Criminalization Of Women

Superior Essays
When women come into contact with the criminal justice apparatus, they are inevitably judged through a patriarchal lens. That is, gender specific assumptions are made about women, and this shapes how they will be perceived by and treated in the criminal justice system. The criminalization and imprisonment of women in Canada are a reflection of patriarchal society. More specifically, the criminalization and imprisonment of women can be understood as an apparatus of gender specific control that fails to realize meaningful changes in the lives of women. First, to explore why the criminal justice is an inadequate space to address the particular needs of women, the process of criminalization will be discussed concerning the construction of a crime, …show more content…
Next, it is necessary to consider the context for women in prison. The actuarial risk and need assessment tools that are applied to women do not adequately acknowledge the experiences of women. Additionally, in an attempt to implement more gender sensitive approaches to imprisonment, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has conflated the understanding of risk and need factors (Hannah-Moffat, 1999, 80). This conflation has resulted in a continuation of the retributive managerial strategy of corrections (Hannah-Moffat, 1999, 88). The current retributive context of corrections theory in Canada rests on a patriarchal foundation that views women through a hegemonic lens. Subsequently, changes from inside the system are doomed to be absorbed and altered to fit the existing …show more content…
The purpose of retributive punishment is to hold the offender accountable by punishing them to an extent that is roughly equal to the harm caused by their actions (Ward & Salmon, 2009, 242). The role of the state is to balance the moral ledger and that the offender would be getting their "just deserts" (Ward & Salmon, 2009, 243). However, the connection between just deserts and imprisonment is vague. Ward and Salmon (2009) explain that just deserts may apply to minor property offense, but the justification is complicated when crimes such as sexual assault are considered (243). The proportionality of the response to harm must also be considered. It is subjective and difficult to rank both the harm of an offense concerning severity, as well as the type of punishment used (Ward & Salmon, 2009, 244). Crime is defined using a particular group 's value judgments. Imprisonment, then, is the tool used to inflict harm on people that are deemed punishable by the dominant group. Consequently, it is also valuable to consider the prison context for

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