Book review: Chris M Smith, Syndicate Women: Gender and Networks in Chicago Organized Crime
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480620977213 |
| Date | 01 May 2021 |
| Author | Ashley T Rubin |
| Published date | 01 May 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews 355
References
Braga AA, Coldren JR, Sousa W, et al. (2017) The benefits of body-worn cameras: New findings
from a randomized controlled trial at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. NCJ-
251416. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
Lum C, Koper CS, Wilson DB, et al. (2020) Body-worn cameras’ effects on police officers and
citizen behavior: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews 16(e1112): 1–40.
White MD, Gaub JE and Todak N (2018) Exploring the potential for body-worn cameras to reduce
violence in police–citizen encounters. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 12(1):
66–76.
Chris M Smith, Syndicate Women: Gender and Networks in Chicago Organized Crime, UC Press:
Oakland, CA, 2019; 208 pp., 5 halftones, 6 line ills, 4 maps: 9780520300767, $29.95/£25.00
(pbk), 9780520300750, $85.00/£70.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Ashley T Rubin, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
While criminological research historically has not focused on women, more scholars in
recent decades have started to investigate female criminality. A central component of
these studies is often the effort to understand why women tend to be less involved in
crime than their male counterparts; some of the most intriguing studies explore contexts
in which women were once more involved in crime (or certain types of crime) before
becoming less involved. More than unearthing women’s place in the world of crime,
these studies, when done well, tell us a great deal about the world of crime more gener-
ally. Chris Smith’s Syndicate Women is one such study.
As Smith illustrates, while women were firmly embedded in Chicago’s organized
crime networks during the Progressive Era, women were virtually excluded from these
networks following Prohibition. What makes this shift in women’s place in organized
crime especially puzzling is that Prohibition increased criminal opportunities for both
men and women. Following Prohibition, women became more active in the types of
criminal activities that overlap with organized crime, but they became less active in
organized crime itself. Essentially, organized crime became more gender-exclusive in a
period of expanding criminal opportunities.
Using careful archival research to construct an extensive dataset analyzed with both
qualitative and quantitative methods, and buttressed with a savvy use of network theory
and social capital theory, Smith identifies the reason for this shift in women’s participa-
tion in organized crime: Prohibition made organized crime activities more violent, dan-
gerous, and higher risk, which made trust a bigger asset, while also changing the types of
activities that favor male involvement and reducing the types of activities that allowed
for female involvement. Prohibition also shifted the nature of women’s relationships
with men in organized crime: whereas women in the Progressive Era were connected to
the organized crime networks by brokers, following Prohibition, women were connected
primarily through romantic partners (e.g. husbands, boyfriends) and to some extent
through other family members.
To continue reading
Request your trial