- Australia
This paper presents findings from a feminist pathways study undertaken with imprisoned Tomboys, a gender sexual minority group in Thailand. Utilizing life-history interviews, we mapped Tomboys' journeys into prison. Results showed two... more
This paper presents findings from a feminist pathways study undertaken with imprisoned Tomboys, a gender sexual minority group in Thailand. Utilizing life-history interviews, we mapped Tomboys' journeys into prison. Results showed two pathways. The first, insubordinate lifestyles, was characterized by substance abuse and lifelong lawbreaking. The second pathway-support, sacrifice, suffering-was marked by romantic love and familial caregiving. Many of the experiences and central mechanisms that constituted both trajectories aligned with those found in previous feminist pathways and queer criminological scholarship. Nevertheless, qualities distinct to Tomboys' incarceration journeys were also identified.
Research Interests:
The United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) advocate for the increased use of non-custodial measures alongside women-wise criminal justice programs,... more
The United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) advocate for the increased use of non-custodial measures alongside women-wise criminal justice programs, policies, and practices. In Thailand, since the Bangkok Rules were adopted, there has been increased attention paid to implementing affirmative action to counterbalance the gender discrimination women face behind prison walls. However, there is a sparsity of knowledge and consideration of women’s non-custodial involvement, in Thailand and worldwide. In this paper, we present findings from research exploring women’s pathways to and experiences of electronically monitored (EM) parole in Thailand. We found that women’s criminalisation trajectories were facilitated by a configuration of multifaceted, commonly interconnected, vulnerabilities and harms. While EM parole should, according to governmental rhetoric, be rehabilitative and supportive of reintegration through ‘the treatment of offenders in accordance with international norms and standards’ in practice, women’s needs were barely recognised, let alone met. Instead, rather than supporting women, EM parole was, in many ways, setting them up to fail.
Research Interests:
Existing court data suggest that adult Indigenous offenders are more likely than non-Indigenous defendants to be sentenced to prison but once imprisoned generally receive shorter terms. Using findings from international and Australian... more
Existing court data suggest that adult Indigenous offenders are more likely than non-Indigenous defendants to be sentenced to prison but once imprisoned generally receive shorter terms. Using findings from international and Australian multivariate statistical analyses, this paper reviews the three key hypotheses advanced as plausible explanations for these differences: 1) differential involvement, 2) negative discrimination, 3) positive discrimination. Overall, prior research shows strong support for the differential involvement thesis, some support for positive discrimination and little foundation for negative discrimination in the sentencing of Indigenous defendants. Where discrimination is found, we argue that this may be explained by the lack of a more complete set of control variables in researchers’ multivariate models.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In Australia, family reports are an influential expert assessment of a family usually undertaken in contentious family law parenting matters by social workers or psychologists, known as family report writers. This article presents... more
In Australia, family reports are an influential expert assessment of a family usually undertaken in contentious family law parenting matters by social workers or psychologists, known as family report writers. This article presents findings from in-depth interviews with 10 private family report writers about their experience of undertaking assessments, particularly in cases where domestic and family violence is alleged. The study reveals a number of concerns that mirror the findings of previous Australian and international research in this area. For example, concerns were raised about the quality and efficacy of training and access to other resources, professional isolation, the efficacy of the family report assessment process, and divergence in understandings of domestic and family violence. A critical issue raised in the study relates to the pro-contact and co-parenting culture of the Australian family law system, which can significantly impact the family report writing process and may have repercussions for the safety of victims of domestic and family violence and their children. Responding to and drawing from the family report writers’ lived experiences, we offer suggestions for reform that aim to improve the efficacy of the family report assessment process and therefore the justice and safety of outcomes in matters where a family report is deemed necessary.
