NCJ Number
188840
Editor(s)
Natalia Ollus,
Sami Nevala
Date Published
2001
Length
229 pages
Annotation
This document presents a summary report and 16 individual papers from a United Nations workshop that took place in April 2000 and that focused on women in the criminal justice system as offenders and prisoners, women as victims and survivors, women as practitioners, and research and policy issues internationally and in individual countries.
Abstract
The workshop sessions presented the perspectives of criminal law, human rights, gender, and economic and social development. They also noted that although no typical female victim or female offender exists, some common characteristics and factors cut across cultures. The similarities among female offenders regardless of nationally indicate that women's socioeconomic status and prior victimization can have major roles in the circumstances of their offending. Women throughout the world are victims of gender-based violence perpetrated by the family, through child sexual abuse, marital rape, dowry-related violence, trafficking for forced prostitution, sexual assault, and female genital mutilation. Poverty, racism, and xenophobia exacerbate this victimization. Women have made progress to varying degrees as criminal justice professionals, but the proportion of females and males remains far from equal. A major research need is comparative, gender-based research to assess the true nature and extent of the problem. Footnotes and appended workshop agenda