Effective:	Fall 2001		If adding a Graduate component to an existing course, check here ___
Course Number: *		890-393			Cross Listed Number:
Course Title:		WOMEN AND CRIME

(limited to 65 characters)
 

15 Character Abbreviation:	WOMEN AND CRIME
25 Character Abbreviation:	WOMEN AND CRIME

 

Sponsor:		Patricia Searles		E-mail Address:	searlesp
Department:		Women's Studies & Anthropology		College:	Letters & Sciences
Co-sponsor:				E-mail Address:
Department:				College:
	* You MUST verify course numbers with Registrar's Office prior to submitting (x1211)

 

Other Programs Affected:

Criminal Justice/Sociology

 

Check if course is to meet any of the following requirements:
_x_ None	__ Writing	__ Computer	__ Diversity	__ General Ed and Area

 

Credit/Contact Hours: (per semester)
Total lab hours:			Total lecture hours:	48
Number of credits:	3		Total contact hours:	48

 

Check if course is repeatable:		_x No	_ Yes		(if yes, answer the following questions)
No of times in major				No of credits in major
No of times in degree				No of credits in degree

 

Enter the appropriate titles if the course is required in any of the following:
Major Title(s)
Minor Title(s)
Emphasis Title(s)

1. Course Justification:


Although only about 15% of those arrested for crime in the U.S. are women, official data indicate that the number of women involved in criminal activity has been increasing and that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women sentenced to incarceration. Although there has been a virtual explosion of research on female crime, this research has not been sufficiently integrated into the criminal justice curricula. No course presently offered at UW-W highlights female crime. This course will make the education UW-W students receive about criminal justice more gender inclusive. It will also train students to lend a critical eye to research that takes gender into account in only a superficial fashion and that thereby produces misleading conclusions
 

2. Relationship to Program Assessment Objectives:

The mission of the criminal justice program is to enhance students' understanding of the nature and causes of criminal and delinquent behavior and the operations of the criminal justice system in the U.S. The mission of the Women's Studies Department is to foster the critical study of women and of gender issues through interdisciplinary courses. The Women's Studies Department strives to prepare students to understand and question the role of gender in the workplace, community, and wider world and to develop strategies of social change which are sensitive to gender issues. This course will further the mission of both programs by examining the nature of crime with a "gender lens," providing a feminist critique of the present-day processing and punishment of female offenders, and investigating strategies of social change that will more effectively meet the needs of women, families, and society at large.

This course will be run in a seminar format with students actively involved in analyzing and critiquing traditional and feminist writing on women and crime. It is designed to meet the following assessment goals of the Women's Studies Department: to advance the student's knowledge in the field of women's studies, to foster the student's ability to analyze and think independently, to develop the student's skill at critically evaluating theory and research, and to expand the student's knowledge of gender, class, and race/ethnicity as organizing principles of social life.
 

1. Budgetary Impact:


Due to sabbatical training, an existing faculty member has the needed preparation to teach this new course. She will add it to the course rotation of the upper-division courses she now teaches. The course will require no additional resources.
 

2. Course Description:


This course examines the frequency and nature of female offending; the frequently blurred boundaries of female victimization and criminalization; the role of criminal law, police, and courts in the processing of female offenders; and the role of "correctional" institutions, prisons, and contemporary alternatives in the punishment of female offenders.
 

3. Requisites: Prior completion of 890-100 or consent of instructor.
4. If dual listed, list graduate level requirement: Not applicable.

1. Tentative Course Syllabus: See attached.

1. Bibliography: See attached.

STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will be expected to understand (a) the frequency and nature of female offending, (b) how and why the boundaries of female victimization and criminalization are often blurred, (c) the role of criminal law, police, and courts in the processing of female offenders, and (d) the role of "correctional" institutions, prisons, and contemporary alternatives in the punishment of female offenders.

REQUIRED READING:

It is premature to choose class texts at this time as the class will not be offered until the 2001-2002 academic year. Multiple texts and supplementary handouts will be used.

GRADING:

Grades will be evaluated on the basis of three examinations, one paper/class project, and class attendance/participation.

