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Ranjan, Sheetal; Barberet, Rosemary; Beichner, Dawn; Arnull, Elaine --- "Special Issue. The Social Protection of Women and Girls: Links to Crime and Justice at CSW63. Guest Editors' Introduction" [2020] IntJlCrimJustSocDem 1; (2020) 9(1) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 1


Guest Editors' Introduction.

The Social Protection of Women and Girls: Links to Crime and Justice at CSW63

Sheetal Ranjan

William Paterson University, United States

Rosemary Barberet

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, United States

Dawn Beichner

Illinois State University, United States

Elaine Arnull

University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom

Dr Sheetal Ranjan, Immediate Past Chair, Division on Women & Crime, American Society of Criminology (ASC) and Professor, William Paterson University, United States (US); Dr Rosemary Barberet, United Nations (UN) Representative, International Sociological Association (ISA) and Criminologists Without Borders and Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (US); Dr Dawn Beichner, UN Representative World Society of Victimology (WSV) and Professor, Illinois State University (US); and Dr Elaine Arnull, Vice-Chair, Division on Women and Crime (DWC), ASC and Associate Dean and Director, Institute of Society and Community, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom (UK).

We are pleased to introduce this special issue of the International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, titled ‘The Social Protection of Women and Girls: Links to Crime and Justice at CSW63’. This issue contains a selection of articles from presentations at a series of parallel and side events held at the Commission on the Status of Women’s 63rd session (CSW63) at the UN Headquarters in New York City, US. We are thankful to chief editors Kerry Carrington and John Scott for accepting our proposal to guest edit this issue. As organizers of the panels at CSW63, we were searching for an open-access publication outlet for the papers ensuing from our panels that would reach a wide audience; we are convinced that this journal, well known for its high standards of peer review and excellent dissemination, was the right choice. We are also grateful for Journal Manager Tracy Creagh’s efforts to see this issue through to completion.

We would like to give the reader some background as to how the articles in this special issue came to be. These articles were selected from papers submitted by presenters at panels that were organized in conjunction with the CSW63, which was held over a 10-day period at the UN Headquarters in New York City, US. The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the main intergovernmental body exclusively concerned with gender equality and the empowerment of women. Established in 1946, the CSW is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council of the UN. The commission is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the global reality of women’s lives and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. It meets every year at the UN Headquarters in New York City for two weeks. Each year, representatives of UN Member States, UN entities and UN-accredited non-governmental organisations from all regions of the world attend the session to disseminate evidence regarding policies and practices that affect women globally. The 10-day session includes a ministerial segment and other high-level dialogues, a general discussion, and interactive and expert panel discussions. Stakeholders organize many side and parallel events to draw attention to critical aspects of the work on gender equality. UN Women, the UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women that was created in 2010, supports all aspects of the commission’s work and facilitates the participation of civil society representatives. Simply put, if you are a feminist scholar or an activist, this is your annual global meeting place.

The CSW63 took place at the UN Headquarters in New York City from 11 to 22 March 2019. Each session of the CSW has a priority theme, and the priority theme for CSW63 was social protection systems, access to public services, and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The DWC of the ASC spearheaded the representation of the ASC at CSW63 for the first time. As a non-governmental organisation, the ASC holds special consultative status with the UN. It partnered with the WSV, the ISA and Criminologists without Borders (which are academic organisations that also have consultative status with the UN) to host two side events and four parallel events at CSW63. This was the first year that DWC and ASC have participated in the CSW, and it was long overdue. In 2019, over 10,000 representatives from civil society attended CSW63. Academic and professional organisations are underrepresented at this forum, and we wanted to ensure that the voices of scholar–activist feminist criminologists were present at this important global meeting. We wanted to connect the dots between research, policy, practice and advocacy at an international level. For several of our events at CSW63, we partnered with UN Women, UN Police and the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN. Our main goal was to ensure that global decision-makers and other civil society representatives who consider social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure for women were aware of the special needs and conditions of women as offenders/ex-offenders, victims/survivors and justice professionals.

