Women and Crime

Curriculum guideline

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Course
CRIM 3356
Discontinued
No
Course code
CRIM 3356
Descriptive
Women and Crime
Department
Criminology
Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Contact hours

Lecture: 4 hrs. per week

Seminar: 2 hrs. per week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Learning activities

The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following: lectures, seminar presentations, exams, audio visual materials including video, small group discussions, research projects and research papers.

Course description
This course will examine how women’s criminality is conceived and responded to, both historically and in the current Canadian context. The connection between women’s victimization and criminality will be highlighted. The significance of patriarchal ideology and the role of social control agencies criminalizing women will be examined. Some of the topics to be considered are: historical subordination, traditional and contemporary criminological explanations (specific emphasis will be given to feminist and gender theories), characteristics of criminalized women, control and punishment, and strategies for change.
Course content

 

  1. Women's Marginalization in Historical Context
    • The Role of Patriarchal Ideology
      • Early History: 5th to 18th Century
      • Later History
  2. Explanations of Women's Criminality
    • Early Theories
    • Contemporary Theories:
      • Social-Psychological Theories:
        • Sociological Explanations
        • Individual Explanations
        • Feminist Criminology
  3. The Nature and Extent of Crimes Committed by Canadian Women
    • Conforming Versus Non-Conforming Women
      • Characteristics of Women and Crime
      • Intersectional Experiences
  4. Categories of Criminal Offences:
    • Property Crime
    • Illegal Drug Involvement
    • Violent Crime
    • Terrorism/The Political Offender
    • Youth Crime
    • Indigenous Women involved in Crime
  5. Gender, the Courts and the Law
    • Paternalism Thesis
    • Feminist and Gender Thesis
    • Law as Ideology Thesis
    • The Legal Defences
  6. Women, Control and Punishment
    • Social Control
    • Women's Experiences in Prison
  7. Post-Incarceration and Re-entry 
    • Release Planning and Parole Decision Making
    • Problems and Recommendations
  8. Strategies for Change
    • Individual 
    • Social
    • Structural 
Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:

 

  1. Identify and discuss Indigenous women's experiences with criminalization and the criminal justice system. 
  2. Critically examine the role of patriarchal ideology in the construction of women's criminality.
  3. Discuss the relationship between social control, criminalization and gender as it pertains to women's crime.
  4. Critically analyze historical and contemporary explanations of women’s criminal involvement. 
  5. Describe the nature and extent of women's involvement in criminal activity. 
  6. Analyze women's intersectional experiences of criminalization.  
  7. Discuss legal defences relevant to women involved in violent crime. 
  8. Explain the impact of the criminal justice system on women and their families. 
  9. Analyze women's historical experience in prison and discuss contemporary prison reform.
  10. Examine issues and processes relevant to women's experiences post-incarceration. 
  11. Evaluate diverse strategies and policies for change.

 

Means of assessment

Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule will be provided at the beginning of the course. Evaluation will be based on some or all of the following:

  1. Short Answer Tests
  2. Exams
  3. Oral Presentation
  4. Research Project/Term Paper
  5. Class Participation

 

Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in the course as part of the student’s graded
performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.

An example of one possible evaluation scheme would be:

Seminar Attendance and Participation  10%
Term Paper  20%
Debate  10%
Midterm Exam  30%
Final Exam  30%
Total 100%
Textbook materials

 

Textbooks and materials are to be obtained by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester. Example texts may include

  • Scharie, T. & J. Barker (2022) Women and the Criminal Justice System: A Canadian Perspective - 3rd Edition. 
  • Barker, J. (2018). Women, Crime and the Criminal Justice System. Toronto: Edmond Montgomery Publishing.

 

Prerequisites

CRIM 1150

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

None