Presenting research that will underpin effective practice with women who offend, this unique and thought-provoking text aims to help professionals meet the needs of this group as well as providing a theoretical resource for policy makers and academics. The authors, coming from a variety of professional and research perspectives, discuss important issues concerning women in the criminal justice system, including: * the increase in custodial sentences for women * black women in prison * patterns of female offending * drug use and the criminal justice system * the needs of women on release from prison. Calling into question the relevance to female offenders of research conducted with men who commit crime, the contributors provide a comprehensive knowledge base on women and crime for professionals who work in this area. With a broad range of contributions, this book will be helpful to probation officers, social workers, policy makers and others who work with female offenders.

"Lynne Haney is already an important voice in the sociology of welfare but this book marks her debut as a major figure in the sociology of punishment and the study of governmentality. Offending Women is a fascinating work that combines rich ethnographic detail with a structural account of the changing contours of contemporary governance. Its original contributions to prison ethnography, women's studies, and the sociology of the penal-welfare state will make it a reference point in each of these disciplines."--David Garland, author of The Culture of Control "Offending Women is an exemplary piece of work. Haney's writing is engaging, crisp, and smart. She brilliantly assesses the various intentions of the state and incarcerated women and clarifies how these intentions are based on orientations toward punishment and 'healing' that demand fundamental rethinking."--Rickie Solinger, author of Pregnancy and Power and co-editor of Interrupted Life: Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States "Lynne Haney brings together her stupendous skills as an ethnographer and her theoretical insights into how states work to explain how the treatment of imprisoned women has changed over the past decade. An altogether brilliant book."--Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin

Until recently, gender stereotypes have shaped the ways in which society views female offenders, often as individuals incapable of criminal activity or extreme violence. When Women Offend: Crime and the Female Perpetrator sheds light on the complex world of female offending, demonstrating women's capability to behave aggressively and violate gender expectations. This title features excerpts of interviews with incarcerated women, as well as links to full audio recordings of each interview. The interviews are available to all readers, regardless of the format they select, and provide them with a unique and intimate lens into the experiences of female offenders relayed in their own words. Readers learn about the influence of gender stereotypes on perceptions of female offending, as well as about common myths associated with female deviance. They are introduced to criminological theory and explore psychological, developmental, sociological, and biological theories through a feminist lens. Dedicated chapters outline various types of female offending, from serial killing to Munchausen by proxy, filicide to sex offending, domestic homicide to terrorism, and more. Each of these chapters includes real-life cases and an exploration of motives and social factors. When Women Offend is ideal for courses in criminology and criminological theory, especially those focused on the female offender.

This interdisciplinary volume explores various dimensions of female offending and the underlying gender assumptions inherent in this phenomenon. The readings are original research written for this book, incorporating various methodologies including case studies, in-depth interviews, and analyses of large state and national data sets. Grounded in feminist theory, the collection is divided into three sections. The first focuses on theoretical perspectives on women and crime from a feminist approach. The importance of investigating the intersection of race, class, gender, ability status, and sexual orientation is addressed in a number of the readings, as well as an examination of the ways society has failed these women. The second section focuses on varieties of female offending. These include an in-depth exploration of women who kill their children, as well as an examination of how women involved in the methamphetamine trade view themselves. Other readings include women who move from legal sex work into prostitution and women who become suicide bombers. The final section of the book is focused on how the system responds to women who offend. Chapters include such intriguing topics as wrongful convictions, how women experience incarceration (including health treatment), second chance grandparenting, and a qualitative study focused on recidivism and reintegration. Each chapter contains discussion questions. PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full 280-slide presentation are available to view here. Email [email protected] for more information.

This is the first book to study the role coercion plays as a pathway into crime for women who are arrested alongside other defendants. Drawing on court files and newspaper accounts, it analyzes four cases of women who were arrested alongside a partner and who argued in their defense that they had been coerced. Charlotte Barlow examines these cases from a feminist perspective that allows her to highlight the importance of gender expectations and gendered discourse in both the trials themselves and the way the media covered them.

The number of women prisoners has been growing rapidly during recent years and in many places has more than doubled in the past decade, significantly outstripping increases in the number of male prisoners and with particular consequences for minority ethnic, black and aboriginal women, who constitute disproportionate levels of prison populations in many countries including Canada, the United States, the UK and Australia. What Works with Women Offenders provides a comprehensive analysis of the issues relating to work with women offenders. Chapters are written by academics and professionals with a high degree of expertise in their specific field, and its practical focus is designed to make it relevant to those working with women offenders. Imprisoning women offenders does not solve the problems that underlie the involvement of women in the criminal justice system, and a particular concern of this book is to identify and develop alternative responses that offer appropriate support and intervention to address womens underlying problems and reduce re-offending. The increase in womens imprisonment is very much an international phenomenon, and the book also aims to share knowledge and experiences from different jurisdictions to be shared more widely, and for the lessons learnt from good practice to be more widely disseminated.