Before we proceed to delineate the topics covered in this special issue, we would first like to foreground the organisations that each of us represent who partnered to sponsor the panels at CSW63. The missions of these organisations were reflected in the organized panels and are now so in the papers that appear as articles in this special issue; they helped to create an interdisciplinary outlook on the issues facing justice-involved women and women as justice professionals.

The ASC (https://www.asc41.com/), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, US, is an academic and professional organisation whose 4,000+ members from the US and across the globe pursue scholarly, scientific and professional knowledge concerning the measurement, aetiology, consequences, prevention, control and treatment of crime and victimization. The ASC’s DWC (https://ascdwc.com) fosters research, teaching and the professional advancement of criminologists whose studies focus on women and their experiences as offenders, victims/survivors and justice professionals. The DWC works closely and directly with policymakers and practitioners.

The ISA (http://www.isa-sociology.org) was founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, its goal is to represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of school of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion, and to advance sociological knowledge throughout the world. Its 6,000 members come from 96 countries.

The WSV (http://www.worldsocietyofvictimology.org) works to advance victimological research and practices around the world, encourage interdisciplinary and comparative work and research in the field of victimology and advance cooperation between international, national, regional and local agencies and other groups who are concerned with the problems of victims. Among the WSV members’ areas of interest and expertise include the fields of social services and women’s rights.

Criminologists without Borders (http://www.criminologistswithoutborders.org) is a group of criminologists, researchers, professors and those working in the field who seek to apply scientific findings and ‘best practices’ to the policies and operations of crime prevention and criminal justice systems. It is a registered non-profit organisation that provides objective information and research to inform policy and programs dealing with crime and criminal justice. Criminologists without Borders provides annual research input to the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the CSW.

As representatives of the partnering organisations (ASC’s DWC, WSV, ISA and Criminologists without Borders), we organized six panel events focusing on women, crime and justice. We selected the themes of the panels in line with the theme of CSW63. We chose panellists based on their expertise, peer-reviewed their presentations and videotaped all the panels for posterity (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY-dcRSB_hSXSVVbVtAtT3IsheCIHOZ9t).

We organized six events:

• ‘The Status of Women: The Policing of Conflict & Post-Conflict Areas’ in partnership with the UN Police

• ‘The Safety of Women: Penal Mediation in Greek Domestic Violence Legislation’ in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN

• ‘Empowering Girls & Women Facing Violence in Family Settings’

• ‘The Safety of Women & Girls in Educational Settings’

• ‘Women, Re-Entry, & Social Protection’

• ‘Access to Justice for Women & Girls: The Role of Women in Law Enforcement & Peacekeeping’

After the CSW63, we approached selected presenters and invited them to submit their presentation as an article to this special issue. The articles themselves are thus linked to presentations in the events organized for the CSW63. The manuscripts were sent for external double-blind peer review. The accepted 11 articles come from the panels listed above. Two articles in this special issue highlight innovative programs and cutting-edge research from the Global South indicating the maturing of southern criminology.

For the panel ‘The Status of Women: The Policing of Conflict & Post-Conflict Areas’, we partnered with UN Police to host a side event at the UN Headquarters. This panel was opened by Garima Bhatnagar (Chief, Mission Management Support Section, Police Division, UN Department of Peace Operations) who spoke about the role of UN Police and the role of women in UN peace missions. Jackie Sebire (Assistant Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police, Kempston, UK) spoke about policing radicalization and violent extremism and stressed the importance of having a truly reflective police service. Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich discussed the need to build inclusive institutions that are protective of human rights based on the lessons learned in the democratization of the Croatian police. Dr Lisa R. Muftić addressed the issues of gender equity, culture and knowledge and the influence of professionalism on law enforcement officials’ attitudes in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Staci Strobl, whose article is included in this special issue, highlighted the importance of women’s inclusion in national projects of post-conflict policing. She lays out the political, social and institutional challenges to achieving significant gender representation in national police forces and suggests countering these challenges through a ‘women-oriented’ approach.

