NCJ Number
109021
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 15 Issue: 14 Dated: (November 1987) Pages: 423-438
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The concept of social injury used in criminology has the potential for incorporation into theoretical analyses in ways that can lead to a progressive development of feminist legal theory.
Abstract
Social injury first appeared as a concept more than 40 years ago in Sutherland's discussions of white-collar crime as harmful to the state. Tappan and others challenged Sutherland's view of crime as social injury and have suggested alternative formulations. A further area in which the concept of social injury is useful is feminist legal analyses that recognize the injurious and disabling nature of sex discrimination. This conceptualization entails the renaming of the oppressions of women as injuries and the insistence that injury is subject to legal redress. Use of this approach would also contribute to the larger feminist goal of having women no longer see themselves or be seen as 'other.' Notes and 61 references.