ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to look beyond criminalization models to examine what is known about building less violent societies, at the macro, middle and micro levels. It argues that criminalization is a flawed strategy for dealing with male violence against women caused by a failure to theorize social control adequately, a failure that has led feminists and other progressive social movements to mis-identify penality as synonymous with social control. The chapter examines the realities of agendas of criminalization and increased punitiveness through incarceration rates. It focuses on policies, strategies and identities with the potential to transcend criminalization and facilitate social transformation, paying special attention to the construction, roots and maintenance of hegemonic masculinity. The chapter argues that effective social control of aberrant behaviour must be sought outside criminal justice institutions, and that the feminist and progressive focus should shift towards examining how to create less violent people, families, communities and societies.
