Women and Crime

The paucity of criticism on the photographic evidence of Jack the ripper’s murders is striking and surprising, particularly given that these images amount to one of the  first visual documentations of what are now called sex crimes. Even Robert McLaughlin’s pioneering study The First Jack the Ripper Victim Photographs falls short of adequately decoding what’s really going on in the pictures themselves, in part because he seems less interested in the content of the photographs than in the biographical details of the photographers who created them. This essay hopes to address and correct this interpretive gap. Through a close analysis of the few ripper photographs that still survive, i seek to recover the representational codes governing the visual, spatial, and gender politics of these images. in the  first section i examine the postmortem portraits of the victims. in the second, i explore the continuities i see between the full-body mortuary photographs of the victims and a broader Victorian art aesthetic. in the third and  final section i study closely the single crime-scene photo- graph of the body of Mary Kelly (the ripper’s  fifth victim).

ABSTRACT
The Jacobean era's infamous witchcraft trials are recalled after reservoir repairs close to Pendle Hill reveal a buried cottage with bricked‐up cat. Interpretations of the building as the site of Malkin Tower, recorded in court records as the venue of a witches coven are critically evaluated in the light of archaeological and historical evidence.

KEYWORDS
WITCH, PENDLE WITCH TRIALS, PENDLE HILL, MALKIN TOWER, FOLK BELIEF, MAGIC, LANCASTER ASSIZES, WISE WOMEN, CUNNING FOLK, ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, SEVENTEENTHCENTURY, ALIZON DEVICE, SALEM WITCHES, THOMAS POTTS, LOWER BLACK MOSS, ELIZABETH SOUTHERNS, DEMDIKE, ELIZABETH DEVICE, JAMES DEVICE, ANNE WHITTLE, CHATTOX, ANNE REDFERNE, JANE BULCOCK, JOHN BULCOCK, ALICE NUTTER, KATHERINE HEWITT, ALICE GRAY, JENNET PRESTON, GUNPOWDER PLOT, CAT

As per the National Human Rights Commission report of 2003, the under-trials constitute 72.78% of the total population of the population in prison while the 2002 figure was more disturbing since it was 1.28 marginally high to that of the 2003 census and was 74.06%. Undertrials have been in sight of the judiciary not much has been done for them. Though their plight is visible to the system and they can understand the problems but nothing effective is being done. The persistent problem of un-education, overpopulation, and slow trials, are the main reason for their plight. The article addresses their status in society and the legal provisions formulated to help them.

Fama e genere, un nesso che rimarca la complessità di una relazione che persiste nei secoli nell’elaborazione giuridica e nella prassi della giustizia, nelle riflessioni dei teologi, nelle parole di predicatori e confessori.

La donna è scrutata, disciplinata e controllata. Ma non solo: la donna è desiderata, onorata e imitata. Fama buona e fama cattiva. Fama spesso flessibile e negoziabile. Cattiva fama è quella di meretrici, spie, streghe, convertite e peccatrici, ormai ridotte a categorie e la dogaressa, raro esempio di donna esemplare, è quasi eccedente. Trasgrediscono perché vagano per la città o non assolvono al debito fiscale attentando all’ordine.

Di ogni donna, del suo corpo, della sua onestà, dei suoi meriti la società attraverso sguardi, voci, mormorazioni decreta la fama.

Arguably, gender has evolved into one of the more contentious issues in criminology and, as we shall see, it is closely associated with equally diverse socio-economic issues.  By focusing on women as offenders, as well as as victims, this paper alleviates some of the myths surrounding female criminality and examines potential reasons behind the statistical differences of offending between males and females.  Consideration is be given to the generalizability principle in order to fully appreciate how far theories on female criminality have advanced.

This study explored the sociodemographic markers of women inmates, the types of crime they indulged in, the predisposing factors for their criminal behaviour as well as the consequences of their offence. It was a self-report descriptive study, and a population survey was used. A total of 42 inmates were administered a questionnaire. It was found that most of the inmates were in their young age, mostly married, many with no formal education and a large number of them were self-employed. Also, most of them were involved in domestic violence and prostitution; the involvements were significantly related to their sociodemographic attributes. For most of the inmates, poverty and unemployment were the main predisposing factors for their crimes. The main consequences of women crime were broken homes and stigmatisation. Recommendations are, therefore, offered to governments and other stakeholders on the ways to reduce the problem of women involvement in crimes.

The inadequate conditions of South Africa’s correctional facilities are well known. Health care, sanitation, food provision, access to education and reading materials, and, in particular, overcrowding are considerable challenges faced by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). Based on interviews with former prisoners, this article retrospectively examines the conditions under which female inmates are incarcerated in South Africa. Findings show that prison conditions in some female correctional facilities are poor and impact negatively on prisoners during, and sometimes after, their incarceration. (‘Prisons’ and ‘correctional facilities’ are used interchangeably in this article.)