We partnered with the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN to host a side event at the UN Headquarters titled ‘The Safety of Women: Penal Mediation in Greek Domestic Violence Legislation’. Opening remarks were provided by Maria Theofili (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN). Marina Chrysoveloni (former Deputy Minister of Interior in charge of Gender Equality) spoke about the national priorities to combat violence against women in Greece. Sevaste Chatzifotiou (Greece) highlighted the historical development of domestic violence legislation in Greece, and Kalliopi Mingeirou (Chief, Ending Violence Against Women, UN Women) presented global perspectives about how legal reforms and judicial responses are required as a part of a comprehensive approach to addressing domestic violence. The panel then focused on the penal mediation clause of the domestic violence legislation in Greece. Xeni Dimitriou (former General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Greece) spoke about the legal provisions of the penal mediation program, and Eleni Fotou (Greece) described how they implement it at Via-Stop. Sheetal Ranjan outlined the theoretical implications of the penal mediation legislation in Greece using theories related to power and control, coordinated community response and restorative justice. She concluded with a conversation about the challenges in implementation and the need for research, training and standardization of the mediation program across Greece to uphold women’s safety. Her paper has been published in both English and Greek in a special issue of the journal Women & Criminal Justice[1].

The panel ‘Empowering Women and Girls Facing Violence in a Family Setting’ focused on a range of emerging interventions that empower girls and women experiencing violence in a family setting and on the academic work that is beginning to build the evidence base. To this end, papers in this panel were co-produced by researchers, practitioners and survivors. The panel was opened by Kalliopi Mingeirou (Chief, Ending Violence Against Women, UN Women) laying out the aims of UN Women in this area. Elaine Arnull discussed her co-produced work with the United Against Violence and Abuse Women’s Aid organisation (UK), evidencing how women’s voices can lead to a more accurate representation of violent experiences in official records. Janet Fine (US) presented on how advocates support women caregivers to build resilience in themselves and their children. Rob Street (Nuffield Foundation, UK) spoke about supporting and building policy and practice within a family justice system to address recent policy changes and ensure the inclusion of women and children’s voices. Lori K. Sudderth (US), whose paper is included in this special issue, represented the depth of developing practice in this area to ‘de-normalise’ violence within the family and the difficulties of undertaking this work, which include a lack of funding and the vulnerabilities of those taking part. Her work focuses on the Global South, but her call for policymakers and social services to work collaboratively to develop innovative programming that includes sustainable strategies for empowerment is applicable worldwide.

The panel titled ‘The Safety of Women & Girls in Educational Settings’ included a presentation by Alethia Jimenez (Policy Specialist, Ending Violence Against Women, UN Women) who spoke about the newly released UN Women’s guidance note related to the prevention of and response to violence against women in university campus settings. Sheetal Ranjan spoke about her forthcoming book on violence prevention that uses a coordinated community response approach with specific reference to how it can be used in educational settings. Eleni Fotou (Greece) spoke about how Via-Stop empowers school children in Greece to identify, report and stand up to violence and discrimination. Two of the papers from the panel appear in this special issue. First, Elaina Behounek’s article ‘The safety of women and girls in educational settings: A global overview and suggestions for policy change’ provides a global review of the barriers for equal access to education for women and girls. She highlights four key areas that perpetuate this inequality and thereby foster a lack of safety in educational settings for women and girls around the globe: cultural norms, societal norms, sexual assault and sexual harassment. To improve educational outcomes in the lives of women and girls, we cannot neglect the issue of their safety in terms of structural conditions as well as the more meso- and micro-determinants of safety, both in travel to and from school and at educational institutions themselves. The approaches should be holistic and intersectional. Behounek offers a series of good practices as examples for improving the safety of women and girls in educational settings.

The second article, ‘Protections for marginalized women in university sexual violence policies’ by Amelia Roskin-Frazee, examines higher education institutions’ efforts to address sexual violence that is perpetrated against women with marginalised identities. Roskin-Frazee gathered and analysed student sexual violence policies at 80 higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. Not surprisingly, she found that these policies failed to account for how race, sexuality, class and disability shape women’s experiences of sexual violence. These failings defy other efforts to achieve gender equality by disadvantaging marginalised women’s access to education and health care. She proposes policy change to address the complex needs of women with marginalised identities who experience violence in higher education settings.

