Book Reviews : The Changing Roles Of Women In The Criminal Justice System: Of fenders, Victims And Professionals edited by Imogene Moyer. Waveland Press, Inc., 1992. Second edition. 367 pp. paper
| Author | Meda Chesney-Lind |
| Published date | 01 December 1991 |
| Date | 01 December 1991 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/088740349100500406 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
347
Book
Reviews
The
Changing
Roles
Of
Women
In
The
Criminal
Justice
System:
Of-
fenders,
Victims
And
Professionals
edited
by
Imogene
Moyer.
Waveland
Press,
Inc.,
1992.
Second
edition.
367
pp.
paper.
Those
concerned
about
keeping
current
on
issues
related
to
women
and
crime
have
been
confronted
with
an
increasingly
difficult
task
over
the
past
few
years.
The
classic
readers
in
the
area
were
growing
sadly
out
of
date
and
there
seemed
to
be
fewer
and
fewer
choices
for
our
courses
on
women
and
crime.
Policy
makers
were
also
confronted
with
few
concise,
up-to-date
assessments
of
current
developments
in
this
field
of
growing
importance.
For
this
reason,
Moyer’s
first
edition
of
The
Changing
Roles
of
Women
in
the
Criminal Justice
System
published
in
1985
was
well-timed,
and
the
appearance
of
a
second
edition,
pleasant
news
for
feminist
criminologists.
Moyer’s
collection
joins
a
growing
group
of
new
offerings
in
the
women
and
crime
area,
and,
in
comparison
to
the
first
edition,
has
a
much
improved
layout
and
look.
It
is
also
distinguished
by
its
attempt
to
retain
readings
in
the
triumvirate
of
areas
covered
by
traditional
women
and
crime
courses:
women
as
offenders,
women
as
victims,
and
women
as
professionals.
Given
the
explosion
of literature
in
all
three
of
these
areas,
this
is
no
easy
accomplishment.
Surprisingly,
though,
the
book
does
quite
well,
particularly
in
the
most
difficult
of
arenas:
women
as
victims.
The
women
as
victims
section
of
this
book,
which
has
been
dramatically
reshaped,
opens
with
an
up-to-date
overview
of
the
complex
issues
surrounding
the
topic
of
sexual
assault
by
Lynne
Goodstein
and
Faith
Lutze
and
includes
sobering
discussions
of
the
impact
of
rape
reform
efforts.
Sadly,
the
review
documents
what
many
feminist
criminologists
are
beginning
to
suspect
is
a
more
global
pattern
in
the
area
of
women’s
experiences
with
attempts
to
legally
reform
the
criminal
justice
system:
&dquo;that
the
law
has
very
little
impact
on
the
system’s
approach
to
sexual
assault
cases&dquo;
(p.
168).
Belknap’s
review
of
domestic
violence
is
equally
impressive.
In
this
essay,
there
is
a
noteworthy
focus
on
the
experiences
of
African-American
women
and
the
&dquo;trap
of
loyalty&dquo;
(p.
187)
that
many
black
women
find
themselves
in
as
they
struggle
with
the
notion
that
domestic
violence
is
a
&dquo;divisive
issue
which
should
not
be
aired
in
public&dquo;
(p.
187).
Martin
Schwartz
and
Jody
Miller
contribute
an
updated
version
of
Schwartz’
earlier
paper
on
child
sexual
assault.
This
offering
has
a
refreshingly
feminist
feel
to
it,
including
an
unapologetic
notation
that
even
though
there
may
be
&dquo;more
male
victims
and
female
offenders
in
child
sexual
abuse
than
has
often
been
presumed...we
argue
that
the
abuse
of
girls
by
older
male
family
members
is
the
most
common
and
most
serious
form
of
abuse&dquo;
(p.
205).
Edna
Erez
and
Pamela
Tontodonato
contribute
a
new
essay
on
sexual
harassment,
with
a
special
focus
on
the
problems
that
women
experience
in
the
criminal
justice
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