Why feminist criminology must pose a methodological challenge to male-centred criminological theory

Harding, Nicola (2017) Why feminist criminology must pose a methodological challenge to male-centred criminological theory. In: Emerging Voices : Critical Social Research by European Group Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers. EG Press, pp. 105-118. ISBN 9781911439097

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the contribution that feminist criminology can offer to understandings of women’s lived experience of community punishment. Particularly, how the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) can pose a methodological challenge to theories that have been conceived and developed within the context of a male-centered criminology. Specifically, this piece will examine the role of relationships within current desistance theory. Arguing that the complex nature of the role of victimization and resistance to victimization has not been fully explored in relation to female desistance. Drawing upon evidence collected during a PAR cycle1 with women subject to community punishments in North West England, an argument will be made that whilst some characteristics of desistance theory are shared across gender lines, many aspects are male focused and inadequately explain the processes of women desisting from crime.