ABSTRACT
For much of American history, men have made laws, arrested, judged, incarcerated, guarded, and policed our society. Only recently has women’s influence on the criminal justice system become a rigorous subject of debate in academia (Belknap, 2015). Still, many scholars are prone to discuss this “influence” through scholarly resurrections of exceptional women, like Margaret Brent (1601-1671), or exceptional groups of women (prison matrons). Beyond these history lessons lie philosophical discussions that are variations of the difference/equality debate: whether the influx of women practitioners has made a “difference” or if women have assimilated into a male-dominated culture (e.g., Garcia, 2003; Martin, 1999). Yet even while acknowledging that women’s role within the system is substantially rich in history and impact, it remains an inescapable truth that women are treated as intruders in an essentially masculine space. Many larger questions about gender, the criminal justice system, and society remain unanswered. The history of the criminal justice system and the history of social control are inseparable and codependent but rarely examined as such.
