Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Elnaz Shapouri ¹
• farhad A.Meygoni ²
• Sajedeh Asadimehr ³

¹ MA Graduate in Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Mazandaran

² assistant professor

³ MA Student in Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Mazandaran

Abstract

Despite the rapid growth in their numbers in recent decades, incarcerated women remain at the margins of penal theory and prison policymaking. The systematic neglect of women’s lived experiences in penal thought and practice has led to policies that fail to address their specific needs and sometimes reproduce the harms that brought women into the criminal justice system. In response to this gap, the “gender-sensitive penology” approach seeks to move women’s lived experiences from the periphery to the center of penal policymaking. Adopting a descriptive-analytic method, this article first outlines the theoretical foundations for shifting from male-centered models to a gender-responsive approach. It then identifies three core components of a gender-sensitive penology concerning incarcerated women. The limitations and critiques of this approach are analyzed at three levels: theory, inclusion, and practice. The article concludes that achieving criminal justice for incarcerated women requires moving beyond male-centered models. This transition, however, is not a frictionless path; it is a complex process, fraught with theoretical and practical hazards, that demands ongoing self-critique, locally grounded field research, and the design of context-sensitive policies attuned to the diversity within the category of "women."

Keywords

• gender-sensitive penology
• incarcerated women
• gendered pathways to crime
• motherhood and imprisonment
• gender-responsive criminal justice