Feminist and crime research is an innovative and revolutionary discipline. Despite society’s movement towards justice and gender equality, women are still underrepresented in stereotypically masculine industries. The research methodology in this area is divided into quantitative and qualitative as well as in formal investigation. The critical distinction is the existence of a subjective factor, namely the person’s social status and the tendency to sentencing the guilty. Thus, feminist research is a promising method for studying the psychography of crime, motivation, and the introduction of women’s experience in the field of forensic science.
Feminist research methods influence analysis on women and crime by rationalizing the subjectivity of perceptions of gender inequality. In other words, decision-making in this area is determined by introducing feminine experience in crimes and using the type of investigation that will address the need of the victim. For example, the concept of victimization is a well-known term, but it does not have sufficient legal force to describe the motivation of the offender (Mallicoat, 2018). Consequently, feminist research methods embed personal experience and the environment as essential criteria for decision-making and updating the law enforcement system to curb gender inequality.
Investigations in this area have the nature of a perspective, and not as an innovative methodology with a fundamental difference from traditional models. The initiation of women’s involvement in research structures does not define creating a separate thematic area and set of actions. Instead, it aims at updating existing norms for addressing gender difficulties in a social context. Besides, the feminist methodology is a multidisciplinary concept that includes traditional criminological studies as well as psychology, sociology, and politics. Influence on women and crime research is covered by involving both victims and perpetrators to explore the psychography and motivation for taking a particular action. Thus, this revolutionary methodology allows for the adaptation of the incident investigation process so that the theoretical framework involves subjective and derivative domains of knowledge to rationalize the feminist view.
The traditional criminological research model defines a set of measures based on deduction and established standards for obtaining information from evidence, witnesses, and victims. It is essential to understand that the feminist position on this issue does not have cardinal distinctions, since it also uses quantitative and qualitative investigation methods. The use of evidence-based practices and the involvement of various criminal justice areas allows one to study the picture of what happened and draw appropriate conclusions. However, the critical contrast is the use of women’s criminology experience and the focus on irrational concepts such as inequality, victimization, and patriarchy. For example, rape is a criminal offense that is one of the priorities of feminist research. First of all, these incidents’ statistics show that only 39% of cases are reported to the police, of which only half of the cases are charged and punished (Mallicoat, 2018). It echoes the traditional criminology model coupled with patriarchy, in which women fear gender-based judgment and concern of individual safety.
Feminist research differs in that each of the parties gets a voice, and gender inequality does not exist in this area. This discipline’s agents direct their efforts to encourage women to report crimes or any illegal actions in their direction, as required by law. In particular, types of quantitative research, such as polling and interviews, should be more diversified and flexible based on the specificity of crime and the involvement of minorities. Thus, a feminist perspective on criminology defines preliminary work improvement involving those whose voices were previously underrepresented.
This revolutionary discipline’s methodology is revealed by quantitative and qualitative methods based on women’s expertise. It was noted that the issue of sexual violence, stalking, victimization, financial problems due to gender inequality, and confronting verbal abuse are challenges that are underrepresented in the current legal system (Mallicoat, 2018). Consequently, involving more women victims or those who face discrimination every day helps shape the feminist discipline and adapt research methods to all people’s equal rights. It is worth noting interviews, polling, observation as a quantitative model, and qualitative ethnographic investigations constitute the preliminary work’s methodology and techniques. In turn, the feminist position transforms these approaches towards gender equality and the rejection of patriarchy as a decision-making model. Thus, this methodology is essential for public justice and solving more crimes related to neglect of women, discrimination, and the judiciary’s male orientation.
Criminal investigations are a complicated institutional procedure that requires a responsible and multifaceted approach to collecting evidence. The traditional model defines diversified evidence and stakeholder apparatus, but it has a patriarchy tinge. The feminist position on this issue focuses on conveying a voice to those discriminated against and intimidated, which distorts the accurate picture of what happened. The methodology in this area involves adapting qualitative and quantitative techniques to deepen the research, namely, follow-up interviews, observations, and ethnography. Moreover, the use of concepts such as harassment, victimization, and paternalism are under-represented in the legal system and need to be rationalized. In this way, the feminist research methodology expands existing practices and publicizes minority views.
Reference
Mallicoat, S. (2018). Women, gender, and crime: Core concepts. SAGE Publications.