This article argues for the value of narrative criminology for feminist explanations of women’s lawbreaking. Contemporary theories note the significance of material gendered inequalities; however, narrative offers a way to include discursive aspects
of gender. Drawing on recent developments in narrative criminology, this article analyzes how women may “talk themselves into” lawbreaking. Analysis draws on interviews with three women with diverse experiences in the drug trade and shows how drug trafficking was narrated as impossible, meaningful, and inevitable. A narrative approach therefore offers ways to understand how for some women, under some circumstances, lawbreaking may become meaningful.

Women's participation in maritime piracy activities has spanned throughout the centuries and across the globe. However, women as perpetrators of contemporary maritime piracy have yet to receive academic attention. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Somalia, this exploratory study expands upon current understandings of Somali piracy by examining four roles women fulfill in the onshore infrastructure: relationship facilitators, resource dealers, care workers, and financial investors. It draws from piracy studies and utilizes a feminist countertopographies approach to analyze how these roles can aid in (re)conceptualizing Somali piracy as a gendered activity that enables the active participation of women.

Il est des criminelles. Le constat seul mérite d'être rappelé, tant le crime semble parfois supposer le seul criminel. Les criminelles, nous en parlons, et ne cessons même d'en parler, jouant avec le fait divers comme avec les règles de la fiction, avec le récit comme avec le témoignage, avec la lettre comme avec l'image, dans la vie et sur la scène, renouvelant chaque fois nos hésitations et nos incertitudes : de nos criminelles, que faire et que dire ? Car si notre culture des criminels s'appuie sur une sociologie qui assoit la place des hommes dans un crime devenu, chez Émile Durkheim, un « phénomène normal », cette même sociologie rappelle depuis qu'elle s'y intéresse la sous-représentation des femmes au sein de la population criminelle. Ce régime d'exception n'empêche pas la multiplicité de figures désormais canoniques, de l'empoisonneuse à la femme fatale en passant par la faiseuse d'anges. La criminelle, aussi absente que protéiforme, occupe ainsi un champ à l'intersection du désir, de la transgression et du fantasme, favorisant la rencontre entre les lectures traditionnelles du féminin et les relectures renouvelées tant par le prisme du crime que par celui des théories du genre et des féminismes. La criminelle permet donc tout à la fois de penser le crime par le genre et d'interroger le genre dans le crime. Tel est l'élément structurant du présent ouvrage qui, tant dans la littérature que dans le cinéma, les arts de la scène ou la sociologie, s'engage sur les traces de personnages par lesquels une société se dédit, contredit ses discours, et se plaît à relativiser ses normes.
ISBN : 978-2-37496-069-2

Hélène Barthelmebs est Associate Professor en langue et littérature françaises et leur didactique à l'Université du Luxembourg. Ses travaux publiés et en cours portent sur les constructions genrées et l'écriture féminine dans les littératures francophones du XX e siècle. Une monographie portant sur Écriture du genre et genre de l'écriture est à paraître en 2018. Elle a par ailleurs codirigé les ouvrages Médias au féminin : de nouveaux formats (Orizons, 2015), Le discours rapporté. Temporalité, histoire, mémoire et patrimoine discursif (Classiques Garnier, 2018).

Matthieu Freyheit est maître de conférences en études culturelles à l'Université de Lorraine. Auteur d'une thèse consacrée à la figure du pirate, il travaille plus largement sur les fictions de jeunesse, les cultures numériques et les cultures populaires. Il a codirigé le volume Cyborgs, mutants, hackers : hybridités posthumaines à paraître chez Orizons.

This study explored the sociodemographic markers of women inmates, the types of crime they indulged in, the predisposing factors for their criminal behaviour as well as the consequences of their offence. It was a self-report descriptive study, and a population survey was used. A total of 42 inmates were administered a questionnaire. It was found that most of the inmates were in their young age, mostly married, many with no formal education and a large number of them were self-employed. Also, most of them were involved in domestic violence and prostitution; the involvements were significantly related to their sociodemographic attributes. For most of the inmates, poverty and unemployment were the main predisposing factors for their crimes. The main consequences of women crime were broken homes and stigmatisation. Recommendations are, therefore, offered to governments and other stakeholders on the ways to reduce the problem of women involvement in crimes.

This article reports on a study which examined the experiences of women in South Africa after imprisonment. Using in-depth interviews, the experiences of 13 women ex-prisoners who were imprisoned in South African prisons were examined. It emerged that some of the participants of the study experienced unemployment, stigma and discrimination, as well as the psychological effect of imprisonment after incarceration. The psychological effect of imprisonment that some of the participants reported was reflected in the inability of this category of women to make friends and in their display of some of the habits that they learned in prison, such as staying in the dark even though they had no reason to after incarceration. It was revealed that unemployment increased significantly among the participants, and some of the participants were victims of stigma and discrimination from their families, in particular, and society, in general. The feminist pathways approach was used to explain the participants’ criminal offending and how some of their experiences after imprisonment may have resulted in recidivism. Further, female-headed households was identified as a pathway unique to the offending behaviour of South African women.

