ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon research on a group of women whose lives were significantly affected by crime and its consequences. 1 Each of these women had a close kin relationship with someone accused or convicted of a serious crime. Second-wave feminism invited us to look upon women as victims and as offenders; a focus on offenders’ families enables us to see yet further, illuminating the broader effects of crime and the criminal justice process on a greater number of women, and nowhere is this more pronounced than with the relatives of serious offenders. These relatives are affected by the heinous character of the crime, the public reaction, and the length of a prison sentence and other penalties subsequently imposed. The consequences of being a relative of a serious offender reach into every corner of their lives and structure their very identity and existence.
