NCJ Number
140970
Journal
Deviance et societe Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 271-278
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The article analyzes the special position that women hold in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
The author makes a distinction between "sex," defined as a characteristic of the individual, as opposed to gender as a political and social construct. In this context, criminal justice experts claim that women as a group (or social class) have enjoyed privileged treatment under criminal law and have been prosecuted less often than men. When women ask for equality under the law, are they not, in fact, surrendering an advantage? The author denies that women have never enjoyed such an advantage. Though women are prosecuted under criminal law less often than men, they are more frequently subjected to other agencies of social control such as psychiatric treatment. In addition many women are exposed to the criminal justice system through the deprivations of being wives and family members of male offenders. 7 references