The Invisible Woman

Joanne Belknap, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, received a PhD in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Michigan State University in 1986. She is both a Fellow and Past-President of the American Society of Criminology and has written numerous scholarly publications, most of which involve gender-based abuse and the connection between trauma and offending through an intersectional feminist lens. Dr. Belknap has secured almost 2 million dollars in grant money to conduct research on women, girls, and crime; served on state advisory boards for female offenders and women in prison; served on U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's Violence Against Women Committee; gave expert testimony to the Warren Christopher Commission investigating the Rodney King police brutality incident in Los Angeles; and taught college classes in women's and men's prisons through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. She has received numerous research, teaching, and service awards.

Preface and Acknowledgments New to This Edition About the Author Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: Gendering Criminology Through an Intersectional Lens Diversity Among Women and Girls What Is Feminism? Women and Girls' Invisibility Sex Versus Gender What Are Feminist Methods? The Effect of Societal Images on Women Regarding Crime Summary Part II: Women And Girls' Offending Chapter 2: Theories Part I: Positivist, Evolutionary, Strain, Differential Association, Social Control, and Women's Emancipation Theories The Original and Positivist Studies Biosocial and Evolutionary (Psychological) Theories (BSETs) Strain Theories Differential Association Theory (DAT) and Social Learning Theory (SLT) Social Control Theories (SCTs) Women's Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis (WLEH) Summary Chapter 3: Theories Part II: Critical, Labeling, Cycle of Violence, Life Course, Pathways, and Masculinity Theories Agency and Resiliency Critical Theories Labeling Theory (LT) Developmental and Adverse Life Events Theories Masculinity Theory (MT) Summary Chapter 4: Accounting for Gender-Crime Patterns Measuring Crime The Roles of Gender Regarding Co-Offenders, Age, Race, Class, Sexuality, and Mental Illness Summary Chapter 5: The Context of Women and Girls' Offending for Specific Crimes Drugs and Alcohol: Substance Use, Abuse, and Selling (SUAS) Theft, Burglary, and Robbery White-Collar Crimes (WCCs) Sex Work and Prostitution Aggression and Assault Child Abductions/Kidnappings Homicides Girls and Women in Gangs Summary Chapter 6: Processing Women and Girls in the Criminal Legal System Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS Chivalry Is Complicated The Legacy of Racism and Confounding Measures of Race/Ethnicity Criminal Laws and Gender Discrimination Processing Youthful Defendants/Offenders Empirical Findings on Gender Differences in Adult Crime Processing Chivalry Remains Complicated Summary Chapter 7: Incarcerating, Punishing, and "Treating" Offending Women and Girls The History of Incarcerating Women and Girls Rates of Incarceration The Women's Prison Regime Educational, Vocational, and Recreational Programs Health Needs and Access to Services The Prison Subculture Sexual Abuse of Women and Girls While Incarcerated Summary Part III: Gender-Based Abuse Chapter 8: Gender-Based Abuse (GBA) Defining Gender-Based Abuse (GBA) Culture, Gender Inequality, and GBA Rates of GBA and the Fear of Crime Focusing on Intersectional GBA: The History and Its Legacy Trafficking Corporate and Environmental GBA Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) What Does Feminist Reform Look Like? Summary Chapter 9: Focusing on Sexual Abuse Defining Sexual Abuse Historical Developments in Defining Rape and Other Sexual Abuses Another Look at Rape Myths and a Rape Culture Statistics on Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) College Sexual Abuse Marital/Spousal/Partner Rape Sexual Harassment Sexual Abuse and the Criminal Legal System (CLS) Summary Chapter 10: Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) and Stalking Defining Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) and Stalking The Significance of Coercion/Coercive Control IPA Tactics Stalking Tactics The Historical Identification of IPA and Stalking as Social Problems The Frequency of IPA and Stalking Walker's Cycle Theory of Violence IPA and Stalking Abusers IPA and Stalking Victims/Survivors Inhibitors to Leaving/Returning to an Abusive Relationship and What Helps Survivors Leave IPA and Stalking and the Criminal Legal System (CLS) Summary Part IV: Women Working In The Criminal Legal System Chapter 11: Women Working in Prisons and Jails A Brief History of Sex/Gender Discrimination in the Paid Labor Force Comparing Racial and Gender Workplace Discrimination The Matron Role: Women's Breaking Into CLS Jobs Through Sexist Stereotypical Positions Women as Token Workers Women Trailblazers The Significant Role of Legislative and Court Rulings on Women's Work in the CLS Prisoner Privacy and Prison Safety: Legal Resistance to Women Guards Gender Similarities and Differences in Guards' Job Performance and Attitudes Summary Chapter 12: Women Working in Policing and Law Enforcement What Is Policing? Women Breaking Into Police Work Police Officer Identities Title VII and Other Legislation and Policies Resistance to Women in Policing Sexual Harassment Gender and Stress Gender Differences in Job Performance Classifications of Women Police Officers Women's Representation in Policing The Intersection of Racism and Sexual Identity With Gender and Sexism Summary Chapter 13: Women Working in the Courts The History of Women on Juries The History of Women's Access to Legal Education and Training Women in Law Schools Since the 1950s Women Attorneys Women Judges Looking for Gender Differences in Judges' Decision-Making Women Law Professors Summary Part V: Conclusions Chapter 14: Effecting Change Improving Theoretical Approaches Improving Research Methods Two Strategies Cutting Across Offending, Victimization, and CLS Workers Changing the Risks for and Responses to Girls and Women's Offending Changing Responses to Gender-Based Abuse (GBA) Changes for Women Working in the Criminal Legal System (CLS) Summary References Index

"The Invisible Woman should be a required text for every Criminal Justice student. It provides an in-depth look at women in the criminal justice system from a feminist perspective that examines women offenders to women practitioners in the field. The approach is very appealing, especially in our current political climate." -- Angelina Inesia-Forde "The Invisible Woman is the authority, in my opinion, for discussions about gender and crime...It is a straightforward and compelling text that applies a feminist perspective in understanding complex issues, involving women and gender, crime, offending, victimization, and the practitioner experience." -- Christina Mancini "I appreciate that this text offers a balance of addressing theory, offending, victimization, and women's participation in criminal justice institutions. The text's commitment to a feminist perspective provides a welcome distinction from other currently available books." -- Benjamin D. Albers "The text provides informative and insightful information on what's happening with women while providing strategic activities on how to improve the visibility of women to ensure programs, services, and promote their role in society." -- Robbin Day Brooks "The Invisible Woman is the best book out there to date." -- J. Robert Duke