Call for Papers
Women, Crime and the Criminal Justice System
Women’s Studies Quarterly
Guest Editor: LaVerne McQuiller Williams

Since 1972, Women’s Studies Quarterly has been the leading journal on
teaching in women’s studies. Thematic issues feature material for
specialists and generalists, including current scholarship in accessible
language, teaching materials and resources, creative writing, and book
reviews. The intersections of race and class with gender are of special
concern, as are international perspectives.

Women’s Studies Quarterly is now seeking submissions for a special Winter
2004 issue on Women, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System. Although women
make up a small percentage of felony offenders in the U.S., for more than a
decade women’s crime has grown at a rate far exceeding that of men (Bloom
and Chesney-Lind, 2003). Even more frequently, women are involved in crime
as victims: about 40% of the victims of violent crime are women (Belknap,
2001). Beyond the numbers, however, concern about women and the criminal
justice system reflects fundamental feminist issues. The criminal justice
system is, for all involved, a stark arena in which questions of equity,
status, and rights are played out.

This issue of WSQ will focus on women as offenders, victims, and criminal
justice professionals. The ways in which women’s experiences in the criminal
justice system are complicated by gender and connected to issues of race,
class, and sexual orientation are of special concern, as are international
and cross-cultural perspectives. Submissions are invited which draw upon
different feminist approaches to the study of women and the criminal justice
system--including liberalism, radicalism, Marxism, and postmodernism.
Contributions reflecting on the historical relationship of gender and crime
and that report on the experience of women in the criminal justice system
through analyses of specific policies and practices affecting women’s lives,
are welcome. In addition, we are seeking pedagogical resources for teaching
about women, crime, and criminal justice. We particularly welcome material
that reflects on educational experiences within the prison system, from both
students and instructors.

The issue will feature articles, essays, creative writing, teaching
materials, and book reviews that address one or more of the following
questions:

1) How are women’s or girls’ crimes today different from men’s or boys’?
What are the ways in which gender shapes the crimes women or girls commit
and how they perpetrate them?
2) What are the social conditions shaping criminal action among women or
girls, for instance, poverty, barriers to services, or unemployment.
3) How can feminist scholarship contribute to our understanding of women or
girls as offenders? As victims? As criminal justice professionals?
4) How do the dynamics of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual
orientation contribute to our understanding of women and/or girls as
offenders? As victims? As criminal justice professionals? Do these dynamics
look different at various levels of the criminal justice system, or in other
countries?
5) How are women or girls treated as they move through the criminal justice
process? For example, do beliefs about how women or girls should or should
not behave effect the way the criminal justice system responds to crime or
delinquency?
6) What are the issues facing women who are incarcerated in U.S. local,
state, and federal institutions? Such issues may include sexual abuse by
guards, HIV/AIDS, providing care for dependent children, and accessing
medical care and educational programs. What issues are faced by women in
prison outside the U.S.?
7) What impact do current criminal justice policies have on women? Such
policies may include the impact of mandatory sentencing laws, the war on
drugs, and policies that criminalize maternal drug use.
8) What are the issues facing women professionals in the criminal justice
field, for instance, police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys,
judges, and corrections officers?
9) What are the issues facing female criminologists today? What obstacles
shape their intellectual and career progress, and how does gender influence
them as teachers and researchers? What might feminist criminological theory
and practice look like in coming decades?
10) How does current female criminality relate to historical stereotypes
and/or historical patterns, and how does the present criminal justice system
differ from that of the past in its approach to women and gender-related
issues?
11) How can teachers incorporate women and crime into the curriculum to
foster learning and debate about gender and power relations at the local,
national, and international levels?

Submissions to this special issue will be reviewed with the understanding
that the materials have not been submitted to another journal. All
submissions should be double-spaced, printed on one side of paper with
1-inch margins, and conform to the APA (in-text) citation style. Articles
should not exceed 20 pages (7,000 words) in length, excluding references.
Essays, short stories, and strategies for teaching (with syllabi) should not
exceed 15 pages (5,250 words). Please send a disk and three hard copies of
submissions along with a full mailing address, daytime telephone number, and
an e-mail address to Professor LaVerne McQuiller Williams, Rochester
Institute of Technology, Department of Criminal Justice, 93 Lomb Memorial
Drive, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA. Queries should be sent to LaVerne
McQuiller Williams at llmgcj@.... The deadline for submission is August
1, 2003.

Sources Cited:
Belknap, J. 2001. The Invisible Women: Gender, Crime and Justice (2nd ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group.
Bloom, B. and M. Chesney-Lind. 2003. “Women in Prison: Vengeful Equity.” In
R. Muraskin (ed.), It’s a Crime: Women and Justice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Women’s Studies Quarterly
An Educational Project of the Feminist Press at the City University of New
York
in Cooperation with Rochester Institute of Technology
General Editor, Diane S. Hope, Rochester Institute of Technology

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Rebecca K. Odor, MSW
Director, Sexual Violence Prevention
Center for Injury and Violence Prevention
Virginia Department of Health
1500 East Main Street, Suite 105
Richmond VA 23219
Phone: (804) 692-0406
Fax: (804) 786-0917
Email: rodor@...
web: www.vahealth.org/civp/sexualviolence