Encyclopedia of Women and Crime

Since the beginning of time, crime has touched women in many ways. The Encyclopaedia of Women and Crime is the first reference work to make the history, scope and nature of women and crime available to a wide audience. It covers a period starting in the mid-19th century, including: offenders, offences and theories on offending; victims and theories about victims; the criminal justice system (policing, courts and case processing); and punishment and treatment. A wide variety of issues that affect women appear in the Encyclopaedia of Women and Crime : battered woman’s defence; chronic offenders; data rape; drug offences; elderly victims; feminist perspectives; gender discrimination; HIV and AIDS in prisons; homicide; incest victims; juvenile delinquency and peer influences; kleptomaniacs; lesbian partner battering; organized crime; pornography; forced prostitution; rape law and spousal exemption; sexual abuse of prisoners; stalking; violent crime; and women lawyers and gender differences. This Encyclopaedia offers special focus on crimes where women are often victims, such as domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment. Key legal issues and case law decisions, women’s prisons, prison reformers, and death row inmates are also addressed, along with rehabilitation programmes, why women commit crimes and famous women criminals. Covering mostly US topics but also including Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, this resource is for users of academic, government, high sdchool, law and public libraries. Interested readers will include students, faculty, lawyers and judges, government officials, victims rights advocates, reformers, and members of the general public.