Introduction to the Special Section

This paper introduces the Special Section Can Criminal Justice Responses Empower Women? A Case Study of Domestic Abuse Disclosure Schemes. It locates the case study of Domestic Abuse Disclosure Schemes in a wider trend of expanded criminal justice responses to domestic abuse. It then outlines the introduction and format of the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme in England and Wales in 2014, followed by schemes introduced in other jurisdictions. It goes on to discuss the development, uptake and wider contextualisation of the schemes, as well as the emerging body of academic research. Finally, the contributions of the four substantive papers in this Special Section are detailed

Self-blame and (becoming) the crazy ex: Domestic abuse, information sharing and responsibilisation

The 2021 Domestic Abuse Act puts the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (Clare’s Law) on a statutory footing which allows police forces to share someone’s criminal history to prevent domestic abuse. In this article, we draw on the findings from a wider study on women’s experiences of accessing such schemes and instead highlight the informal ways in which women shared and received information about domestic abuse experiences among each other to prevent domestic abuse. These experiences are located within a ‘red flag’ discourse which we argue inadvertently responsibilises women, who in turn blame themselves for failing to leave abusive relationships. The conclusion makes some suggestions as to how a better understanding of the reality of victim-survivors’ everyday lives might inform the practices of those tasked with supporting women in making sense of disclosures of domestic abuse and providing appropriate support at the right time

The Role of Emotions for Female Co-Offenders

There is a growing body of literature which highlights that women follow distinct and often gendered pathways into crime. Violence, coercion and love within intimate relationships have been increasingly acknowledged as motivating factors for female offending behaviour. However, there is a lack of understanding of the ways in which emotions, such as love and fear, influence co-offending women’s pathways into crime. This chapter will highlight the significance of emotions for female co-offenders, particularly when they are in an intimate, violent, exploitative and/ or controlling relationship with their partner/ co-offender. Female offenders more broadly are typically viewed to be wholly independent, rational agents or as lacking control in relation to their offending behaviour and thus having their agency completely denied. However, this dichotomy is problematic, as it fails to consider how emotional dimensions of co-offending relationships may influence offending behaviour and experiences of agency. The importance of acknowledging such emotions in social context when attempting to understand such women’s offending ‘choices’ will be explored. Collectively, this chapter will highlight that emotions and offending behaviour are inextricably connected for female co-offenders. Such emotions need to be acknowledged and understood alongside structural factors if criminologists are to fully understand such women’s motivations for offending

Coerced into crime? legal and media representations of co-accused women

This thesis employs a case study approach to explore the ways in which women who are co-accused with a male partner (or accomplices) of committing a range of crimes are framed by British newspapers and compares such reportage with the record made in the legal proceedings of the same cases.Pseudonyms have been provided for the case studies analysed, due to the terms and conditions of the Privileged Access Agreement granted by Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Services, which enabled viewing access to the case file material. The case studies analysed are Jane Turner, Sarah Johnson, Alice Jones and Janet Young. The unique aspect of the case studies is that each of the women, either directly or indirectly, argued that they had been coerced into crime by their male partner/ accomplice. Using a feminist methodological approach, this thesis explores the news media framing of the co-accused women and the case file material is utilised as a comparative tool. The British newspapers selected for analysis are Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Star, The Express, The Mirror, The People, The Sun, The Times (including Sunday published versions). This thesis argues that the co-accused women are framed within a range of stock, gendered motifs and narratives which consequently silences, mutes and distorts their perspectives. Furthermore, the concept of ‘coercion into crime’ is also developed to better understand coercion as a pathway into criminality

Women as co-offenders: Pathways into crime and offending motivations

This article reports on a qualitative study in the UK of women as co-offenders, their pathways into crime and offending motivations. What was found in the analysis of the women's narratives was that while co-offending relationships were a central pathway into offending, this often intersected with other circumstances in the women's lives, including drug addiction, socio-economic circumstances, and ‘significant life events’. These findings suggest that those working with this cohort of women must recognise the complexities and contexts of co-offending to understand, and accurately represent, women's experiences

Policing intimate partner violence: the golden thread of discretion

This paper offers a critical appreciation of pro-arrest-positive policing policies towards intimate partner violence (IPV). It examines the extent to which such policies, and the research associated with them, have operated within a partial understanding of discretion, which has paid detailed attention to the response of the front-line officer and how that response might be changed either by improved training and/or by rule tightening. Such approaches assume that policing IPV is separate and separable from policing other forms of violence(s) and fail to recognize the wider context of the policing task. This paper makes the case for a more holistic understanding of discretion (to include senior officers) as a way of promoting improved responses to IPV. This also means directing attention to policies and practices in relation to IPV to include police engagement with broader agency and societal responses to IPV. This is the point at which a holistic ‘golden thread’ of discretion can be found

(The good), the bad and the ugly: The visual construction of female child sex offenders

This paper explores the visual construction and representation of female sex offenders. It utilises the case study of Vanessa George, a nursery worker who was involved in the exchange of indecent imagery of children via an online paedophile ring. The first part of the paper considers the emergence of the sub-discipline, visual criminology and examines what is known about the visual representation of female offenders. The second part presents the findings of an empirical investigation, which involved engaging in a critical, reflexive visual analysis of a selection photographs and the police mugshot of Vanessa George. The paper considers the ways in which George‟s physical appearance and her suggested ability to deceive were used to visually represent her as “other”, thus reinforcing the existing simplistic motifs of female sex offending

Introduction to the Special Section: Can Criminal Justice Responses Empower Women? A Case Study of Domestic Abuse Disclosure Schemes

This paper introduces the Special Section Can Criminal Justice Responses Empower Women? A Case Study of Domestic Abuse Disclosure Schemes. It locates the case study of Domestic Abuse Disclosure Schemes in a wider trend of expanded criminal justice responses to domestic abuse. It then outlines the introduction and format of the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme in England and Wales in 2014, followed by schemes introduced in other jurisdictions. It goes on to discuss the development, uptake and wider contextualisation of the schemes, as well as the emerging body of academic research. Finally, the contributions of the four substantive papers in this Special Section are detailed