Looking to Critical Criminology to Centre Gender and Violence Against Women in State Crime Studies

Abstract

The state is over‐represented as a perpetrator of violence against women, yet it receives little attention in the state crime/crimes of the powerful literature. In line with the goal of this special issue, the focus here will be to introduce state‐perpetrated gender‐based violence and demonstrate the utility of including gender as an analytic concept for understanding the pervasive and prolonged harms perpetrated by states that disproportionately harm women and girls. Furthermore, I argue for a more integrative approach to the study of state crime/crimes of the powerful, to better include other innovative critical criminological approaches such as queer perspectives, rural criminology, and more in‐depth race analysis to mention but a few.

Anti-Transgender Ideology, Laws, and Homicide: An Analysis of the Trifecta of Violence

“…Another avenue for future research may be to extend the analysis to document the violent actions of the state in the trifecta. We have already discussed how state policies themselves are violent (direct forms of state-violence), but the state is also responsible for indirect state violence and harms, akin to the violent actions, which need to be investigated (Collins, 2021).…”

“…Beyond drawing a connection between violent ideology, policy, and acts, the trifecta model calls into question the culpability of the state, recognizing that the state can and does play a role in the perpetuation of gender-based violence (Collins, 2021). Indeed, violent policies are also violent actions, inasmuch as the creation, enactment, and enforcement of these policies are expressly intended to oppress a particular group of people.…”