Research Interests:
Research investigating how trans women come to be criminalized is limited. In this article, using a feminist pathways approach, we explore phu-ying-kham-phet (Thai trans women's) narratives of their journeys to prison. Results... more
Research investigating how trans women come to be criminalized is limited. In this article, using a feminist pathways approach, we explore phu-ying-kham-phet (Thai trans women's) narratives of their journeys to prison. Results show several common threads of discrimination, oppression, marginalization, and harm in their backstories. These encompassed adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, familial disavowal of feminine gender expression, separation from parents, and impoverishment. During adulthood, discrimination in the labor market was common, as was substance dependence, earning a living in the underground economy, criminal (in)justice system mistreatment, and, for some, domestic violence victimization. In addition to identifying common features in the life histories of imprisoned phuying-kham-phet, we mapped the circumstances, experiences, and events that culminated in their imprisonment. Three distinct pathways to prison were found: 1) criminalized lives, 2) normative lives, and 3) other. Many of the central mechanisms constituting these trajectories aligned with previous cisgender feminist pathways studies. However, features unique to the imprisonment journeys of phu-ying-kham-phet were also identified.
Research Interests: Criminology and Prison
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in Southeast Asia features contributions from activist scholars grappling to understand and alleviate the compound sufferings of women and LGBTIQA+ persons as they encounter Southeast... more
Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in Southeast Asia features contributions from activist scholars grappling to understand and alleviate the compound sufferings of women and LGBTIQA+ persons as they encounter Southeast Asian criminal justice systems. The collection demonstrates that it is critical that the drivers of gendered harms and the way gendered needs intersect with other inequalities are better understood and adequately reflected in law, policy and practice.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In Australia and New Zealand, violence against women in familial and intimate relationships is a pervasive social problem. This chapter examines violence in both heterosexual and LGBTQI relationships and against women in particular. The... more
In Australia and New Zealand, violence against women in familial and intimate relationships is a pervasive social problem. This chapter examines violence in both heterosexual and LGBTQI relationships and against women in particular. The intersection between intimate partner violence and child abuse is also examined alongside the ongoing and disproportionate victimisation of Indigenous Australian and Māori women. The authors conclude that domestic and family violence is a form of child abuse and that there is not nearly enough being done to address these issues.
Research Interests:
This paper presents findings from a study exploring the experiences and viewpoints of conventional criminal justice actors, social and legal service providers, and restorative justice (RJ) conference facilitators/convenors regarding the... more
This paper presents findings from a study exploring the experiences and viewpoints of conventional criminal justice actors, social and legal service providers, and restorative justice (RJ) conference facilitators/convenors regarding the use of adult RJ conferencing in cases of intimate partner, domestic, family (IPDFV) and sexual violence (SV). Results indicated strong views about what IPDFV/SV victims needed from a system of justice, perceived failings of conventional justice systems in this regard, and the potential of RJ to deliver more efficacious justice. Nevertheless, using RJ in these cases posed concerns and challenges. Research participants identified steps that could be taken to overcome these issues through an RJ best practice framework underpinned by a victim-centred approach committed to victim empowerment, safety, healing, and practitioner training.
Research Interests: Sociology, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence, and 10 moreEconomic Justice, Empowerment, Restorative Justice, Gendered Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Laws, Viewpoints, Restorative Justice: Practice and Theory, Service Provider, and Sexual and Gender Based Violence
This paper draws on the theoretical arguments outlined in Hayes (2014) to frame critical analyses of two real life domestic violence narratives. The authors are both academic criminologists and victims/survivors of domestic violence, but... more
This paper draws on the theoretical arguments outlined in Hayes (2014) to frame critical analyses of two real life domestic violence narratives. The authors are both academic criminologists and victims/survivors of domestic violence, but within differing contexts – one a conventional heterosexual relationship, the other a female same-sex relationship. Their experiences are intertwined in an extensive collaborative auto-ethnographic analysis that spans seven years of working and socialising together, in which each provided a sounding board and support for the other. The analysis therefore documents two personal journeys. The academic and theoretical are intertwined with the personal and subjective to elicit an evocative and yet empirically validated study. The theoretical underpinnings of romantic love distortion, misogyny and sexism are used to frame these experiences of domestic violence and the differing sexualities of the authors provide a rich context for exploring the ways in w...
