Sociology 791
Gender and Crime
Spring 2014
Instructor: Professor Stacy De Coster
Office: 323 1911 Building
E-mail: smcoster@ncsu.edu
Office Hours: Th 1:00
Class time: Tues @ 6:00-8:45
Classroom: 125 1911 Building
Course Overview
This seminar will provide an overview of the sociological and criminological literatures on gender,
crime, delinquency, and criminal justice experiences. We will discuss the early neglect of
females/gender in early criminological theories and will move quickly into an in-depth analysis of
how the literature on gender and crime has progressed from the “add gender/sex and stir”
approach to approaches that take seriously the gender system. As part of this progression, we will
discuss a variety of feminist perspectives, beginning with the earliest liberal feminist perspectives
and ending with interactionist or multiracial feminist perspectives. This will allow us to evaluate the
literature with an eye toward where it has been, where it is headed, and where we think it should
go.
Required Reading Materials
Required books:
Maher, Lisa. 1997. Sexed Work: Gender, Race and Resistance in a Broklyn Drug Market. Oxford:
Oxford University.
Messerschmidt, James W. 2000. Nine Lives. Boulder: Westview.
Miler, Jody. 2001. One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs and Gender. Oxford: Oxford University.
Miller, Jody. 2006. Getting Played. NY: New York University Press.
We will be reading chapters from several other books, but I have provided pdf files for those
chapters. You may be interested at some point in purchasing the books.
Course Requirements
Reading Portfolio (15% of final grade)
You will take notes on the required readings for each week, with an emphasis on articulating the
main themes of individual readings. After articulating the main theme of the individual readings,
you will write a general analysis of the readings as a whole. Your general analysis should include a
summary of the week’s readings with a brief analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the
readings. As the course progresses, you should also include a discussion of similarities between the
new readings and readings from the previous weeks and a discussion of whether the new readings
respond to calls for research from the readings covered in prior weeks.
Your portfolio entries – including notes on individual readings and your analysis essay – will prove
very useful for you as a class participant, and you are required to bring your portfolio to each
seminar period. If class discussions are not lively, you may be required to read your portfolio
responses during the class period. Although you will hand in the complete portfolio at the end of
the semester, I may collect the portfolio at any point in the semester to assess the effort and
attention being afforded the readings by seminar participants.
Contribution To Discussions (20% of final grade)
Everyone is expected to engage actively in discussion each week. Active participation can include:
(1) asking clarification questions; (2) raising probing questions; (3) critiquing the readings
individually or as a group based on methodology, logical consistency, fit between theory and
method, etc; (4) noting how the readings add to our understanding of gender and/or crime; (5)
discussing how the readings coalesce with other sociological research and theory with which you
are familiar; and (5) suggesting ideas for future theorizing and/or research.
In addition, seminar participants will be assigned class periods for which they will be responsible
primarily. On the week you choose to be the seminar guide, you will be responsible for providing a
general overview of the materials for the week (as a whole) with discussion of particular articles to
emphasize the main themes of the week. You also will provide a discussion of the strengths and
weaknesses of the articles, discussion of how the articles contribute to understanding gender and
crime, and compelling questions that you would like seminar participants to consider and discuss.
Presentations of Research (15% of final grade)
Each student will present the research for his/her paper at two points in the semester. On March
25, students will provide the class with a discussion of their on-going research for the seminar
paper. This presentation will include a discussion of the goals of the research, discussion of some
relevant readings, and issues with which you are grappling. On this date, you will turn in a two-page
abstract and a list of references. You will get better feedback from seminar participants and me if
your discussion and abstract are well-prepared. During finals week, you formally will present your
research as though you are presenting at a regular session at a professional meeting (10-15
minutes).
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Seminar Paper (50% of final grade)
A final seminar paper on gender and offending and/or gender and victimization is required in this
course. The seminar paper may be an analytical synthesis of literature or a proposal for a specific
research project, which includes a discussion of previous research and theorizing. The emphasis
should be on synthesis of relevant literatures and on moving beyond the current literature on
gender and crime. Please do not write on your thesis topic, on-going research, or work that is
collaborative with faculty. Topics which dovetail with theses or other research projects are fine, of
course, but I prefer that you not focus the paper on something that you have already been doing.
There should be a clear distinction between your paper for this class and your other work. Use this
as an opportunity to expand your horizons.
A detailed abstract of the paper is due on March 25. This will include a two-page discussion of the
paper topic and reference list demonstrating that considerable work has been put into the
assignment. You will present this to the class. This presentation will include a discussion of the
goals of the research, discussion of relevant readings, and issues with which you are grappling.
