Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2010. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65).

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2010. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed July 13, 2010). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65).

Runaway youth often face a multitude of negative experiences during their childhood, which often leads to trajectories of psychological disorder/distress, victimization, and offending. This propensity for negative life trajectories may be exacerbated by repetitive runaway behavior. Additionally, these negatives experiences may be further shaped by the gender of the youth, thus creating distinct gendered pathways to chronic runaway behavior, victimization, and offending. This study utilized a sample of youth runaways in the state of Florida (N=295) to build upon the classification/typology research on juvenile runaways by assessing the presence of latent groups of youth based on runaway frequency. In addition, this study utilized classical and modern criminology theories to influence the assessment of the relationship between known runaway risk factors and chronic runaway status. Group-based trajectory modeling was performed and two distinct groups of youth runaways were identified for both full and gender-exclusive models. Chronic runaway analyses indicated both unique and similar gender-based relationships between chronic runaway status and relevant risk factors, suggesting partial support for a gender specific theoretical perspective. Results provide additional insight into youth runaway behavior while also suggesting the need for further exploration of chronic runaway status within the youth runaway population.

This thesis uses approaches adapted from narrative analysis to provide a detailed examination of the two CBC Fifth Estate documentaries on the case of Ashley Smith (Behind the Wall, 2010; Out of Control, 2010). In particular, it considers how different voices and pieces of evidence are brought together to construct coherent documentary narratives and contextualizes these narratives within broader feminist criminological discourse. This project develops the concepts of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ coherence and considers how attempts to maintain coherence influence the way the Smith case is presented in the documentaries. Drawing on Foucault’s (1976) discussion of subjugated knowledge, this project explores how the process of creating a coherent narrative necessitates the subjugation of controversial knowledge. By juxtaposing the arguments in the documentaries against those of feminist criminology, the findings reveal how attempts to formulate a critique of Canadian prisons that appeals to a national audience subjugates feminist critique.

Diante da intensificação do processo de encarceramento feminino verificada na última década e das nefastas consequências que decorrem da prisionalização, a presente pesquisa voltar-se-á para a análise da criminalidade feminina a partir de uma perspectiva de gênero, a fim de identificar as especificidades do comportamento feminino e revelar como o gênero e as relações de poder dele decorrentes estão essencialmente entrelaçados na construção da realidade criminal. Para tanto, será adotada uma abordagem histórica sobre o conceito de gênero e da sua introdução analítica nas ciências jurídicas, a fim de compreender de que forma o paradigma de gênero colabora para a transformação do discurso jurídico. Em seguida, será exposta a trajetória das teorias criminológicas, passando pelos caminhos das teorias demonológicas até as feministas, com a finalidade de investigar as diversas abordagens da criminalidade feminina. Por fim, a partir da análise de processos criminais que tramitaram perante o Superior Tribunal de Justiça e abordaram o crime de tráfico de drogas para dentro dos presídios, serão investigados concretamente os diferentes aspectos que as questões de gênero podem relacionar-se com o fenômeno criminal. / In view of the intensification of female incarceration verified on the past decade and the nefarious consequences that follows the imprisonment, the following research will focus on the analysis of the female criminality from a gender perspective, willing to identify the female behavior specificities and reveal how the gender and the following power relations are essentially associated in the framing of the criminal reality. For this purpose, will be taken a historical approach about the concept of gender and its analytical introduction on the legal sciences, in order to understand how the gender paradigm collaborates for the legal discourse transformation. Afterwards, it will be established the criminological theories path, through the demonological theories up to the feminist theories, to investigate the various approaches about feminine criminality. Finally, from the analysis of processes that were processed before the Superior Tribunal de Justiça and addressed drug dealing into prisons, will be investigated truly the different aspects in with gender issues can relate with the criminal phenomenon.

This research examines the effect of gender on perpetration characteristics and empathy in a sample of juvenile sex offenders in Massachusetts using feminist criminological and gendered theory perspectives. Through the use of ordered logistic regression, I evaluate whether or not a perpetrator’s gender has an impact on the characteristics of the offense (such as the use of penetration, fellatio, genital touching, or masturbation) or the levels of empathy and remorse experienced by the offender. The results show that gender only has a significant effect on penetrative acts and remains non-significant for the remaining variables. I have concluded that the non-significance of gender lessens the dissimilarities between juvenile male and female offenders, suggesting that the female offenders are less influenced by gendered socialization. Future research should focus less on the differences between boys and girls and more on those variables that are significant: prior victimization, behavior problems, and problems in school.

