Women and the Criminal Justice System—Moving Beyond the Silo

Abstract

Women’s experiences of crime as both offenders and victims are different to their male counter-parts. They commit less crime, and the crime they commit is generally different to men’s, with less involvement in violent crime, criminal damage or professional crime. Women are much more likely to be victims of sexual and physical assault at the hands of a man they are acquainted with and in the context of relationships. However, women’s involvement with the criminal justice system often results in their isolation, stigmatisation and inadequate support—whether they are victims, offenders or both. This volume considers women’s involvement in criminal justice as a whole—to move beyond the silo of seeing two distinct groups by recognising that for many women there are similarities in both pathways to offending and pathways to victimisation. Furthermore, it aims to put women at the centre of the debate on crime and punishment. Too often in political discussions, academia and media reports, women’s involvement in the system is marginalised, ignored or lost in the concerns about male crime. This introduction highlights the key areas of debate and introduces the contributions by the authors in this collection.