ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at criticisms of gender-responsive justice which flow from more radical and critical perspectives. It explores a number of significant facets to these criticisms. The chapter discusses critiques which have been inspired and constructed from a feminist perspective – many of these critiques are largely sympathetic to the ideals of gender-responsive justice, but feel that it has been poorly executed. It focuses on critiques which have been more hostile to the idea of gender-responsive justice, either because its critics believe that the focus on gender is either problematic or partial or because they take an abolitionist position which contends that systems of criminal justice cannot be successfully reformed and must be entirely abandoned and replaced with more radical, revolutionary alternatives which respond to issues raised by those who break the law. The model of gender-responsive treatment places gender discrimination at the core of a woman's experiences.