Keywords: women ex-prisoners, imprisonment, incarceration, feminist pathways approach, South Africa.

Looking at media coverage of three earlier, very prominent murder cases, Murder Made in Italy explores the cultural issues raised by the murders and how the reflect developments in Italian civil society over a period reaching from 1989-2011. This is Chapter 7, and is part of the book's section devoted to "Filicide" and the case against Annamaria Franzoni for the bludgeoning death of her three-year-old son, Samuele. This particular chapter explores spectacular mourning, with readings of a variety of documents and, very attentively, Sandro Veronesi's Caos Calmo and  Nanni Moretti's La stanza del figlio.

Explores the semiosis of crime and media studies assemblage in the Erika and Omar homicide case in Novi Ligure.
This was later developed further and transformed in my Murder Made in Italy: Homicide, Media, and Contemporary Italian Culture available also here (firewalled):
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gh662.11

Studies undertaken on women incarcerated in African countries are limited. In this article we explore Kenyan women's (n = 49) narratives of their journeys into prison using life history interviews and a feminist pathways approach. Results show the life stories of imprisoned women in Kenya reflect those of female prisoners elsewhere. In particular, victimisation, disordered familial and intimate relationships, low levels of education, poverty and motherhood (often in teen years) characterised many women's lives. Some also struggled with addiction (usually to alcohol but sometimes illicit drugs) and poor physical health due to HIV infection. Barriers to justice were a generic problem. In addition to these broad categorical findings six different pathway experiences were identified: 1) the economically motivated pathway; 2) domestic violence pathway, 3) harmed and harming pathway, 4) deviant women pathway, 5) pathway of negligible culpability and justice in-accessibility, 6) pathway of one life changing moment.

This study investigated whether perceptions of guilt for both male and female suspects co-­‐varied with masculine physical appearance. In addition, the study tested whether the relationship between masculine physical appearance and perceptions of guilt was dependent upon whether the crime is stereotypically male perpetrated. Participants read one of three crime scenarios (burglary, child abuse and neglect, fraud and forgery) and evaluated the likelihood that suspects of varying masculine appearance committed the crime in question. Masculine physical appearance significantly affected guilt ratings across all crime types for both male and female suspects. Additionally, guilt ratings for male compared to female suspects were higher for burglary, a crime that was viewed as stereotypically male perpetrated by research participants. The results are discussed in relation to applied implications and future research directions.

Explores the semiosis of crime and media studies assemblage in the Erika and Omar homicide case in Novi Ligure. This was later developed further and transformed in my Murder Made in Italy: Homicide, Media, and Contemporary Italian Culture available also here (firewalled): https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gh662.11

The article analyzes the case of Luisa Nevárez, the first woman condemned to the gallows in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the twentieth century. Convicted for the killing of her almost year-old daughter, she never admitted the crime nor showed any remorse. Yet, Luisa did not make an easy transition into the sphere of the criminal. The nascent identity that was being forged in early twentieth-century Puerto Rico configured the delinquent as a masculine subject who was acknowledged as possessing intellectual malice and the capacity for social action. Luisa’s condition as a woman, mother, and mulatta, her ignorance, and other factors deprived her of any possibility of entering the space of the criminal subject. Instead, the figure of Luisa oscillated between monster and madwoman in the discourses of the time. Around the mid-twentieth century her discursive figure emerges again, this time in the authorized voices of those concerned with criminal activities on the island. In this conte...

The voices of women subject to the criminal justice system are often ignored and unheard. This article considers the effectiveness of photovoice, a form of participatory photography research, as a visual method of enabling and communicating marginalised women’s experiences in criminological research. By utilising the potentially empowering technique of photovoice in two research projects, the narratives of women who inject drugs in Hungary and women who have experienced supervision in England are conveyed through their own participant-generated photographs. These images convey the pains and aspirations of the participants' lives and show how photovoice is a useful method for visual criminological research and exposes the shared problems faced by two vulnerable populations across two countries in Europe.

This article examines encounters of women with the criminal justice
system in Wales during the century before the Courts of Great Sessions were abolished in 1830. Drawing on evidence from cases of sexual assault and homicide, it argues that women who killed were rarely convicted or punished harshly. A gendered discretion of sorts also acted against rape victims, as trials never resulted in conviction. Using violence as a lens, the paper reveals a distinctively Welsh approach
to criminal justice, and offers quantitative evidence on which further comparative studies of the history of law and crime in England and Wales may be based.