Midterm Flashcards
What was P4W and when did it close
First prison for women in Kingston opened in 1934, had many issues like it was costly and needs not being met, closed in 2000 after Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women recommended its closure, women were transferred to 5 regional facilities
What are the 2 main offences committed by women?
Fraud and Theft, due to economic needs and tend to be older white women
Black Welfare Queen
Welfare Queens were women who live off welfare checks, lazy. do not work. Idea that Black mothers are drug-addicts, hypersexual and careless who just lived off state benefits. Example case: Linda Taylor, although other cases not very common
War on drugs impact on women + Emily Murphy
Women commonly charged with drug-related activities, mass incarceration of women especially BIPOC women. Emily Murphy was a women’s activist and mother of marijuana criminalization.
Incarcerated mothers statistics
70% of incarcerated women are mothers. Due to this a lot of children are placed in foster care or to live with their family. Family separation.
Mother-Child program
Government initiative program intended to keep families together. Implemented in 2001 as part of shift in women’s corrections
Eligibility:
*Minimum or medium security
*No mental health issues or criminal charges against a child
*Must have designated inmate babysitter
*An alternate caregiver outside prison
Children can only live with their mom full time until age 5, and then they can live part time. Criticisms: most women too far from home, eligibility high
P4W Riot
Happened on April 22, 1994. Started by 6 women who jumped a guard. Led to a team of male guards stripping females and violated the female inmates rights. The warden had called the male team and later lied about seeing the tape of the incident and defended the incident. Arbour inquiry was a response to the April 22 incident. Office of the correctional investigator saw the correctional complaints. It was a violation of the women inmates rights, specifically section 8 of charter stating everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure
Creating choices report
*In 1990, Report called “Creating Choices” was released by Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women and how women should be managed
*Highlights problems with correctional system
*Criticisms of report – failed to define the meaning and criteria of woman centeredness, and needs were still not met
Watchdog groups
-Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI): Review policies of the CSC and complaints
-Citizen Advisory Committees (CAC’s): Allows members of public to contribute to quality of programs for incarcerated people
-Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies: Elizabeth Fry – prison reformer from England who wanted to improve conditions of incarceration, Goal is to support incarcerated women and girls and increase awareness of ‘decarceration’
Feminist criminology
Concentrates on inclusiveness of male and female criminality & gender as a variable that influences criminal behaviour, victimization and treatment in the CJS
First-wave feminism (1890-1930)
- Led by white, middle/upper class feminists – the famous ‘five’
- Wave referred to as ‘women’s suffrage’ – goal was for women to be considered “persons”, give women right to vote, and place within politics
- Focused on property rights as women couldn’t own property, rights within the family, child custody
Second-wave feminism (1960-1980)
- Fought for reproductive rights, access to birth control
- Increased inequality in workplace – equal pay
- Slogan: “The personal is political” and cannot separate the two
- Excluded racialized women and queer women – dominated primarily by white woman of upper middle class
- Many BIPOC, queer, gender-nonconforming, formed their own organizations
Third-wave Feminism (1990-2010)
- Emerged as a response to the criticisms of the second-wave, redefined feminism
- Acknowledged that previous feminist movements were concerned about white women.
- Embraced diversity and individualism
- Concentrated on violence against women, sexual liberation, etc.
- Intersectionality, critical race theory, Black feminism emerged
Fourth Wave Feminism (2012-today)
- Focus on female empowerment and intersectionality
- Seeks greater gender equality
- Focus on systems of power & their contributions to inequality among marginalized groups
- Use of media to collaborate and mobilize (i.e., #metoo movement)
Lombroso and Ferrero
- Believed that women were born criminal, not made
- Had enormous effects on women – by claiming women as ‘biological inferior’, they were unworthy of equality.
- Women are ‘doubly’ exceptional
- Female criminals are not normal - ‘bad’, ‘primitive’, and ‘ masculine’.
Pollack and ‘Masked’ criminality
- Argued that crime statistics show that female crime is “masked” by leniency and chivalry.
- No real gender differences in offending –women are better at “hiding it” or “masking it”
- Biological factors cause female to commit crime as frequently as men, but because female crimes involve sex and deceit, they are less visible/less likely to be reported
- Attributed this to how women can fake/hide orgasms
Chivalry hypothesis
Female receive more lenient sentencing due to their gender
* Female unable to control their emotions or handle severe punishment
* Women need protection, not punishment
* Because female violence is so rare, if they do commit it, they are perceived as anomalies.
Research shows this may be true
* Criticisms: Ignores dark side of chivalry
Women’s liberation theory: Freda Alder and Rita Simon
1960’s and 70’s - Argued that during women’s liberation movement, there was an increase in women in the workforce and “outside the home”
* Led to increase in women’s criminality
* Women began to deviate from traditional gendered expectations
* Criticism: little evidence of this
Power-Control Theory: Developed by John Hagan, A.R Gillis, and John Simpson (1987)
- Argues that gender differences in offending adolescents are due to the level of social and parental control in the home
- Compared gender and parental controls in two households: Patriarchal and Egalitarian, said that Lower rates of female delinquency is due to having a controlling father in the home
- Equal rates of offender are due to more equal power between the father and mother
Critiques: - Relies on a heteronormative construction of the family
- Does not consider race or class that affect families
- Today, children do not need to leave the home to commit criminal behavior – i.e., cybercrime
Marxist feminists (Feminist social theory)
Views capitalism as the primary cause of both crime and male dominance over women
Radical feminists (Feminist social theory)
male power and privilege is root cause of all oppression, inequality and subsequent crime, focuses on domination and patriarchy
Messerschmidt and Structured Action
Theory
- Gendered division of labour
- “old-boy networks”, boys club
- Corporations maintain gender divisions by recruiting members who share similar norms, attitudes and values
- Gender division and crime: This gender division in work force allows men to commit corporate crime
- Because women are excluded from power positions within corporations, they are less able to commit corporate crime
Critical race theory (developed 1989)
- Examines the intersection of race within criminal justice systems, policies, and law
- Race is socially constructed and used to exploit and oppress people of color
- Although theory was initially used to explain the US and treatment of African Americans, it can be applied to Canada
- Example: Indigenous peoples and racial discrimination
- CRT can be used to explain the marginalization of BIPOC leads to strain, which leads to crime.
Standpoint Feminism
- Major movement in feminist thought
- Argues that women’s experiences are shaped by patriarchy and women’s own experiences and perspectives should be at forefront and women should be in the process
- Standpoint is useful for understanding female victimization
- Used as a remedy to the problem of women’s experiences being framed or narrated by others (i.e., cases of sexual assault, incarcerated women).