Research Interests:
Family reports are critical documents in family parenting cases. They are often the only social science information available to the judge, the lawyers and the parties. They are influential in judicial decision-making and out-of-court... more
Family reports are critical documents in family parenting cases. They are often the only social science information available to the judge, the lawyers and the parties. They are influential in judicial decision-making and out-of-court negotiations. Despite their importance there has been little direct research about the quality and impact of family reports in Australia. It is also known that family violence is a common occurrence in parenting cases that progress to litigation, and therefore the kinds of cases in which family reports are ordered, but again this is an under-researched issue. This article presents foundational information about the existing research to identify what is known about family reports and family violence. It examines the legislative framework for family report writing and analyses the official guidelines and documents and informal information that provide context to this work. It considers what family report writers need to know and understand about family v...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Introduction Cases involving families where there are allegations of domestic violence constitute a significant part of family court caseloads in Australia. Research undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies showed that... more
Introduction Cases involving families where there are allegations of domestic violence constitute a significant part of family court caseloads in Australia. Research undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies showed that allegations of spousal violence occurred in over 51 per cent of litigated cases, with the figure rising to over 70 per cent of cases not judicially determined. These are complex and difficult cases often filled with allegations and counter-allegations. A critical piece of evidence often obtained in these cases is a family assessment report (a ‘family report’), which is prepared by a family consultant, usually a social worker or psychologist. A recent evaluation showed that family reports are increasingly being obtained in cases involving allegations of domestic violence or abuse, with a rise from one-third in the pre-reform cases reviewed to just over half post-reform. This suggests that family report writers have a critical role to play in how the fam...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In feminist criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring gendered pathways into prison. However, this research has focussed predominantly on women. There are few gender comparative studies. Further, most feminist pathways... more
In feminist criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring gendered pathways into prison. However, this research has focussed predominantly on women. There are few gender comparative studies. Further, most feminist pathways research is western centric having, for the most part, been undertaken in the United States. Utilising categorical principal components analysis alongside descriptive statistics and illustrative case study examples, this paper adds to the feminist pathways research by describing and comparing women’s and men’s pathways to prison in Thailand. Three common pathways to prison emerged for both women and men: (1) peer group association/deviant lifestyle, (2) harmed and harming, (3) economically motivated. However, gendered variance was found within these common pathways. Further, two pathways emerged exclusively for women: (1) adulthood victimisation and dysfunctional intimate relationships, (2) naivety and deception. These results substantiate the notion ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Criminology, Psychology, Law, Gender Studies, and 6 moreWomen, Thailand, Offending, Prison, Victimisation, and Pathways
Thailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South... more
Thailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South East Asia and there has been substantial growth since the 1990s. This increase has been driven by punitive changes in drug law, criminal justice policy/practice which have disproportionately impacted women. As female representation in Thailand’s prisons grows, so does the number of women who return to communities. Thus, one of the challenges facing Thai society is the efficacious re-integration of growing numbers of formally incarcerated women. However, what is known about re-entry comes almost exclusively from studies of prisoners (usually men) returning home in western societies. Re-integration does not occur in a vacuum. Supporting women post-release necessitates knowledge of their pathways to, experiences of, and journeys out of prison. Utilising ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Media discourse has a profound effect on public opinions. Prior research, the majority of which has been conducted internationally, shows that print media constructions of intimate partner violence (IPV) operate within a patriarchal... more
Media discourse has a profound effect on public opinions. Prior research, the majority of which has been conducted internationally, shows that print media constructions of intimate partner violence (IPV) operate within a patriarchal framework which normalizes and constructs men’s violence against women as acceptable. This research explored Queensland’s print media representation of IPV. Results show that the reporting of IPV is episodic, sensationalistic, prone to perpetrator sympathizing, and fails to contextualize IPV as an ongoing pattern of intentionally abusive behaviour.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring pathways into prison. However, few researchers have concerned themselves with qualitative gender-comparative studies of women’s and men’s journeys to offending and... more
In criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring pathways into prison. However, few researchers have concerned themselves with qualitative gender-comparative studies of women’s and men’s journeys to offending and criminalization. Further, little is known about trajectories into non-Western prison systems. In this article, life course and feminist pathways perspectives are drawn on to describe, examine, and compare women’s and men’s pathways to prison for drug offending in Thailand. Overall, findings point to both similarities and divergences in experiences by gender. Four common themes or pathways to prison emerged for both women and men: (1) adverse childhood experiences, (2) peer-group association, (3) economic motivation, and (4) male deception and exploitation. However, gendered variance was found within these common pathways.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology, Criminology, Law, Publishing, Sex, and 4 moreGender, Sentencing, Academic research, and Commissioning
Research Interests:
The Pathways to Prevention Project is an early intervention initiative focused on the transition to school in the most disadvantaged urban area in Queensland. The Project aims to: 1) promote the capacity for children and youth to achieve... more
The Pathways to Prevention Project is an early intervention initiative focused on the transition to school in the most disadvantaged urban area in Queensland. The Project aims to: 1) promote the capacity for children and youth to achieve their potential, 2) avoid poor outcomes in health, education, behaviour and crime, and the resultant costs to society, 3) promote positive parenting, 4) encourage healthy family relationships, 5) enhance children’s readiness for school, 6) reduce adolescent involvement in criminal activity in the longer term, 7) reduce social isolation experienced by families. The Pathways to Prevention Project involves the integration of family and preschool/school based programs and operates within a community development framework. The current paper will outline the challenges of evaluating Pathway’s Family Independence Program. The Family Independence Program offers multi-layered support consisting of five main components: 1) Group Programs 2) Ethno-specific Programs, 3) Individual & Family Support, 4) Youth Program, 5) Community Development Strategies. The multi-layered nature of the Family Independence Program and the need for an evaluation method that could capture day-to-day client milestones/achievements, led staff from Griffith University’s Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance to look ‘outside the square’ to find alternative evaluation methods. Eventually the decision to use the somewhat new and innovative method of Journey Mapping was made. Briefly, Journey Mapping is designed to evaluate programs engaged in healing, transformation and prevention through both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of client stories or ‘journeys’. It is especially suited to programs that help clients grow out of circumstances that diminish their lives and into new life contexts. It provides a way of observing, tracking, assessing and learning about a program and the growth and development of its clients (Kibel, 1999; Kibel, 2006). These characteristics made Journey Mapping highly amenable as a tool to evaluate the Family Independence Program, as did its production of numerical scores of client progress that could be collated and graphed. Hard data of this kind is often crucial to satisfy funding requirements. In this paper the Journey Mapping tool will be explained and assessed in the context of evaluating Pathway’s Family Independence Program.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Internationally, the matter of gender difference in criminal court decision making is a contentious one, but in New Zealand little substantive research or debate has occurred on this issue. This paper attempts to remedy this deficit by... more
Internationally, the matter of gender difference in criminal court decision making is a contentious one, but in New Zealand little substantive research or debate has occurred on this issue. This paper attempts to remedy this deficit by summarising research findings from a larger PhD project (Jeffries, 2001) which considered the question of gender and criminal justice decision making in New Zealand. Results from this project show that a) sentencing and remand outcomes often differ for adult men and women, with the former usually receiving "harsher" sanctions, b) different factors are often considered when determining men's and women's judicial outcomes and, c) certain "types" of men and women are more likely to be extended judicial leniency. In explanation, gendered ways of viewing, understanding and judging offenders indicated the manner in which judicial processing came to be differentiated by sex. Theoretically, these findings can be partially understood using chivalry, paternalism, social control and social cost arguments. However, by themselves, none of these theoretical perspectives are considered complete and a more integrated theory of gender and criminal justice processing is called for.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Although they are only 2,000 kilometres apart and were briefly governed as a single entity (1840–1842), Australia and New Zealand have now been politically independent for over 160 years. To outsiders the speech patterns, sporting... more
Although they are only 2,000 kilometres apart and were briefly governed as a single entity (1840–1842), Australia and New Zealand have now been politically independent for over 160 years. To outsiders the speech patterns, sporting interests and cultural values of Australians and New Zealanders make them appear quite similar but closer examination reveals considerable differences. This is reflected not only in their disparate histories, but also in their modern political systems, their population sizes and make-up and their treatment of native peoples. Crime profiles of both minority and majority ethnic groups are manifested in these differences as well as in the criminal justice systems of the two countries.
