Feminist Criminology

Feminist views heavily criticise power in society and challenges both mainstream and critical criminology. The feminist movement is broadly speaking a movement to eliminate oppression and inequalities towards women due to their gender (Beasley, 1999). It believes their male counterparts dictate policies and practises and fails to recognise the needs of women. This implies from a feminist perspective that there is a hegemonic ideology with males possessing much more considerable authority. Social order is hence androcentric focused from a male viewpoint. For instance, crime associated with women is seen as unusual in comparison to their male counterparts. The biological traits of natural male aggression excuses their excuses behaviour and …show more content…
It is imperative to note that critical perspectives will inevitably have faults as evident in labelling theory and that not all labels trigger further deviance. Furthermore, the benefit of capitalism in providing opportunities to all classes is often overlooked by Marxist criminology. The Marxist view is slightly more weakened by the idea that crime is a conflict between classes when in essence individuals from the same underprivileged communities may commit crime against each other. On this account mainstream knowledge of crime and punishment should not be overly condemned as it does allow for economic prosperity and bringing even the wealthiest to justice as see through the case of Robert Allen Stanford. This said the underlying statements made by Karl Marx and Howard Becker seem to be accurate too some extent. Labels that are attached are created by those in power who exercise this by criminalising particular behaviours they deem as deviant. The Marxist presumption of the oppression of the working class may not to be so severe but nonetheless the divide is apparent with a majority of prisoners in the United States coming from difficult financial upbringings. Finally, Michel Foucault stated that authorities exercise their power in attempt to reaffirm their legitimacy and control. Individuals are punished so they obey to the capitalist system. It is apparent that mainstream knowledge about crime and punishment although obvious advancements even in the field of feminism and providing equal opportunities, it still has noticeable flaws. This is demonstrated in terms of power and social class structures justifying the idea that power should be challenged and