ABSTRACT
Crossing the fields of desistance, feminist criminology, gender and crime, and cross-national criminological research, the literatures that could be charted for this study are vast. Thus, some compromises have had to be made. While recognising the likely scholarly critique of lacking depth in exploration in each of these criminological arenas, what follows is a summary of the evidence and knowledge that is deemed the most pertinent, across these fields, for the reader to situate the findings in the wider body of criminological knowledge. To begin with, the particular comparative context must be explored. Drawing on Melossi’s (2001) conceptualisation of penality as intrinsically linked to culture, the research is underpinned by an understanding of crime and punishment as embedded in broader socio-economic, political and societal processes and norms. The comparative national and cultural contexts are therefore essential to the interpretation of the arguments presented throughout this book, and we start this chapter with a brief overview of the differing penal, and societal, settings and cultures that frame the study. Secondly, the chapter will move on to highlight what is known about the female route out of crime. Major desistance theories will be outlined, and critiqued, via a feminist criminological lens. The few studies to date that have included a female perspective will then be explored in more detail. Lastly, the gap in cross-national research of macro-contexts in the area of desistance generally, and in female desistance specifically, will be highlighted.