Early in finals week, we will hold a min-conference, and you will present your final research paper to
the class, as though you are presenting at a regular session of a professional meeting.
Final papers will be due on Wednesday, April 30 by noon. Your final paper should not exceed 15
pages in length (double-spaced type, 12-point font). Please use the American Sociological
Association Style. Also, please use original sources (not text books), as in any research paper.
Additional Policies
Attendance
Full participation in the class is expected of all seminar participants. We only meet 15 times during
the semester, which means that missing any one class period will seriously impede your progress in
the course and will result in a large deduction in your ‘contributions to discussion’ portion of your
grade.
Harassment Policy
At no time in any class should you feel uncomfortable or degraded because of words or acts that
you find sexually or racially offensive. If anyone (including myself or any of your peers) says or does
anything that you consider sexual or racial harassment in this class, you may write me an
anonymous note or contact me in person. Please read the University Harassment Policy at
http://oied.ncsu.edu/oied/policies.php
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Reasonable accommodations will be made for seminar participants with verifiable disabilities. In
order to take advantage of available accommodations, you must register with Disability Services for
Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509. Please visit http://dso.dasa.ncsu.edu/ for
more information
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Academic Integrity
The free exchange of scholarly ideas depends on all those in an academic community being
responsible for acknowledging their use, through proper citation, of other people’s words and ideas.
Since intellectual words and ideas constitute a kind of property, the use of another person’s word or
ideas without proper citation is like theft. The use of citation is important also because as a reader,
you will want to follow other scholars’ paths of research in order to make your own judgments
about their evidence and arguments. In doing this, you depend on the scholar’s accuracy and
honesty in reporting sources. In turn, your readers will depend on yours.
In this course, strict standards of academic honesty will be enforced according to the University
policy on academic integrity. Visit http://studentconduct.ncsu.edu/academic-integrity-resources for
more information on the definition of academic dishonesty and for information on potential
sanctions for violators of academic integrity.
Schedule and Readings
Week 1 (Jan 7)
Introduction to the Seminar
Week 2 (Jan 14)
General Groundwork
Kruttschnitt, Candace. 1996. “Contributions of Quantitative methods to the Study of Gender and
Crime, or Bootstrapping Our Way into the Theoretical Thicket.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
12 (2): 135-161.
De Coster, Stacy, Karen Heimer, and Samantha R. Cumley. 2013. “Gender and Theories of
Delinquency.” Chapter 16 in Cullen, Francis T. and Pamela Wilcox (eds). The Oxford Handbook of
Criminological Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Miller, Jody and Christopher W. Mullins. 2008. “The Status of Feminist Theories in Criminology.”
Chapter 8 in Cullen, Francis T., John Paul Wright and Kristie R. Blevins (eds). Taking Stock: The Status
of Criminological Theory. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Baca Zinn, Maxine and Bonnie Thornton Dill. 1996. “Theorizing Difference from Multi-Racial
Feminism.” Feminist Studies 22:321-31.
Week 3 (Jan 21)
Gendered Crime: Differences in the Forms and Enactment of Crime
Daly, Kathleen. 1989. “Gender and Varieties of White Collar Crime.”Criminology 27:769-93.
Steffensmeier, Darrell. 1983. “Organizational Properties and Sex Segregation in the Underworld.”
Social Forces 61:1010-1032.
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Miller, Jody. 1998. “’Up It Up’: Gender and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery.” Criminology
36:37-65.
Mullins, Christopher W. and Richard Wright. 2003. “Gender, Social Networks, and Residential
Burglary.” Criminology 41:813-40.
Mullins, Christopher W., Richard Wright, and Bruce A. Jacobs. 2004. “Gender, Streetlife and Criminal
Retaliation.” Criminology 42: 911-40.
Week 4 (Jan 28)
Gendered Social-Psychological Pathways: Families, Peers, & Gender Roles
Morris, Ruth. 1964. “Female Delinquency and Relational Problems.” Social Forces. 43:82-89.
Shover, Neal, Stephen Norland, Jennifer James and William E. Thornton. 1979. “Gender Roles and
Delinquency.” Social Forces 58(1):162-75.
Agnew, Robert and Timothy Brezina. 1997. “Relational Problems with Peers, Gender, and
Delinquency.” Youth and Society 29:84-111.
Heimer, Karen and Stacy De Coster. 1999. “The Gendering of Violent Delinquency.” Criminology 37:
277-317.
