Abstract
Feminist Criminology is the gold standard for scholarship on gender and crime. As the official publication of the American Society of Criminology’s (ASC’s) Division on Women and Crime (DWC), Feminist Criminology is a highly visible outlet with a notable influence on the field. This standing is due in large part to the impressive efforts of most recent Editor Rosemary Barbaret and the dedicated scholars who previously served in this capacity: Jana Jasinski, Helen Eigenberg, and Susan Sharp. Since the first issue of Feminist Criminology was published in 2006, I have closely followed the journal as a DWC member, served as a regular manuscript reviewer, and contributed my own scholarship for publication consideration. Like many DWC members, I rely on work published in Feminist Criminology in my teaching, mentoring, and research. It is an honor and privilege to serve as Editor and to continue the journal’s upward trajectory.
My philosophy for editing Feminist Criminology is based on two decades of experience as an author, reviewer, and editorial board member for several journals and scholarly presses in criminology and criminal justice and other fields. My plans for the journal’s future are driven by my understanding of what the leading journal on gender and crime should be: A journal that publishes research that (a) guides future theoretical development and empirical research in gender and crime, (b) informs policy on women and girls, and (c) expands the borders of feminist scholarship. These three criteria, coupled with the assessments of reviewers, will guide my editorial decisions regarding the publication of manuscripts.
Guiding Future Theoretical Development and Empirical Research in Gender and Crime
Publishing work that guides future theoretical and empirical research is an established hallmark of Feminist Criminology. As of July 2018, Feminist Criminology has published 239 articles (including 37 currently in Online First). The most highly cited articles in the journal, published in the inaugural issue, have directly affected theoretical development and empirical research by challenging mainstream theory and/or methodological approaches to the study of gender and crime. For example, Belknap and Holsinger’s (2006) “The gendered nature of risk factors for delinquency” has been cited 465 times, Chesney-Lind’s (2006) “Patriarchy and crime: Feminist criminology in an era of backlash” has been cited 353 times, and Burgess-Proctor’s (2006) “Intersections of race, class, gender and crime: Future directions for feminist criminology” has been cited 332 times (Google Scholar, July 10, 2018). These pieces in particular, and others, established the importance of not simply controlling for sex but rather evaluating the unique impact of theoretically derived independent variables for males and females. They introduced future generations of scholars to the role of feminist criminologists in addressing issues of race, class, and gender inequality in the criminal justice system and the broader environment. Indeed, these and other highly cited Feminist Criminology articles are staples in graduate-level seminars on gender and crime and required reading for comprehensive exams on criminological theory.
As Editor of Feminist Criminology, I will embrace the traditions of my predecessors by continuing to ensure that published work—even work which does not directly test theory—still contributes to theoretical debate and, when possible, effectively challenges future empirical work to address multiple potential nexuses of inequality (e.g., race, ethnicity, class, citizenship, sexuality, and structure). This will require a careful selection of dedicated reviewers who are committed to providing detailed feedback that challenges authors to fully develop theoretical arguments. I will also welcome the publication of exchanges between scholars reflecting diverse viewpoints (e.g., critical feminist critiques of mainstream theory), consistent with the series of theoretical debates published in Criminology and Theoretical Criminology in the 1990s.
Informing Policy on Women and Girls
Research that appears in Feminist Criminology should continue to critically inform policy on women and girls. Toward that end, more than one third of the journal’s published articles have examined forms of victimization that have disproportionally affected females (e.g., sexual assault, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, and sex trafficking). Collectively, this work provides insights not just into the correlates of victimization but also the ways in which the criminal justice system treatment of victimized women, girls, and other similarly marginalized groups (e.g., the LGBTQ+ and immigrant populations) directly or indirectly exacerbates their victimization. Research published in Feminist Criminology has also called attention to “best practices” regarding policy that affects women and girls and should continue to do so.