TOPIC OUTLINE:

1. The Inadequacies of Traditional Criminological Theories for Understanding the Crimes of Girls and Women (1 Week)
2. Feminist Criminology and the Recognition of the Blurred Boundaries of Victimization and Criminalization (1 Week)
3. Explaining the Frequency and Nature of Female Offending: Past and Present (7 Weeks)


Juvenile Offending/Girl Gangs
Larceny/Theft/Robbery/Burglary
Drug-Related Crime
Prostitution
Abuse of Family Members & Intimate Partners
Homicide
 

4. The Processing of Female Offenders: Criminal Law, Police, and the Courts (2 Weeks)
5. The Punishment and Treatment of Female Offenders: "Correctional" Institutions, Prisons, and Contemporary Alternatives (2 Weeks)
6. Means to Effect Needed Change (2 Weeks)

L. Baron. 1993. "Gender Inequality & Child Homicide: A State-Level Analysis." In A. Wilson (ed.), Homicide: The Victim/Offender Connection. Anderson.

E. Barry. 1991. "Pregnant, Addicted & Sentenced." Criminal Justice 5:23-27.

K. Barry. 1995. The Prostitution of Sexuality. NYU Press.

D. Baskin & I. Sommers. 1998. Casualties of Community Disorder: Women's Careers in Violent Crime.  Westview.

J. Belknap. 1996. The Invisible Woman: Gender, Crime, & Justice. Wadsworth.

H. Birch (ed.). 1994. Moving Targets: Women, Murder, & Representation. University of California.

B. Bloom, R. Immarigeon, & B. Owen (eds.). 1995. Women in Prisons & Jails.

L. Brody & R. Agnew. 1997. "Gender & Crime." Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency 34:275-306.

A. Browne & K. Williams. 1993. "Gender, Intimacy, & Lethal Violence." Gender & Society 7:78-98.

A. Cardarelli (ed.). 1997. Violence Between Intimate Partners. Allyn & Bacon.

M.Chesney-Lind & R. Sheldon. 1992. Girls: Delinquency & Juvenile Justice. Brooks/Cole.

C. Collins. 1997. The Imprisonment of African-American Women. McFarland.

C. Colliver (ed.). 1993. Female Criminality. Garland.

K. Daly. 1994. Gender, Crime, & Punishment. Yale University Press

K. Daly & R. Bordt. 1995. "Sex Effects & Sentencing." Justice Quarterly 12:143-77.

K. Daly & L. Maher (eds.). 1998. Criminology at the Crossroads: Feminist Readings in Crime & Justice.  Oxford.

N. Davis (ed.). 1993. Prostitution: An International Handbook on Trends, Problems, and Policies.  Greenwood.

F. Delacoste & P. Alexander (eds.). 1998. Sex Work (2^nd ed.). Cleis.

J. Dougherty. 1993. "Women's Violence Against Their Children: A Feminist Perspective." Women & Criminal Justice 4:91-114.

M. Elliot (ed.). 1993. Female Sexual Abuse of Children. Guilford.

J. Fagan. 1994. "Women & Drugs Revisited: Female Participation in the Cocaine Economy." Journal of Drug Issues 24:179-225.

K. Farr. 1995. "Fetal Abuse & the Criminalization of Behavior During Pregnancy." Crime &

Delinquency 41:235-45.

K. Farr. 1997. "Aggravating & Differentiating Factors in the Cases of White & Minority Women on Death Row." Crime & Delinquency 43:260-78.

C. Feinman. 1994. Women in the Criminal Justice System (3^rd ed.). Praeger.

B. Fletcher, L. Shaver, & D. Moon (eds.). 1993. Women Prisoners. Praeger.

L. Gomez. 1997. Misconceiving Mothers. Temple.

A. Howe. 1994. Punish & Critique: A Feminist Analysis of Penalty. Routledge.

D. Humphries. 1998. "Crack Mothers at 6." Violence Against Women 4:45-51.

J. Inciardi & D. Lockwood. 1993. Women & Crack-Cocaine. Macmillan.

K. Joe & M. Chesney-Lind. 1995. "Every Mother's Angel: An Analysis of Gender & Ethnic Variations in Youth Gang Membership." Gender & Society 9:408-30.

