Book Review: The Expanding Spaces of Law: A Timely Geography
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663916647530b |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Author | Sharron A. Fitzgerald |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
As my summary of Cossins’ argument is intended to show, those who are interested in
criminalized women, motherhood, law and moral panics have much to gain from reading
Female Criminality. In particular, scholars working in this field will benefit from grap-
pling with the implications of Cossins’ core thesis on the role of the sexed body within
moral conceptions of criminality. Cossins’ argument is rich and nuanced, and I appreci-
ate her resistance to sweeping conclusions and easy generalities. In places, however, her
contributions are harder to grasp than I would wish, due to the way in which her narrative
unfolds. Each chapter begins with a question that develops and becomes more nuanced
as the chapter proceeds, and each chapter ends with a subtle and carefully weighed
conclusion about the extent to which that question has been answered. It would have
helped me to orient myself within Cossins’ work if these answers had been alluded to,
even in general terms, from the outset. As a result I found that this is a book that rewards
multiple readings. Despite my stylistic preferences, Female Criminality comes highly
recommended. Cossins’ argument for the centrality of the sexed body to constructions of
the folk devil is very persuasive and deserves to have a significant impact on feminist
analyses of criminalized women.
EMMA CUNLIFFE
University of British Columbia, Canada
References
Cossins A (2003) Saints, sluts and sexual assault: rethinking the relationship between sex, race and
gender. Social & Legal Studies 12: 77–103.
Young J (2009) Moral panic: its origins in resistance, ressentiment and the translation of fantasy
into reality. British Journal of Criminology 49: 4–16.
IRUS BRAVERMAN, NICHOLAS BLOMLEY, DAVID DELANEY AND ALEXANDER KEDAR
(eds), The Expanding Spaces of Law: A Timely Geography. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014,
pp. 296, ISBN 9780804797283, $27.95 (pbk).
In The Expanding Spaces of Law, the editors invite authors from Mexico, Germany, the
United States, Canada and Israel to explore the interconnections between law and spati-
ality and their reciprocal construction. Scholars from disciplines as diverse as geography,
sociology, anthropology and law use this interpretive framework to understand where
and how law is ‘worlded’. Against this backdrop, the editors’ stated aim is to move legal
geography beyond its discrete disciplinary boundaries of law and geography to identify
new areas of inquiry.
The editors note that the transdis ciplinary field of legal geogra phy is a rich and
diverse field that challenges the law as fixed, immutable and above society and politics.
Inspired by advances in critical theory from across the social sciences and humanities,
scholars consider law’s constantly emerging and evolving sites of influence and regu-
lation. That said, the editors acknowledge that scholars could do more. They recognize
the field’s predominantly Anglo-American and urban focus and how this has
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