Has Criminology Awakened From Its “Androcentric Slumber”?

Abstract

This is a decades-old question. In 1988, Daly and Chesney-Lind suggested that criminology was awakening from its “androcentric slumber” thanks to feminist critiques. This article looks at the history of criminology in terms of when gender analysis was or was not introduced; in particular, a series of “missed opportunities” concerning gender are explored the work of Sutherland and that of Cohen, Sampson, and others. In some of this classical criminological scholarship, gender was initially identified as a major cause of crime but thereafter overlooked. The article also analyzes how critical criminologists continued to under-emphasize the importance of gender despite advancing the discipline through significant examinations of social inequalities and crime. The article also turns to contemporary challenges to the mainstream that emerged from later critical and feminist criminologists who have proffered innovative advances about gender and intersectional analyses regarding crime. The article concludes with thoughts about moving feminist criminology forward toward a more intellectually diverse and complete discipline.