Gender and Justice

Cullompton : Willan ( 2006 ) 320pp . £22.00pb ISBN 978-1-84392-199-8 The first two sections of this three-part edited collection focus on updating our knowledge and understanding of gender differences in relation to many well-worn themes such as drug use, the regulation of prostitution, court decision making and the experiences of women in prison. The third section, 'New concepts and approaches', includes chapters which seek to expand feminist criminology, and criminology more generally, with particular reference to the concept of human rights. This section also considers how feminist criminology should respond to the new challenges presented by recent biological research on where sex differences end and gender differences begin. This description probably suggests a worthy rather than a worthwhile addition to the literature, but nothing could be further from the truth. The first thing to note about this collection is that it has been edited by Frances Heidensohn who, as one contributor (Nicole Rafter) acknowledges, was one of the founders of feminist criminology. Heidensohn's thoughtful and thought-provoking introduction to each section encourages the reader to see what each chapter contributes to the whole and explains why such a volume is timely and necessary. Although individual chapters cover a wide range of topics, a number of common threads are discernible. For example, a recurring and important theme in several chapters is the way feminist criminology may have unintentionally contributed to expanding the range of ways in which women's behaviour is pathologised and the severity of society's response. While Hayman's description of Canada's attempts to reform their women's prison system is depressing as it documents the unexpectedly damaging results, she also provides grounds for optimism by drawing out some clear lessons for the future. The neighbouring contribution by Mason on the highly successful Dóchas Centre in the Republic of Ireland shows that even when a government is progressive enough to try a different approach to women's imprisonment, and concrete evidence of its success is available, the state of women's prisons remains subordinate not only to financial pressures but to concerns about the male estate. A further strength of this volume lies in the range of methodologies employed. While much of it is ethnographic, the authors also analyse official and informal discourse and conduct analyses of documents, archives, official statistics and survey data. This ensures that the common conclusions reached in separate studies, such as the need to reject over-simplified notions of gender difference in drug-taking (Shiner), bullying (Myers) or influences on sentencing (Steward), reinforce one another, not only because they come from different studies but also because they have been produced by different forms of investigation. Added to this, the willingness to accept that not all quantitative approaches are inherently anti-feminist and Rafter's exhortation to ‘... integrate biological findings that seem sound and relevant, and to critique biocriminological theories of the past and present’ (p.220) demonstrate that 21st Century feminist criminologies offer as intellectually curious and insightful an approach to all aspects of criminological investigation as did their 20th Century forerunners. All of the chapters in this edited collection are good, but at least two are outstanding. Phoenix's chapter on how the legislation supposedly designed to support those involved in sex work is leading to their further exclusion and criminalisation is a model of how to present a crystal clear analysis of an area of legislation and practice riddled with contradictions and ‘mixed intentions’ (p.93). However, it is Phillips's chapter, comparing and contrasting gender, justice and human rights in Zimbabwe and South Africa which stands out in this collection. His explanation of how the concepts of gender, race, cultural context and history, and different interpretations of justice must be incorporated in seeking to understand and achieve gendered justice is as elegant as it is useful. His thinking is as relevant to the UK as it is to post-colonial Africa. It should be read by any criminologist wishing to gain a clearer understanding of social justice, in relation not only to gender but also to other key dimensions of social diversity in a post 9/11 and 7/7 world

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