Criminology and criminal justice are essential disciplines in any civilized society. This includes the detection and punishment of crime within society and the various perspectives and methods that are used to investigate crime. Due to male-dominated research and resources, the majority of academic resources in criminology have been devoted to male crime. Criminology is traditionally considered a male-dominated field of practice and study. The majority of contemporary ideas and activities have been affected by feminism (Dunbar Winsor 2020). The society’s perception and outlook on criminology has been altered by it. Feminism is the promotion of women’s rights and a focus on equality in society. It has also influenced how criminal justice systems are viewed.
Although criminology seems like a vast area of study it actually covers the study of criminal behavior and criminal law. Feminist criminalology can be described as a set of ideologies that focus on the role of women in criminology. Many theoretical frameworks and arguments were developed to emphasize broad views and approaches that result in offender experiences being the major contributor or topic of criminology. The strategy covered key issues such as female offenders and female victims, along with the overall impression of criminality (Dunbar Winsor 2020). Feminist criminology is a branch that focuses on solving the many problems and constraints encountered by the criminal justice system due to the inequal treatment of female and male experiences.
In the 1970s and 1960s, feminist criminology was created to remedy deficiencies in traditional or mainstream criminalology and criminal justice system. The current criminal justice system has been shaped by feminist views of criminology over the past 30 years. It takes into consideration women’s roles in criminal studies and criminal behaviour. In 1968, the mobilization stage was the beginning of the evolution of feminist perspectives in criminalology. It took place between 1977 and 1977. Opponents of traditional criminology gained crucial support during this year for the reforms of the criminal justice systems. As a result, grassroots movements that included women victims of domestic violence, and others, voiced concerns over the treatment. Broidy and Agnew (2016) state that legislators (especially women) were included in the development of law reforms. This was the first step towards achieving the desired criminalological transformation.