Zugl.: Bielefeld, University, Diss., 2006 u.d.T.: Pfeil, Patricia: Geschlecht und Polizei.

Feminist criminologists have a long history of arguing against the use of imprisonment and other formal justice system processes for criminalized women. Often feminist analyses of the formal criminal justice system end with a call for community alternatives. There has not, however, been a corresponding analysis of community programs. Critical criminologists have examined informal justice and have shown the variety of ways that seemingly alternative programs reproduce and support the formal criminal justice system. This dissertation draws from both of these criminological literatures and examines alternative justice programs for criminalized women. Based on interviews with staff at community justice programs in Winnipeg MB, I argue that these programs are neither the complete alternatives called for by feminists nor spaces which simply reproduce dominant justice system norms as found by critical criminologists. Rather, they are complex spaces of governance of criminalized women. The community programs exhibit both informal and formal characteristics. These programs engage in a variety of informal justice practices. The programs also offer informal care, advocacy, and culture services. Alongside these informal aspects of the programs, staff also engage in highly formal criminal justice work of supervision and case processing. I account for the presence of both informal and formal practices using governmentality theorists’ concepts of government-at-a-distance and responsibilization of the community. This makes them spaces in which dominant discourses and practices are reproduced. However, a close examination of the ways in which the programs construct the subject of governance, the Criminalized Woman, shows the influence of feminist discourses and reveals these spaces to be spaces of resistance as well. The specific ways that the programs respond to criminalized women and the mentalities embedded in them also reflect a tension between neoliberal and social justice approaches. Both a neoliberal mentality of proper self-governance and an ethic of care are present in the work the programs do. I argue that the presence of the multiple types of work, the alternative subjectivities offered to criminalized women, and ethic of care and practices of self-care all make the alternative justice programs spaces of resistance to dominant neoliberal strategies of governance. / February 2016

Diante da intensificação do processo de encarceramento feminino verificada na última década e das nefastas consequências que decorrem da prisionalização, a presente pesquisa voltar-se-á para a análise da criminalidade feminina a partir de uma perspectiva de gênero, a fim de identificar as especificidades do comportamento feminino e revelar como o gênero e as relações de poder dele decorrentes estão essencialmente entrelaçados na construção da realidade criminal. Para tanto, será adotada uma abordagem histórica sobre o conceito de gênero e da sua introdução analítica nas ciências jurídicas, a fim de compreender de que forma o paradigma de gênero colabora para a transformação do discurso jurídico. Em seguida, será exposta a trajetória das teorias criminológicas, passando pelos caminhos das teorias demonológicas até as feministas, com a finalidade de investigar as diversas abordagens da criminalidade feminina. Por fim, a partir da análise de processos criminais que tramitaram perante o Superior Tribunal de Justiça e abordaram o crime de tráfico de drogas para dentro dos presídios, serão investigados concretamente os diferentes aspectos que as questões de gênero podem relacionar-se com o fenômeno criminal. / In view of the intensification of female incarceration verified on the past decade and the nefarious consequences that follows the imprisonment, the following research will focus on the analysis of the female criminality from a gender perspective, willing to identify the female behavior specificities and reveal how the gender and the following power relations are essentially associated in the framing of the criminal reality. For this purpose, will be taken a historical approach about the concept of gender and its analytical introduction on the legal sciences, in order to understand how the gender paradigm collaborates for the legal discourse transformation. Afterwards, it will be established the criminological theories path, through the demonological theories up to the feminist theories, to investigate the various approaches about feminine criminality. Finally, from the analysis of processes that were processed before the Superior Tribunal de Justiça and addressed drug dealing into prisons, will be investigated truly the different aspects in with gender issues can relate with the criminal phenomenon.

Minimal scientific research has been conducted regarding female sexual offenders within the South African context, despite its prevalence. This study explores behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders to gain an understanding of the phenomenon. This qualitative study in the form of a systematic review, focuses on the findings of ten original international research articles published from 2002 to 2012 regarding the behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders. The epistemological foundation of this study was postmodernism and social constructionism. Three main themes and various subthemes emerged from the data by applying the thematic content analysis. The aim of this study was to explore the similarities and differences between the findings of the research articles. Lacunas in the existing literature were explored in an attempt to extend scientific knowledge on female sexual offenders. Finally, recommendations for future scientific studies on female sexual offenders were discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)