Race and Gender

The aim of this course is to explore how race and gender impact on criminological theory and understand how people’s experiences within the criminal justice process varies, depending on their ethnicity and/or gender. A focus of the course will be to analyse the operation of racism at various stages of the criminal justice process. Through adopting an intersectional lens the course will consider the ways in which race, gender, generation and class work together to shape people’s experiences of the crime and the criminal justice system. In this option, students will examine the victimisation and offending experiences of minority ethnic groups and the criminological theories, which aim to explain the different patterns and outcomes for people according to their ethnicity and gender. Police practices, sentencing, and imprisonment are key topics covered in the course. In addition to examining processes of racism, disproportionality and discretion in the sphere of crime and criminal justice, the course also explores contemporary issues such as the impact of counter-terrorism policies and consequences on notions of citizenship and belonging for minority groups. This option will largely draw on UK and US scholarship to explore these debates.