McCarthy, Bill, Diane Felmlee, and John Hagan. 2004. “Girl Friends are Better: Gender, Friends, and
Crime among School and Street Youth.” Criminology 42:805-36.
Heimer, Karen, Stacy De Coster, and Halime Unal. 2006. “Opening the Black Box: Understandig The
Social Psychology of the Gender Gap in Delinquency.” Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance 7:10935.
Miller, Jody and Christopher W. Mullins. 2006. “Stuck Up, Telling Lies, and Talking Too Much: The
Gendered Context of Young Women’s Violence.” In Heimer, Karen and Candace Krutschnitt (eds.)
Gender and Crime: Patterns in Victimization and Offending. New York: New York University Press.
Week 5 (Feb 4)
The Gender System, Patriarchy, and Gender Identity
Bem, Sandra. 1993. The Lenses of Gender. Chapter 5, “The Construction of Gender Identity.”
Howard and Hollander. 1997. Gendered Situations, Gendered Selves: A Gender Lens on Social
Psychology. Chapter 2, “Conceptions of Gender in Social Psychology.”
West, Candace and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1:125-51.
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Daly, Kathleen. 1997. “Different Ways of Conceptualizing Sex/Gender and their Implications for
Criminology.” Theoretical Criminology 1:25-51.
Schippers, Mimi. 2007. “Recovering the Feminine Other: Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender
Hegemony.” Theoretical Sociology 36:85-102.
Week 6 (Feb 11)
Feminist Critiques and Perspectives
Simpson, Sally. 1989. “Feminist Theory, Crime and Justice.” Criminology 27:605-631.
Daly, Kathleen and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1988. “Feminism and Criminology.” Justice Quarterly
5:497-535.
West, Candace and Sarah Fenstermaker. 1995. “Doing Difference.” Gender & Society 9:8-37.
Burgess-Proctor, Amanda. 2006. “Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender: Future Directions for
Feminist Criminology.” Feminist Criminology 1:27-47.
De Coster, Stacy and Karen Heimer. 2006. “Crime at the Intersection: Gender, Race, and Violent
Offending.” Pp. 138-156 in Peterson, Ruth, Lauren Krivo, and John Hagan (eds). The Many Colors of
Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity and Crime in America. New York: New York University Press.
Irwin, Katherine and Meda Chesney-Lind. 2008. “Girls’ Violence: Beyond Dangerous Masculinity.”
Sociology Compass 2/3:837-55.
Week 7 (Feb 18)
Power, Gender, and Crime/Delinquency
Hagan, John, A.R. Gillis, and John Simpson. 1987. “Class in the Household: A Power-Control Theory
of Gender and Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 92: 788-816.
McCarthy, Bill, John Hagan and Todd S. Woodward. 1999. “In the Company of Women: Structure
and Agency in a Revised Power-Control Theory of Gender and Delinquency.” Criminology 37: 76188.
Simpson, Sally. 1991. “Caste, Class and Violent Crime: Explaining Differences in Female Offending.”
Criminology 29:115-135.
Messerschmidt, James W. 1986. Capitalism, Patriarchy and Crime. Chapters 2, 3 and 4. (“Toward a
Socialist Feminist Criminology;” “Powerless Men and Violent Street Crime;” and “Women,
Powerlessness and Nonviolent Crime.”)
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Week 8 (Feb 25)
Masculinities and Crime
Messerschmidt, James W. 1993. Masculinities and Crime. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5. (“Structured Action and Gendered Crime;” “’Boys Will Be Boys’ Differently;”
and “Varieties of ‘Real Men’”)
Messerschmidt, James W. 2000. Nine Lives. Boulder: Westview.
Messerschmidt, James W. 1997. Crime as Structured Action: Gender, Race, Class, and Crime in the
Making. Chapter 4 “Murderous Managers.”
Miller, Jody. 2002. “The Strengths and Limits of ‘Doing Gender’ for Understanding Street Crimes.”
Theoretical Criminology 6:433-60.
Messerschmidt, James W. 2002. “On Gang Girls, Gender and Structured Action Theory: A Reply to
Miller.” Theoretical Criminology 6:461-75.
Miller, Jody. 2002. “On Gang Girls, Gender and Structured Action Theory: A Reply to
Messerschmidt.” Theoretical Criminology 6:477-80.
Spring Break (March 11)
Use this time to work on your paper for the course. I will check your progress on the papers when
we return from spring break and will ask each of you to discuss where you are in the process and
what you are learning.
