87591 - CRIMINALITA', GENERE E VIOLENZA

Learning outcomes

In this class students will acquire knowledges and will become familiar with the issues of the gender gap in female/male participation to crime and in the different forms of male and female victimization. They will understand and critically discuss both theoretical approaches to the gender gap and will learn to answer some of the most important questions of contemporary criminology, related to the difference in male and female involvement in crime (as authors and as victims) and to gender violence.

Course contents

This course offers insights in the analysis of criminal behavior in a gendered perspective, with a focus on the following main topics: women as victims, as offenders and as active and passive agents in the criminal justice system

Most classes will be dedicated to the theoretical and empirical analysis of women as victims of gender violence, while the rest of the course will focus on the understanding of female offending (particularly in mafia organizations and in gangs) and on how gender affects women’s involvement the criminal justice system, above all as prisoners and as police officers.

This course is divided in two modules: Module 1 (32 hours) includes all the main topics of the course (introduction to both female victimization and female offending; gender violence; women in gangs and organized crime). Module 1 (16 hourse) includes some specific insights on the following subjects: the criminal justice response to gender violence and the social construction of the “ideal victim”; women in prostitution and trafficking; female foreign fighters.

In detail, the following topics will be discussed:

1) Female victimization: gender-based violence

• The debate on gender violence: psychological, sociological and feminist perspectives in understanding gender violence
• Types of gender-based violence: homicide (femicide), sexual violence physical and psychological violence, stalking
• Empirical studies on female victimization
• Prevention and repression of gender-based violence. The limits of the criminal justice response

2) Female offending

• What is the gender gap in crime and how can we explain it
• Criminological theories and female offending
• Feminist criminology and gendered approaches to crime
• Patterns and evolution of female offending
• Contemporary patterns of female offending: women in gangs, in organized crime, and the so -called “foreign fighters”.

1. Women in the criminal justice system

• Women in prison
• Women in police

Readings/Bibliography

There are no Italian textbooks or comprehensive books on the subjects of this class. Therefore, the required readings are a collection of articles and books chapters that deal with the different topics separately, and that will be discussed in class.

Introductory readings:

• Pitch, T. (2002) “Le differenze di genere”, in M. Barbagli, U. Gatti (a cura di) La criminalità in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino: 171-183
• Fadda M. L.(2012) “Differenza di genere e criminalità. Alcuni cenni in ordine a un approccio storico, sociologico e criminologico”, in Diritto Penale Contemporaneo, 29 settembre

  Readings on gender-based violence:

• Romito P. (1999) “Dalla padella alla brace. Donne maltrattate, violenza privata e complicità pubbliche”. In Polis,2, agosto: 235-254.
• G. Creazzo (a cura di) (2013) Se le donne chiedono giustizia. Le risposte del sistema penale alle donne che subiscono violenza nelle relazioni di intimità: ricerca e prospettive internazionali". Il Mulino, Bologna, capitolo IX:"Le risposte del sistema della giustizia penale alle violenze nelle relazioni di intimità" (di Davide Arcidiacono e Stefania Crocitti)
• Istat (2015) La violenza sulle donne dentro e fuori la famiglia. Rapporto di ricerca, pp. 0-17.

  Readings on female offending:

• Ingrascì, O. (2007) Donne d’onore. Storie di mafia al femminile, Milano: Bruno Mondadori (capitoli I e II, pag.1-92)
• Gribaudo M. (2010) “Donne di camorra e identità di genere”. In Donne di mafia, Meridiana, n. 67 pp. 145-154.
• Pecorella C. (ed) (2020) La criminalità femminile. Un'indagine empirica e interdisciplinare. Mimesis (selection of chapters)
• Readings on women in the criminal justice system:
• Fabini G. (2017), “Donne e carcere: Quale genere di detenzione?”, in Torna il carcere, XIII Rapporto annuale della Associazione Antigone sulle condizioni di detenzione.

Most of these readings will be available on the course web-site. More readings will be suggested during the class for some insights and/or for getting ready for the written exams. A bibliography in English will be available for Erasmus students, under request. Non attending students are required to get ready on the whole book by Ingrascì, the whole book edited by Pecorella, and, for the book edited by G. Creazzo, these additional  chapters : I, II, III, VII, VIII, IX.

Teaching methods

Lectures (in presence or on-line, according to the Covid 19 University policy), also with guest speakers; in-class discussions and small groups activities. This course is highly interactive: regular attendance and active participation in class are strongly recommended.

Assessment methods

For attending students, there will be an intermediate exam, and a final written exam. The intermediate exam worths 30% of the total final grade, it’s based on a short answers format and it will be scheduled around the end of March (2 hours). The final exam represents 70% of the total final grade and it’s based on a written paper (about 10 pages), on a topic preliminary discussed with the instructors. One class will be dedicated to how to write a paper and a written exam.

Non attending students will take an oral exam, in the format of an interview with the exam committee.

All exams are designed to test the students’ understanding of the theoretical arguments and subjects covered in the sections of the course, their comprehension of the readings and the knowledge acquired in class, their capacity of critical thinking and of making connections among different subjects.

Assessment of the written exams is based on:

• Knowledge of the subjects

• Clarity and capacity to answer clearly, accurately, concisely

• Clear structure of the arguments

• Capacity in connecting sensibly concepts and ides, and critical thinking

• Proper use of the required socio-criminological language

Grading of the written exam: 

Exams that show a deep and accurate knowledge of all the topics, a clear structure in the presentation of the arguments, an excellent capacity in connecting subjects and ideas – including personal views based on arguments – and critical thinking: 27/30.

Exams that show a good knowledge of all the topics, a good structure of the written texts, and some ability in connecting subjects and ideas: 24/26.

Exams that show a sufficient knowledge of the majority of the topics and a sufficient articulation of the arguments: 21/23

Exams that show a basic knowledge of the majority of the topics of the program: 18/20.

Teaching tools

Power-point presentations, audio-visual materials (films, documentaries)

Office hours

See the website of Rossella Selmini

See the website of Stefania Crocitti