32 COERCION AND WOMEN CO-OFFENDERS ONE MEDIATED REPRESENTATIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS OF CO-OFFENDING WOMEN Introduction This chapter outlines the existing literature which explores the dominant ways in which female offenders and co-offenders are represented in media, legal discourse and criminology more broadly. It also considers the ways in which gendered constructions, such as ‘bad mother’ (Barnett, 2006), ‘evil manipulator’ (Jewkes, 2015) and ‘mythical monster’ (Heidensohn, 1996; Jewkes, 2015) permeate media representations of female offenders
What role does coercion play in women’s involvement in crime?
This is the first book to explore coercion as a pathway into crime for co-offending women. Using newspaper articles and case and court files, it analyses four cases of women co-accused of a crime with their partner who suggested that coercive techniques had influenced their involvement in the offending.
Based on a feminist perspective, it highlights the importance of gender role expectations and gendered discourses in how the trials were conducted, and the ways in which the media framed the trials (and the women).
Considering the legal and social construction of coercion, this fascinating book concludes by exploring the implications for public understanding of coercion and female offending more broadly.
6362 COERCION AND WOMEN CO-OFFENDERS FIvE APPLYING THE ‘CONTINUUM OF COERCION’: AN ALTERNATIvE, FEMINIST FRAMEWORK Introduction This chapter begins by critiquing the representation of the women’s reasons for offending as being a ‘rational choice’. Furthermore, the chapter introduces an alternative feminist conceptual framework to gain a more nuanced understanding of coercion as a pathway into crime for co-offending women. This framework is applied to the case studies analysed in this research by drawing on the women’s testimonies and experiences, taken
, which involves advocating a woman-centred approach to research (Letherby, 2003). A feminist methodology involves adopting a methodological position which does not ‘add’ women to research, but rather attempts to gain a more nuanced understanding of their experiences. As highlighted by Cook and Fonow (1990: 80) ‘feminist research is thus, not research about women but research for women to be used in transforming their sexist society’. With this in mind, the ways in which the co- offending women’s experiences and voices have been constructed and interpreted by
Written by leading experts in the field, this timely collection highlights current strategies and thinking in relation to prevention of sexual violence and critically considers the limitations of these frameworks.
Combining psychological, criminological, sociological and legal perspectives, it explores academic, practitioner and survivor points of view. It addresses broad themes, from cultures of sexual harassment to the role of media in oversexualising women and girls, as well as specific issues including violence against children and older people.
For researchers, practitioners and students alike, this is an invaluable resource that maps new approaches for practice and prevention.
7776 COERCION AND WOMEN CO-OFFENDERS SIX COERCED WOMEN AND CRIMINOLOGY: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE This concluding chapter discusses the contribution to knowledge provided by this book and considers the ways in which a feminist, critical approach to understanding coercion, may lead to a more holistic criminological understanding of some co-offending women’s pathways into crime. It will particularly focus on the issues with dichotomising agency and coercion and viewing victims and offenders as a binary concept when considering the experiences of coerced
Two introduces the concept of coercion as a pathway into crime and 3 FOR YOUTH WORKERS AND YOUTH WORK 2 C ERCION AND WOMEN CO-OFFENDERS explores a range of literature and perspectives related to this topic. The feminist methodological approach utilised in this research is outlined in Chapter Three and the benefits of using a case study approach and a combination of comparative documents as data sources, such as newspapers and case file material, is also discussed. Chapter Four discusses the media and legal representation of the co-offending women case
, ‘rational’ choice and autonomy within existing definitions of agency serve to minimise experiences of coercion and the ways in which deep-rooted, societal gender inequality and oppression have an impact on women’s pathways into crime (Carlen, 1988; Ballinger, 2000; Heidensohn, 2002). It is the aim of this book to move away from solely focusing on individual capacities and vulnerabilities when considering co-offending women’s pathways into crime and to explore the potential influence of wider power regimes and social inequalities. With this in mind, when attempting
mother’ (Villani and Ryan, 1997) appear to leave little room for anything beyond the possibility of motherhood. The good mother is idealised as being completely selfless, a natural protector of her children and having a great deal of tolerance (Naylor, 2001). Such discourses surrounding the image of the ‘good mother’ and the antithesis of the ‘bad mother’ played an integral role in the representation of the co-offending women, particularly Jane Turner, Janet Young and Alice Jones. Jane was represented as a ‘bad mother’, due to the neglect of her own children
