Making women terrorists into “Jihadi brides”: an analysis of media narratives on women joining ISIS

ABSTRACT

Although the involvement of women in terrorist activities is not new, it is still considered to be an exceptional phenomenon. The figure of a woman militant contradicts the main gender constructions and thus produces a certain shock and disconcertment in societies. In the case of “Jihadism”, women who willingly join a terrorist organisation also challenge the Western Neo-Orientalist perspective on Muslim women in the West. Starting from these theoretical standpoints, this article focuses on a group of terrorists who have recently received a great deal of attention: ISIS women jihadis. Based on a critical discourse analysis of three main UK broadsheets, this article presents, deconstructs and problematises the main depictions that were used to describe these subjects. Furthermore, it discusses how the frames described reconcile these women’s actions with the gender and Neo-Orientalist constructions that circulate in Western societies, safeguarding the deriving hegemonic narratives. In other words, the article focuses on how women terrorists are made into “Jihadi Brides”.     

Exploring Gender-Based Disparities in Legal Protection,Education, Health,Political Empowerment,and Employment in Failing and Fragile States

Gender inequalities in legal protection, education, health, employment, and political empowerment have been of special interest to researchers for many years. Hausmann, Tyson, and Zahidi (2010 Hausmann , R. , Tyson , L. , & Zahidi , S. ( 2010 ). Gender gap index . Geneva , Switzerland : World Economic Forum . [Google Scholar], p. 3) noted, “Although gender-based inequalities exist in the majority of the world's cultures, religions, nations, and income groups, there are differences in the way these disparities manifest themselves and how they evolve over time.” The degree of governmental stability is a salient aspect of the process through which gender-based disparities manifest. Although all citizens are doubtlessly affected when states fail, women are especially marginalized and experience governmental failure in a fundamentally different way compared to their male counterparts. Thus, the goal of the current study is to analyze the relationship between state failure and gender-based disparities. Findings reveal significant relationships between gender disparities in most areas, however the relationship between legal protections and state failure produces the most robust results.     

“Taking a Position and Staying Grounded”

Abstract

This article is a biography of Karlene Faith, one of Canada's leading feminist scholars/activists. It describes: her childhood; high school life; college years; early intellectual influences; how she came to criminology; her entrance into the academy; her important contributions to feminism, criminology, and criminal justice; her future plans; and her love of music. Thanks to Karlene Faith and other feminist academic activists, gender is now a major component of much of the criminological work being done in North America today, and many people became empowered due to her commitment, dedication, and effort.     

Feminist Perspectives on Female Offending

Abstract

This paper explores new approaches in theorizing about delinquent girls that overcome the shortcomings of traditional theories. Organized under the broad framework of feminist perspectives, recent research is reviewed for its contribution to a better understanding of delinquent girls. This review suggests that acknowledging the sexism, victimization, and racism experienced by female offenders is crucial in attempts to theorize about and respond to girls' delinquency.     

Some Issues in Aboriginal Justice Research:

The over-representation of Aboriginal people in the Canadian criminal justice system is the context within which the particular case of Aboriginal women is explored. This paper provides an explanation for the incidence and types of crime of Aboriginal women in order to identify the need to better understand the theoretical and methodological issues in the relationship of Aboriginal people to the broader society, in general, and to the criminal justice system is particular.     

Investigating Life Course Offender Subgroup Heterogeneity: An Exploratory Latent Class Analysis Approach

Within developmental criminology, a common classification of offender behavior is life course trajectories broken into discrete groups of early onseters, late onseters, persisters, or desisters. Yet some investigators state that this is an oversimplification of offending behavior and may not be applicable to females and males. The current study utilizes National Youth Survey data and exploratory latent class analysis to determine whether substantive latent classes exist within offender life course trajectories for females and males and to examine differences between the genders across these groups. The analyses reveal the presence of 4 types of latent subgroups: (a) female-majority de-escalators, (b) male-majority persistent de-escalators, (c) male-dominated persisters, and (d) male-majority chronic fluctuators. Post hoc analyses reveal similarities and differences among the latent groups. Research implications of this study suggest further explorations into whether strict 2-pronged developmental models are indeed appropriately tapping and capturing the full essence of criminal careers for both females and males. The results suggest that continued programming that disrupts delinquent peer associations and reduces consumption of drugs and/or alcohol may be promising in promoting desistance—particularly for females.     

Personality predictors of self-reported offending in Icelandic students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-reported offending and personality. A total of 1603 students in further education in Iceland completed the Mak Self-Reported Delinquency Scale as well as a number of psychological tests, namely the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ and IVE), the Gough Socialisation Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale. Multiple regression analyses showed that five out of the 10 individual personality scales contributed 27 and 30 per cent to self-reported offending for males and females, respectively. Overall, the Gough Socialisation Scale and EPQ psychoticism contributed most to the variance in self-reported offending, but impulsivity, extraversion and a low lie score also added significantly to the variance after interactions among the personality measures had been taken into account. Some gender differences emerged with impulsivity being a better predictor of offending among the males than females. Overall, the findings give strong support for the hypothesis that personality, particularly those relating to antisocial personality traits, is significantly related to self-reported offending in both males and females.     

Are the same factors related to participation and frequency of offending by male and female prisoners?

Abstract

This paper is the first to compare correlates of participation and frequency of violent and property offending by male and female offenders. The criminal career approach suggests that different features of criminal careers may have different correlates and predictors, whereas Gottfredson and Hirschi argued that all criminal career features have the same correlates and predictors. This paper investigates how much 24 explanatory constructs, derived from social learning, labelling and personality theories, were related to participation and frequency of offending. Samples of 118 male prisoners and 93 female prisoners in Trinidad were interviewed to determine whether they participated in violent and property crimes and the frequency with which they committed these crimes. The results showed that these theoretical constructs (especially labelling) were much more related to participation than to frequency, but they were similarly related to violent and property offending. They were similarly related to male and female frequency but not to male and female participation in offending. In general, different factors influenced participation and frequency, although impulsivity was related to both for males and females. It is concluded that existing theories need to be improved to explain the frequency of offending.     

The relationship between antisocial stereotypes and public CCTV systems: exploring fear of crime in the modern surveillance society

Abstract

Situational crime deterrence measures like CCTV are not always associated with reductions in fear of crime. This study explores this unexpected finding by investigating the interaction between target type and the presence of a CCTV camera, in order to test the effect this has on impressions of the target and corresponding fear of the location the target was shown in. Participants (n=120) were shown either a picture of a male ‘skinhead’, a ‘studious’ female, or no one within an urban setting in which an obvious CCTV camera was either present or absent. Participants then rated the scene using scales estimating crime frequency, worry and target activity. Estimates of location safety fell for the male ‘skinhead’ target and activity impressions were more negative, but only when a CCTV camera was also present. Ironically, in some circumstances, public crime deterrence measures may prime pre-existing negative stereotypes about others and so foster suspicion, undermine trust in others, and increase fear of crime.