Book Review: Women and the Criminal Justice System, 2nd ed.

by Katherine van Wormer and Clemens Bartollas. (2007) Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Women and the Criminal Justice System maps the pathways to crime for girls and women, pathways that begin with early childhood victimization, often in the family circle. The book examines three different roles played by women within the system:

• victims of crimes
• offenders convicted and sentenced for crimes
• workers in various agencies in the criminal justice system

The book emphasizes gender and ethnic diversity and the strengths of oppressed people, especially women of colour. An opening chapter discusses feminist theory and research relevant to empowering female offenders and survivors of victimization. It covers a wide range of issues including:

• the rate of early childhood sexual abuse
• victimization in female inmates
• priest abuse of girls
• female inmate rape by male prison guards
• obstacles for women lawyers achieving partnerships in their firms.

Van Wormer and Bartollas provide a wealth of recent data drawn from both domestic and international human rights sources, as well as personal interviews. The chapter on international victimization includes such topics as sex trafficking, honour killing, rape in war, and domestic violence across the world.  Progressive remedies from abroad are discussed as well.

The theoretical framework for the book is the empowerment approach – a belief that if people are given half a chance they can draw on their own resources to heal from the past and build for the future. Prominent in the social work field, the empowerment approach is widely used in victim treatment programs and for working with female offenders. Empowerment theory is a natural link to restorative justice theory.

A special chapter on women and restorative justice is unique to this book on women and criminal justice. It examines the advantages and risks attached to using restorative strategies in situations of domestic violence and rape from a feminist perspective. Victim offender panels, victim offender conferencing, and reparations for war crimes are shown to have special relevance for women. The writers emphasise the healing powers of restorative justice.

Women and the Criminal Justice System, 2nd. edition, provides information to aid readers in understanding the factors in the backgrounds of women who are victimized or who get into trouble with the law. The description of innovations drawn from restorative justice theory and practices from across the world are major contributions of this book.

Jay Gabbard
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Western Kentucky University
October 2007