Three of the papers from the ‘Women, Re-Entry, & Social Protection’ panel appear in this special issue. First, Pilar Larroulet, Catalina Droppelmann, Paloma Del Villar, Sebastian Daza and Ana Figueroa explore ‘Who is transitioning out of prison? Characterizing female offenders and their needs in Chile’. The authors’ examination of 225 women released from prison in Santiago, Chile is part of a larger study entitled ‘Reinserción, Desistimiento y Reincidencia en Mujeres Privadas de Libertad en Chile’ [Reintegration, desistance, and recidivism among female inmates in Chile], which provides a rare glimpse into women’s incarceration in the Global South. Using latent class analysis, the authors identify three different offending profile types among women returning home from prison. Larroulet and her colleagues make a compelling case for recognising the differing needs and criminal trajectories across the three groups of offenders, with the goal of informing re-entry or aftercare policy to include tailored interventions.

Second, in her paper ‘Enhancing female prisoners’ access to education’, Judith Ryder discusses the ways in which education can be a gateway to social and economic mobility for incarcerated women. Drawing on her research on female offending and her experience teaching Inside-Out college courses in a New York City jail and prison, Ryder argues for enhanced educational opportunities for women and girls, both during and after their release from prison. The paper concludes with several policy recommendations that are linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The third re-entry paper, ‘Fostering family relationships and women’s employment’ by Andrea Leverentz, urges readers to consider the unique ways in which women’s role as primary care provider differentially affects their pathways home from prison and the disruption posed by their incarceration on their children’s lives. Drawing on her research in the area, Leverentz generates several practice recommendations that are directly related to the CSW63’s priority theme of social protection, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure. Among Leverentz’s recommendations are restorative approaches to family reunification and support for re-entering women’s education and employment, which includes affordable and quality child care.

Four of the papers from the ‘Access to Justice for Women & Girls: The Role of Women in Law Enforcement & Peacekeeping’ panel appear in this special issue. First, Kerry Carrington, Natacha Guala, María Victoria Puyol and Máximo Sozzo examine how women’s police stations empower women, widen access to justice and prevent gender violence by turning around the patriarchal norms that sustain it. Cassia Spohn, in her paper, asks why the criminal justice system’s response to the crime of rape has not improved significantly in the past half century. Why, after four decades of the rape reform movement and changes in rape laws encouraging victims to report to the police, is there still discussion around legitimate rapes and righteous victims? She outlines strategies to reduce the shockingly high rates of attrition in rape cases and to improve the treatment of rape victims. Jacqueline Sebire takes this argument further in her reflective paper on the importance of gender equality in policing to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16. Given the paucity of literature on women’s roles as mediators and/or in peacekeeping, we are very pleased to include a paper from this panel by Jan Marie Fritz. In her paper, she discusses the concepts of inclusive peacebuilding and peacemaking, presents data about women mediators and provides suggestions to improve the number of women mediators in complex, large-scale conflicts.

We are convinced that these articles are timely and unique, globally relevant and fully in line with the mission of the journal. This special issue will be of particular relevance to two events taking place in 2020: the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to be held in Kyoto, Japan on 20–27 April, and the CSW’s 64th session, to be held in March 2020 in New York City. 2020 is the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, the 10th anniversary of UN Women and the 20th anniversary of the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Alongside the policy relevance of this special issue, we very much hope that you, the readers of International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, will find new and interesting scholarship in this issue that invigorates your thinking and motivates your future involvement with international feminist criminology.

Correspondence: Sheetal Ranjan, Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Rd, Wayne, NJ 07470, United States United States. Email: ranjans@wpunj.edu

Please cite this article as:

Ranjan S, Barberet R, Beichner D and Arnull E (2020) Special issue. The social protection of women and girls: Links to crime and justice at CSW63. Guest editors’ introduction. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 9(1): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v9i1.1492

2020_101.jpg This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. As an open access journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution. ISSN: 2202-8005


[1] Ranjan S (2020) Domestic violence legislation in Greece: Analysis of penal mediation. Women & Criminal Justice 30(1): 42-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2019.1646192


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