Female Feminist Theories

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Akers, Sellers, and Jennings (2013) states that criminology has traditionally been on the most male centered field of criminal justice (p. 262). Majority of research and theories have been based on the study of male criminality and criminal justice system responses to male offenders. Women has been represented in a negative way with a focus on their failure to adhere to traditional model of appropriate female behavior as in paternalistic view of women. Female theorists seek to place gender at the center of the discourse, bringing women’s ways of understanding the world on crime, criminality, and responses to crime.
According to other theories such as labeling, social disorganization, Marxist, and social learning theories explained the gender …show more content…

It demonstrates how female crime is linked to life experiences of women and girls, feminist theory focuses on way in which women’s place in society that leads them in criminal lifestyles (p. 278). It was stated that childhood abuse and a patriarchal juvenile justice system often shape the opportunities of girls which forces them into a criminal lifestyle. It is argued that girls’ are encountered with the juvenile justice system due to status offenses such as running away and truancy (p.265). Girls who are suspected of sexual misconduct are often treated more harshly than either boys or girls engaging in criminal activity. This paternalistic approach to social control of the behavior is what pushed females to juvenile justice system (p.275). It is stated that the empirical validity for feminist theory has little support because the same variables that is related to male offending is related to female offending as well. One implication for feminist theory is to induce structural and cultural change in society remove or reduce patriarchy, but there is no clear plan or program for how to do this. There is also gender specific crime control, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. There is a problem with sex-segregated programs that reinforce traditional stereotypes about women and

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