The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime

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SAGE Publications, 2004 - Business & Economics - 216 pages

Scholarship in criminology over the last few decades has often left little room for research and theory on how female offenders are perceived and handled in the criminal justice system. In truth, one out of every four juveniles arrested is female and the population of women in prison has tripled in the past decade. Co-authored by Meda Chesney-Lind, one of the pioneers in the development of the feminist theoretical perspective in criminology, the subject matter of The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime, Second Edition redresses the balance by providing critical insight into these issues.

Bringing much-needed attention to the state of these often "invisible" wrongdoers, The Female Offender enlightens and intrigues readers including academics, researchers, and students in the areas of criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and women’s studies. Likewise, anyone seeking cutting-edge information about a growing offender population will want to read this book.

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About the author (2004)

Meda Chesney-Lind, Ph.D. is a Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has served as Vice President of the American Society of Criminology and President of the Western Society of Criminology. Nationally recognized for her work on women and crime, her books include Girls, DELINQUENCY, AND JUVENILE JUSTICE (Wadsworth) which was awarded the American Society of Criminology's Michael J. Hindelang Award for "outstanding contribution to criminology, 1992" and THE FEMALE OFFENDER: GIRLS, WOMEN AND CRIME (Sage, 1997). In 1997, she received the Donald Cressey Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for her "outstanding academic contribution to the field of criminology," and in 2001, she received the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Lisa Pasko, Assistant Professor, received her PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Lisa's primary research and teaching interests include criminology, punishment, sexualities/gender studies, as well as methodological issues in conducting studies of crime and deviance. Her dissertation examined juvenile delinquency and justice in Hawaii, with particular attention on the differential effects institutional policies and behaviors have on boys and girls. She is co-author of "The Female Offender" and other articles that explore issues of gender and delinquency. Dr. Pasko teaches courses on criminology, the female offender, men and masculinities, and crime and punishment. For the past ten years, she has been involved in criminal justice research. As project coordinator for the University of Hawaii Youth Gang Project, she evaluated numerous prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth. Dr. Pasko has published in a variety of areas, including an ethnography of stripping, pathways predictors of juvenile justice involvement, a feminist analysis of restorative justice initiatives, and evaluations of two girl offender programs. Her current research is funded by the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice and examines the treatment of sexual minority girls in youth corrections.