Feminist criminology is a branch of criminology that focuses on the intersectionionality of gender and crime. It emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as an academic response to the lack of attention given to women's experiences in the criminal justice system. Feminist criminology aims to understand how gender inequality and patriarchy affect women's experiences as offenders, victims, and criminal justice professionals. There are several schools of feminist criminology, each with its own unique perspective on the topic.
Liberal feminism
The focus of Liberal feminism is the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights within the criminal justice system. Liberal feminists argue that both men and women as equals and that women should have the same opportunities within all spheres within the criminal justice system as victims as well as offenders. The liberal feminist school focuses on key concepts such as democracy, equal rights and opportunities and individual freedom. Liberation for women can be achieved by pushing for equal rights such as the right to work and receive equal pay, to vote and to receive education.
Radical feminism
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It argues that the criminal justice system is inherently patriarchal and focuses on the causes of patriarchal oppression such as sexist behaviour and the deliberate exclusion of female voices as well as the ways that gender race and sexuality create different experiences for women in the criminal justice system. Marxist and Liberal theories see women as individuals, whereas Radical feminism view women as a collective that are still oppressed by the patriarchy. Radical feminism expresses that the female experience within the criminal justice system cannot be addressed and understood without a deeper understanding of the socio-political context that they occur