Crimes of Gender and Sex: Producing and Imprisoning Criminals in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Growing interest in mass incarceration has brought new attention to longstanding critiques of the criminal justice system. This course looks beyond failings such as “tough on crime” sentencing and racist policing to examine criminal justice as a system that defines and produces criminality. Specifically, we will examine criminalization as a social, political, and cultural process that not only makes certain bodies “criminal,” but also reinforces dominant beliefs about gender, sexuality, and sex. We will explore theories of criminality, methods of policing and imprisonment, rehabilitation initiatives, and prison activism through an intersectional lens.