Week 9 (March 4)
Girls and Gangs
Joe, Karen and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1995. “ ’Just Every Mother’s Angel’: An Analysis of Gender and
Ethnic Variations in Youth Gang Membership.” Gender & Society 9: 408-430.
Miller, Jody. 2001. One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs and Gender. New York: Oxford.
Campbell, Anne. 1987. “Self-Definition by Rejection: The Case of Gang Girls.” Social Problems
34:451-466.
Joe Laidler, Karen and Geoffrey Hunt. 2001. “Accomplishing Femininity among the Girls in the
Gang.” British Journal of Criminology 41:656-78.
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Week 10 (March 18)
Trends in the Gender Gap, Liberation, & Economic Marginalization
Adler, Freda. 1975. Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Chapter 1.
Simon, Rita James and Jean M. Landis. 1991 (reprint). The Crimes Women Commit, The
Punishments They Receive. Chapter 1.
Steffensmeier, Darrell and Emilie Allan. 1996. “Gender and Crime: Toward a Gendered Theory of
Female Offending.” Annual Review of Sociology. 22: 459-87.
Heimer, Karen. 2000. “Changes in the Gender Gap in Crime and Women’s Eocnomic
Marginalization. Criminal Justice 2000. Edited by Gary LaFree. Washington, DC: NIJ.
Heimer, Karen, Stacy Wittrock and Halime Unal. 2006. “The Crimes of Poverty: Economic
Marginalization and The Gender Gap in Crime.” In Heimer, Karen and Candace Kruttschnitt. Gender
and Crime. New York: New York University Press.
Lauritsen, Janet L., Karen Heimer, and James P. Lynch. 2009. “Trends in the Gender Gap in Violent
Offending: New Evidence from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Criminology 47:361-99.
Week 11 (March 25)
Gender, Race, Poverty, and the Streets
Presentations of ongoing research projects
All students will turn in a two-page abstract and list of references for their project
Ness, Cindy D. 2004. “Why Girls Fight: Female Youth Violence in the Inner City.” Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 595:32-48.
Jones, Nikki. 2008. “Working the Code: On Girls, Gender, and Inner City Violence.” Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Criminology 41:63-83.
Cobbina, Jennifer E., Jody Miller, and Rod K. Brunson. 2008. “Gender, Neighborhood Danger, and
Risk-Avoidance Strategies among Urban African-American Youths.” Criminology 46:673-709.
Miller, Eleanor M. 1986. Street Woman. Chapters 3 and 5.
Week 12 (April 1)
Poverty, Street Life and Crime: Women in Drug Markets
Maher, Lisa. 1997. Sexed Work: Gender, Race and Resistance in a Brooklyn Drug Market. Oxford:
Oxford University.
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Week 13 (April 8)
Gender and Criminal Victimization
Messerschmidt, James W. 1986. Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Crime. Chapter 6, “Men, Power, and
Sexual Violence Against Women.”
Gartner, Rosemary and Bill McCarthy. 1991. “The Social Distribution of Femicide in Urban Canada,
1921-1988.” Law and Society Review 25: 287-311.
Simpson, Sally S. and Lori Elis. 1996. “Theoretical Perspectives on the Corporate Victimization of
Women.” In Szockyj, Elizabeth and Nancy Frank (Eds.) Corporate Victimization of Women. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
Gordon, Linda. 1990. Women, The State, and Welfare. Chapter 7, “Family Violence, Feminism, and
Social Control."
Lauritsen, Janet and Callie Marie Rennison. 2006. “The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Violence
Against Women.” In Heimer, Karen and Candace Krutschnitt (eds.) Gender and Crime: Patterns in
Victimization and Offending. New York: New York University Press.
Week 14 (April 15)
Blurred Boundaries: Gender, Victimization, and Offending
Simpson, Sally S., Jennifer L. Yahner, and Laura Dugan. 2008. “Understanding Women’s Pathways to
Jail.” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 41:84-108.
Richie, Beth E. 1995. Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women. New
York: Routledge.
Week 15 (April 22)
Gender, Poverty, Street Life, and Victimization
Each seminar participant will distribute an article that was not assigned in this course and that has
proven seminal for his/her seminar paper.
Miller, Jody. 2006. Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered
Violence. NY: New York University Press.
Finals Week
Group Presentations
The readings for this week will be determined by your classmates and will relate to each individual’s
seminar presentation/paper.
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Each student will provide a 15-minute, formal presentation of the research s/he conducted for the
final paper during this class session. The presentation should follow the format of an ASC or ASA
presentation.
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