ABSTRACT
Criminology’s scope of intellectual inquiry occasionally changes. What was taken for granted becomes problematic by focusing on the definitional and the political/economic aspects of lawmaking and lawbreaking. The labeling perspective and critical criminology problematized issues of crime and criminality that had largely been ignored; even criminology as a discipline was problematized (Cavender 1995). Feminists criticized criminology’s neglect of women, and brought to the discipline new insights about the relationship of women, crime, and law (Jurik 1998). This focus initially meant the study of women criminals and victims, and women’s disproportionately low rates of crime. Feminist criminologists further recognized that issues of gender apply to men and men’s crimes.