Research Interests:
Coercive control includes, but goes beyond, an examination of physical violence by considering a plethora of on-going non-physical methods intentionally employed by perpetrators of romantic terrorism to maintain power and control over... more
Coercive control includes, but goes beyond, an examination of physical violence by considering a plethora of on-going non-physical methods intentionally employed by perpetrators of romantic terrorism to maintain power and control over their victims. This chapter explores some of these power and control tactics under the following headings: (1) Threats and intimidation; (2) Humiliation, degradation and emotional unkindness; (3) Restricting personal territory and freedom; and (4) Crazy making. These categories were constructed from a range of models, including methods of coercive control identified by Stark (2007), perpetrator tactics highlighted by Jones (2000) in her comparative work on terrorism/torture and intimate partner violence and tactics identified by Murphy (2014, 2009, 2002) in her in-depth interviews with perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence in Australia and New Zealand.
Research Interests:
This fourth and final chapter explores the journey to recovery from romantic terrorism, the ongoing impact and strategies for regaining identity and subjectivity. The authors suggest that one of the key strategies for raising awareness in... more
This fourth and final chapter explores the journey to recovery from romantic terrorism, the ongoing impact and strategies for regaining identity and subjectivity. The authors suggest that one of the key strategies for raising awareness in victims is a form of guided narrative therapy, which helps the victims explore their experiences while shedding light on the nature of abuse and highlighting the impracticality of trying to “help” or “fix” the abusive partner. Awareness is the only the first step, however. The process of recovery may be long, especially for those victims who share children with their offenders. Recovery for these women requires a suite of restorative practices aimed at rebuilding the victim’s sense of self and place in the world. On the back of these strategies, this chapter also makes suggestions for restorative practices in policy as well as in domestic violence service provision and legislation.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A summary of international and national research shows that, in comparison to men, women generally receive less severe judicial outcomes (e.g. sentences) even when they appear before the court under seemingly similar circumstances. Such a... more
A summary of international and national research shows that, in comparison to men, women generally receive less severe judicial outcomes (e.g. sentences) even when they appear before the court under seemingly similar circumstances. Such a finding leads to the questions: How do we interpret these differences between men and women? Is this disparity in criminal court outcomes just or unjust, warrant or unwarranted? In this paper, I will explore these questions by addressing feminist debates of equality versus difference in the context of criminal court sanctioning.
Research Interests:
Internationally, the matter of gender difference in criminal court decision making is a contentious one, butin Australasia little substantive research or debate has occurred on this issue. This paper attempts toremedy this deficit by... more
Internationally, the matter of gender difference in criminal court decision making is a contentious one, butin Australasia little substantive research or debate has occurred on this issue. This paper attempts toremedy this deficit by summarising research findings from a New Zealand-based PhD project (Jeffries,2001) which considered the question of gender and criminal justice decision making. Results from thisproject show that a) sentencing and remand outcomes often differ for adult men and women, with theformer usually receiving ‘harsher’ sanctions, b) different factors are often considered when determiningmen’s and women’s judicial outcomes and, c) certain ‘types’ of men and women are more likely to beextended judicial leniency. In explanation, gendered ways of viewing, understanding and judgingoffenders indicated the manner in which judicial processing came to be differentiated by sex.Theoretically, these findings can be partially understood using chivalry, paternalism, social control andsocial cost arguments. However, by themselves, none of these theoretical perspectives are consideredcomplete and this paper calls for a more integrated theory of gender and criminal justice processing.
