Abstract
We live in a society in which stereotypes of women and social norms suggest women are less violent than men. We operate from the belief that if a woman commits a crime, it was because she retaliated because of her own victimization or committed the crime under duress or oppression. Perceptions of female offenders are often perceived as victims who commit crimes as a self-defense mechanism or as criminal deviants whose actions strayed from typical “womanly” behavior. Such cultural norms for violence exist in our gendered society and there has been scholarly debate about how male and female offenders are perceived and how this perception leads to differential treatment in the criminal justice system. This debate is primarily based upon theories associated with stereotypes and social norms and how these prescriptive norms can influence both public and criminal justice response. Scholars in psychology, sociology, and criminology have found that female offenders are perceived differently than male offenders and this ultimately leads to differential treatment in the criminal justice system. This interdisciplinary book provides an evidence-based approach of how female offenders are perceived in society, how this translates into differential treatment within the criminal justice system, and explores the ramifications of such differences. Quite often perceptions of female offenders are at odds with research findings as well. This book will provide a comprehensive evidence-based review of the research that is valuable to laypersons, researchers, practitioners, advocates, treatment providers, lawyers, judges, and anyone interested in gender equality within the criminal justice system.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Chesney-Lind, M. (1989). Girls’ crime and woman’s place: Toward a feminist model of female delinquency. Crime & Delinquency, 35(1), 5–29.
Chesney-Lind, M. (1998). Girls, delinquency, and juvenile justice (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Chesney-Lind, M. (2006). Patriarchy, crime and justice: Feminist criminology in the era of backlash. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 6–26.
DeKeseredy, W., Sanders, D., Schwartz, M., & Alvi, S. (1997). The meanings and motives for women’s use of violence in Canadian college dating relationships. Sociological Spectrum, 17, 199–222.
DeKeseredy, W., & Schwartz, M. (1998). Measuring the extent of woman abuse in intimate heterosexual relationships: A critique of the conflict tactics scales. Retrieved from the VAWnet Web site: http://www.csaj.org/documents/178.pdf. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
Hirschel, D., & Buzawa, E. (2002). Understanding the context of dual arrest with directions for future research. Violence Against Women, 8(12), 1449–1473.
Straus, M. A., & Ramirez, I. L. (2007). Gender symmetry in prevalence, severity and chronicity of physical aggression against dating partners by university students in Mexico and USA. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 281–290.
Wells, W., & DeLeon-Granados, W. (2002). Analysis of unexamined issues in the intimate partner homicide decline: Race, quality of victim services, offender accountability, and system accountability, final report. Washington, D. C.: Department of Justice. Retrieved 17 May 2012 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/196666.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Russell, B.L. (2013). Perceptions of Female Offenders: How Stereotypes and Social Norms Affect Criminal Justice Response. In: Russell, B. (eds) Perceptions of Female Offenders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5871-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5871-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5870-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5871-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)