Women, crime and control
| Author | Loraine Gelsthorpe |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895810382373 |
| Published date | 01 November 2010 |
| Date | 01 November 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Women, crime and control
Loraine Gelsthorpe
University of Cambridge, UK
On the surface, Punishing the Poor (Wacquant, 2009a) is about prisons in America;
however, its real concern is with what Wacquant calls the ‘paradox of neoliberal penality’ –
the way in which the power of the state as expressed in increasing rates of incarceration
and punishment more generally have grown over the past 30 years. He argues that the
penal state has extended to envelop those on the margins of the market economy, and
thus that we need but one analytic framework to understand neoliberal penality, a frame-
work which follows both the contours of prisons and state welfare provision. In Prisons
of Poverty (2009b), Wacquant traces the emergence and internationalisation of the poli-
cies and practices designed to dismantle the welfare state through a ‘network of Reagan-
era conservative think-tanks’1 and through the media and pro-market policy institutes. At
a general level, Wacquant argues that the logic of neoliberalism demands new policies to
cope with the aftermath of labour market deregulation on the lowest stratum of society.2
In essence, it is suggested that the boundaries between penal and welfare interven-
tions have become less distinguishable than hitherto. As Wacquant puts it:
[s]everal features of the overhaul of public aid at [the] century’s close both mirror and
complement the workings of penal institutions: the narrow aiming of state action at the bottom
of the class and caste hierarchies; the built-in gender slant; the practical presumption that
recipients of welfare are ‘guilty until proven innocent’ and that their conduct must be closely
supervised as well as rectified by restrictive and coercive measures; and the deployment of
deterrence and stigma to achieve behavioural modification. (2009a: 79)
My aim in this article is to tease out Wacquant’s treatment of gender in these two works.
Firstly, I suggest ways in which Wacquant might extend his analysis in the USA by draw-
ing on feminist criminological work which has charted the treatment of women through
the welfare and prison systems. Secondly, and following Wacquant’s lead in suggesting
that his analysis is relevant beyond the USA, I point to some particular resonances for his
analysis in the UK, but also to some problems. And thirdly, by way of concluding reflec-
tions, I make some general observations on Wacquant’s analysis and its contribution.
Corresponding author:
Loraine Gelsthorpe
Email: lrg10@cam.ac.uk
Criminology & Criminal Justice
10(4) 375–386
© The Author(s) 2010
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895810382373
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