C. Johnston. 1995. "Child Custody Issues of Women Prisoners." Prison Journal 75:222-39.

A. Jones. 1994. Next Time She'll Be Dead. Beacon.

C. Lawson. 1993. "Mother-Son Sexual Abuse: Rare or Underreported?" Criminal Justice Review  17:261-69.

D. MacKensie & H. Donaldson. 1996. "Boot Camp for Women Offenders." Criminal Justice Review  21:21-43.

L. Maher & K. Daly. 1996. "Women in the Street-Level Drug Economy." Criminology 34:465-91.

C. Mann. 1996. When Women Kill. Albany: SUNY.

L. Margolies & E. Leeder. 1995. "Violence at the Door: Treatment of Lesbian Batterers." Violence Against Women 1(2):139-157.

S. Martin & N. Jurik. 1996. Doing Justice, Doing Gender. Sage.

A. Merlo & J. Pollock. 1995. Women, Law, & Social Control. Allyn & Bacon.

J. Miller. 1998. "Up It Up: Gender & the Accomplishment of Street Robbery." Criminology 36:37-65.

S. Miller (ed.). 1998. Crime Control & Women. Sage.

J. Moore & J. Hagedorn. 1996. "What Happens to Girls in the Gang?" In C. Huff (ed.), Gangs in America. Sage.

R. Muraskin & T. Alleman. 1993. It's A Crime: Women & Justice. Prentice-Hall.

N. Naffine. 1996. Feminism & Criminology. Temple University.

R. Ogle, D. Maier-Katkin, & T. Bernard. 1995. "A Theory of Homicidal Behavior Among Women."  Criminology 33:173-93.

K. O'Shea. 1999. Women & the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998. Praeger.

B. Owen & B. Bloom. 1995. "Profiling Women Prisoners." Prison Journal 75:164-85.

P. Pearson. 1997. When She Was Bad. Viking.

L. Pettiway. 1997. Workin' It: Women Living Through Drugs & Crime. Temple University.

K. Pollitt. 1998. "'Fetal Rights': A New Assault on Feminism." In R. Weitz (ed.), The Politics of Women's Bodies. Oxford University.

C. Price & N. Sokoloff (eds.). 1995. The Criminal Justice System & Women (2^nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

N. Rafter & F. Heidensohn (eds.). 1995. International Feminist Perspectives in Criminology. Open University.

C. Renzetti & C. Miley (eds.). 1996. Violence in Gay & Lesbian Domestic Relationships. Harrington Park.

B. Richie. 1996. Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women. Routledge.

D. Russell. 1995. "The Making of a Whore." Violence Against Women 1:77-98.

G. Sikes. 1997. 8 Ball Chicks: A Year in the Violent World of Girls Gangs. Anchor.

L. Snider. 1994. "Feminism, Punishment, & the Potential of Empowerment." Canadian Journal of Law & Society 9:75-104.

V. Streib. 1998. "Executing Women, Children, & the Retarded: Second Class Citizens in Capital Punishment." In J. Acker et al. (eds.), America's Experiment with Capital Punishment. Carolina Academic.

C. Taylor. 1993. Girls, Gangs, Women & Drugs. Michigan State University Press.

N. Wonders. 1999. "Postmodern Feminist Criminology & Social Justice." In B. Arrigo (ed.), Social Justice/Criminal Justice. Wadsworth.

J. Wooldredge & K. Masters. 1993. "Confronting Problems Faced by Pregnant Inmates in State Prisons."  Crime & Delinquency 39:195-203.

I. Young. 1994. "Punishment, Treatment, Empowerment." Feminist Studies 20:33-57.

R. Zaplin. 1998. Female Offenders: Critical Perspectives & Effective Interventions. Aspen.

N. Zatz. 1997. "Sex Work/Sex Act: Law, Labor, & Desire in Constructions of Prostitution." Signs 22:277-308.