Feminist Criminology

In recent years, sharp increases in the female prison population have landed more mothers behind bars. While the experiences of imprisoned women may differ substantially from free mothers, studies suggest that motherhood is important for many imprisoned mothers. The current study uses a sample of 210 imprisoned mothers and multivariate modeling to investigate how familial relationships before and during imprisonment and mothers’ postrelease expectations influence the salience of maternal identity. Findings suggest that regardless of demographic factors, close mother–caregiver relationships, contact with family during imprisonment, and expecting to have custody of children upon release positively impacts imprisoned women’s mothering identities.

Recent research has been focused on the portrayal of intimate partner homicides in the news media with specific emphasis on the most commonly occurring type, femicides (the murder of a female intimate partner by a male intimate partner). One important finding in the analysis of intimate partner homicide is the striking number of femicides that are followed by perpetrator suicide. Whereas homicide followed by suicide is a rare occurrence in the context of crime generally, within the context of intimate partner homicide, femicide–suicide is common. The present research utilized content analysis to explore the media coverage of a near population of femicide–suicide cases in the North Carolina from 2002 to 2009 (n = 86). An examination of the article titles showed that the majority of titles (54%) assigned to the articles describe the crime as an ambiguous homicide or homicide–suicide and do not indicate the relationship between the perpetrator and victim. In comparison, results show that 78% of the articles’ text defined the homicide–suicide as domestic violence. Specifically, in cases where the news coverage defined the femicide–suicide as domestic violence, the authors identified 4 media frames used (1) femicide–suicide by a male perpetrator, (2) femicide–suicide due to loss of perpetrator control, (3) femicide–suicide as a mercy killing, and (4) femicide–suicide due to jealousy. Implications for societal perceptions of violence against women as well as corresponding victims’ policies/services are presented and discussed.

This article seeks to extend the sex trafficking literature by addressing the knowledge gap surrounding sex traffickers. In addition, this analysis broadens Antonopoulos and Winterdyk’s (2005) analysis by contending that sex traffickers in various sociohistorical contexts use neutralizations based on the intersectional vulnerabilities of their victims. An examination of the sociocultural influences on traffickers’ use of techniques of neutralization contributes to a deeper understanding of sex trafficking and its cultural and social bases. This is essential to combating the practice as effective countermeasures must address the motivations, cultural constructions, and exploitation of intersectional identities that support sex trafficking.

Alongside literature on how crime and crime control reproduce racial inequality, less attention has been paid to how the social construction of crime reproduces masculine privilege. To address this gap, I examine 71 interviews with gun carriers. While gun carriers actively promote guns to women, they tend to assume a masculine perspective on crime by emphasizing fast, warlike violence perpetrated by strangers—the kinds of crime men, as opposed to women, are likely to face. Extending theories of vulnerability to gun politics, I argue that the social construction of crime is a key vehicle through which gender is reproduced.