Scholarship in Feminist Criminology sheds light on the gendered experiences of women working in the criminal justice system. For example, the recent special issue on “Women at Work in Criminal Justice Organizations” (Guest Edited by Cara Rabe-Hemp and Susan Miller) represents an excellent example of this key focus. However, there is a critical need for a feminist approach to more closely examine the gendered experiences that take place in the academy itself, where women are still underrepresented in most disciplines. In a recent Feminist Criminology article, Tara Richards and Katherine Kafonek (2016) call attention to policies and practices regarding sexual assault, violence, and harassment that are prevalent but underreported on the college campus. The most prominent of these policies is of course Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) which has received increased scholarly and media attention in the wake of Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s decision to rescind victim protections put in place by President Barack Obama. Columns in The Chronicle of Higher Education have drawn parallels between the case of Harvey Weinstein—which includes numerous allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and rape—and the experiences of women and minorities in academics (Mangan, 2017). Like aspiring actors who depend on Hollywood producers to launch their career, students and untenured faculty rely on mentors and others in positions of power to do the same. And as the recent #MeToo social media campaign illustrates, predatory acts by those in power are all too common and rarely reported. As Editor of Feminist Criminology, I will call on gender and crime scholars to expand policy attention to the university setting. This will be done through a future special issue dedicated to Title IX, which will encourage submission of empirical work and autoethnographic accounts. Alongside this effort, a DWC-sponsored ASC panel on this topic will be part of a more focused campaign to promote awareness and facilitate bystander intervention. I also welcome the submission of manuscripts evaluating other timely policy issues relevant to women and girls, such as the implications stemming from funding cuts to the Violence Against Women Act.
Expanding the Borders of Feminist Scholarship
As Rosemary Barbaret (2014) thoughtfully noted in her first editorial introduction, “I believe the prestige of the journal will be enhanced by internationalization” (p. 2). Toward that end, she expanded the editorial board to include scholars from all over the globe and sought to increase the publication of articles using samples from outside the United States. The overwhelming majority of articles published in Feminist Criminology have been empirical, and it is notable that more than one third of the published empirical articles rely on non-American samples. The commendable efforts of previous editors have already gone a long way toward expanding the boarders of feminist scholarship, and I will ensure that Feminist Criminology continues to publish international and comparative articles.
I believe that the borders of feminist scholarship can also be expanded by increasing the interdisciplinary reach of the journal to potential authors and readership, which in turn will increase the journal’s impact factor. In the 2018 Journal Citation Report, Feminist Criminology is currently ranked 41 of 61 in the category “Criminology and Penology” on the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and its 5-year impact factor is 1.63. As Editor, a primary method of expanding the borders of feminist scholarship will be to work with the outstanding team at Sage Publications on also indexing the journal in the category of “Women’s Studies,” which “covers resources that focus on interdisciplinary topics such as women and health, women’s psychology, women and politics, gender studies, and feminism.” Much of the work already published in Feminist Criminology is consistent with these topics, making it naturally appealing—but not necessarily currently the most visible—to scholars working outside of criminology and criminal justice programs. To assist us in this important task, I implore the editorial board and our readers to cite relevant Feminist Criminology articles in their work.
None of my plans for the journal will be accomplished alone. I am privileged to have the guidance of DWC Chair Sheetal Ranjan and the talented members of the DWC Executive Council, not to mention the assistance of Managing Editor Natasha Pusch. I am also fortunate to be surrounded by the distinguished and diverse editorial board, to which I have added Deputy Editor Leslie Gordon Simons and several DWC members—Callie Burt, Merry Morash, Sally Simpson, Darrell Steffensmeier, Sara Wakefield, and Emily Wright—whose scholarship covers a variety of areas relevant to gender and crime. In concert with the continued support of the DWC membership, these individuals will play a vital role in ensuring that the goals of guiding future theoretical development and empirical research in gender and crime, advancing policy on women and girls, and expanding the borders of feminist scholarship are accomplished.