing women’s specific needs and vulnerabilities. Feminist criminology also advocates broader social policy changes that address the root causes of gender-based violence and inequality.

Literature & Further Reading

• Carol Smart (1976). Women, Crime and Criminology: A Feminist Critique. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Meda Chesney-Lind (1989). Girls‘ Crime and Woman’s Place: Toward a Feminist Model of Female Delinquency. Crime & Delinquency, 35(1), 5-29.
• Kathleen Daly & Meda Chesney-Lind (1988). Feminism and Criminology. Justice Quarterly, 5(4), 497–538.
• Gerlinda Smaus (1992). Weibliche Kriminalität und Strafrecht: Kritische Kriminologie und Feminismus. Freiburg: Lambertus.
• Monika Frommel (1998). Feministische Kriminologie und Strafrecht. Kritische Justiz, 31(2), 169–187.

Further Information

• Video: Introduction to Feminist Criminology