ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines why it is important to introduce feminist jurisprudence into the teaching of criminal law. It illustrates how the material might be used to engage students with some of the bigger social justice issues involved in the operation of criminal law by using a small portion of the rich array of feminist research. It highlights some examples from the rich array of feminist jurisprudence that can be used to stimulate students to think critically about aspects of the operation of the criminal law. These examples assist in critiquing notions of equality in relation to the development and operation of legal doctrine, the values that go into normative standards, the construction of facts, and the value of the systemic criminal justice response to social phenomena such as family violence. The current prison population of New Zealand demonstrates the significance of gender in the processes of criminal justice.
