Feminist perspectives and the criminal justice curriculum

Abstract

Feminist perspectives have had major impacts on theoretical and curricular developments in a wide range of academic fields. Despite the significant volume of feminist scholarship and research produced in criminology over the past decade, however, these perspectives do not appear to have had much effect on criminal justice education. In this paper I draw upon the curriculum transformation literature from women's studies to offer a model for incorporating feminist perspectives into our curricula in criminal justice. To aid instructors interested in adopting feminist perspectives and pedagogy in their classes, I offer seven goals for the feminist curriculum. Finally, I discuss potential problems and pitfalls of efforts at curriculum transformation, especially in areas such as criminal justice, in which many instructors may have little background and may resist change.