Study of Women and Gender 300 - Special Topics in the Study of Women and Gender: Women in the Criminal Justice System

Topics course: This course will examine the social constructions of gender, race and class within the criminal justice system and explore gender, justice, and injustice through the lens of intersectionality. We will investigate the role that gendered experiences have in shaping the meaning of criminal "victim" and "assailant" under the law, and how crime and law enforcement policies and procedures impact the lives of women differently. In discussing women’s relationship to crime as both victims and offenders, we will also examine the intersections and relationships of those identified as women with structural racism, heterosexism, sexism, and class inequality. These issues are important because they help shape the gendered meaning of criminality and the navigation of gendered subjects within the criminal justice system.

Instructor Permission Req. Not open to first-years, sophomores