Join us to explore the portrayals of female offenders before the emergence of criminology, in early criminological thought, and beyond.
Join us virtually to explore the portrayals of female offenders in criminology
Statistically, gender is one of the strongest predictors of criminal involvement (Flavin, 2001), and in 2023, as high as 96% of the prison population in England and Wales were men. Yet popular culture, criminological theory and wider society have been fascinated with the ‘female offender’.
This session will unpack the ways women have been presented before the dawn of criminology in the nineteenth century, focusing particularly on the consequences of witchcraft, the Victorian obsession with poisoners and the biblical constructions of Eve.
Next, we will look at some of the ways early biological explanations formulated their understanding of male offending and attempted to apply this to women, with quite significant implications for misogyny.
Finally, we will consider why female offenders have received such significant scrutiny and interest in the media, films, television and music in our digital age.
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For any questions before the event, contact us on sam.whitehead@port.ac.uk.
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