Research Interests:
Recent Australian research on Indigenous sentencing primarily explores whether disparities in sentencing outcomes exist. Little is known about how judges perceive or refer to Indigenous defendants and their histories, and how they... more
Recent Australian research on Indigenous sentencing primarily explores whether disparities in sentencing outcomes exist. Little is known about how judges perceive or refer to Indigenous defendants and their histories, and how they interpret the circumstances of Indigenous defendants in justifying their sentencing decisions. Drawing on the ‘focal concerns’ approach, this study presents a narrative analysis of a sample of judges’ sentencing remarks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous criminal defendants convicted in South Australia’s Higher Courts. The analysis found that the sentencing stories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders differed in ways that possibly reduced assessments of blameworthiness and risk for Indigenous defendants.
Research Interests:
In feminist criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring pathways to prison, but few studies have specifically sought to map women’s journeys into the criminal justice system for crimes of physical violence and sex... more
In feminist criminology, there is a growing body of research exploring pathways to prison, but few studies have specifically sought to map women’s journeys into the criminal justice system for crimes of physical violence and sex offending. Gender comparative research is sparse, and, to date, we know little about women and men imprisoned in Thailand for these types of crimes. Subsequently, in this paper, we report findings from a gender comparative feminist pathways study conducted in Thailand, with a specific focus on violence and sex offending; namely, homicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, and sex work-related offences. We utilise a qualitative analysis of life-history interviews to centre and value these women’s and men’s voices, establish their backstories, and
thematically map their imprisonment trajectories. Three pathways to prison emerged: (1) lifestyles of contravention, (2) harmed and harming, and (3) destructive masculinity. Utilising the participants’ descriptions, we highlight similarities and variance by gender within and between these pathways.
thematically map their imprisonment trajectories. Three pathways to prison emerged: (1) lifestyles of contravention, (2) harmed and harming, and (3) destructive masculinity. Utilising the participants’ descriptions, we highlight similarities and variance by gender within and between these pathways.
Research investigating how trans women come to be criminalized is limited. In this article, using a feminist pathways approach, we explore phu-ying-kham-phet (Thai trans women's) narratives of their journeys to prison. Results show... more
Research investigating how trans women come to be criminalized is limited. In this article, using a feminist pathways approach, we explore phu-ying-kham-phet (Thai trans women's) narratives of their journeys to prison. Results show several common threads of discrimination, oppression, marginalization, and harm in their backstories. These encompassed adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, familial disavowal of feminine gender expression, separation from parents, and impoverishment. During adulthood, discrimination in the labor market was common, as was substance dependence, earning a living in the underground economy, criminal (in)justice system mistreatment, and, for some, domestic violence victimization. In addition to identifying common features in the life histories of imprisoned phuying-kham-phet, we mapped the circumstances, experiences, and events that culminated in their imprisonment. Three distinct pathways to prison were found: 1) criminalized lives, 2) normative lives, and 3) other. Many of the central mechanisms constituting these trajectories aligned with previous cisgender feminist pathways studies. However, features unique to the imprisonment journeys of phu-ying-kham-phet were also identified.
Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in Southeast Asia features contributions from activist scholars grappling to understand and alleviate the compound sufferings of women and LGBTIQA+ persons as they encounter Southeast... more
Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in Southeast Asia features contributions from activist scholars grappling to understand and alleviate the compound sufferings of women and LGBTIQA+ persons as they encounter Southeast Asian criminal justice systems. The collection demonstrates that it is critical that the drivers of gendered harms and the way gendered needs intersect with other inequalities are better understood and adequately reflected in law, policy and practice.