Book Review: Gender & Crime: A Human Rights Approach
| Author | Gabriela-Mihaela Ivan-Cucu |
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2032284418760596 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
Gender & Crime: A Human Rights Approach, Marisa Silvestri and Chris Crowther-Dowey (eds.) (2nd ed.,
London: SAGE Publishing, 2016), ISBN 978-1-4739-021-0, 349 pp., £28.99
Reviewed by: Gabriela-Mihaela Ivan-Cucu, University of Nottingham, UK
DOI: 10.1177/2032284418760596
The year of 2017 will be remembered, inter alia, for the remarkable wave of allegations of sexual
abuse against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein made by more than 50 women from the
film industry, some of which have led to investigations. These allegations brought to the public’s
attention the global problem of sexual harassment in any workplace. Social media have exploded
with messages marked with the hashtags, for example, ‘#MeToo’, ‘#YoTambien’ (Spanish for ‘me
too’) and ‘#BalanceTonPorc’ (French for ‘turn in your pig’), with local va riations in various
languages all over the world. Public reaction has prompted international responses from policy
members condemning such behaviour. Moreover, on 26 October 2017, the European Parliament
adopted a resolution on combatting sexual harassment and abuse in the European Union (2017/
2897(RSP)) as one of the most persistent forms of gender-based discrimination. Both men and
women are victims, with the latter featuring in a clear majority of cases.
Furthermore, on 19 December 2017, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court, appointed a new special adviser on gender, Ms Patricia V. Sellers, to further the
implementation of the Prosecutor’s office Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes.
Crime and victimization are obvious gendered phenomena, often encountered in human rights
discourses and approaches of policymakers. However, in order to ensure that human rights prin-
ciples and values are constantly observed in daily practice, the criminal justice practitioner as well
as the general public must be aware of the gendered dimensions of the justice system. In terms of
social expectations, the two foregoing examples are expected to determine snowball effects of their
own. On the one hand, there appears to be developing an increasingly supportive environment for
victims of sexual harassment and other forms of physical and psychological abuse to come forward
and demand justice. On the other hand, it is hoped that the example of the International Criminal
Court Prosecutor’s office will be followed by other justice services and the judiciary worldwide in
appointing full-time special advisers on gender issues. Nevertheless, this merely confirms the
genuine need for a constant examination of gender and criminology by specialists.
In their comprehensive but nonetheless very well-structured style, Marisa Silvestri and Chris
Crowther-Dowe, under the title Gender & Crime: A Human Rights Approach, now in its 2nd
edition (2016), provide essential reading for the understanding and critical debate of gender issues
in criminology. The book addresses a wide range of readers including students, undergraduates and
postgraduates, academic scholars and researchers, crime and justice sector professionals,
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2018, Vol. 9(1) 161–165
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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