Abstract
Intersectional criminology is a theoretical approach that necessitates a critical reflection on the impact of interconnected identities and statuses of individuals and groups in relation to their experiences with crime, the social control of crime, and any crime-related issues. This approach is grounded in intersectionality, a concept developed from the tenets of women of color feminist theory and activism. To demonstrate how intersectionality is useful in criminology, this article reviews a sampling of feminist and critical research conducted on Black girls’ and women’s experiences with crime, victimization, and criminal legal system processes. This research demonstrates the interlaced social impacts of race, gender, femininity/masculinity ideals, sexuality, and socioeconomic class. This article also provides a basis for widely deploying an intersectional approach throughout the field of criminology across all social identities and statuses.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Sometimes worded as “Ar’n’t I a woman?” (See Gilbert 1998[1850], Narrative of Sojourner Truth.).
Painter has argued that convention secretary Marius Robinson’s records of Truth’s speech is closer to Truth’s actual wording, which does not record any statements of “Ar’n’t/Ain’t I a woman?,” than to Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances Dana Gage’s account written 12 years after the convention.
References
Alexander-Floyd, N. G. (2012). Disappearing acts: Reclaiming intersectionality in the social sciences in a post-black feminist era. Signs, 24(1), 1–25.
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Anthias, F., & Yuval-Davis, N. (1983). Contextualizing feminism: Gender, ethnic and class divisions. Feminist Review, 15, 62–75.
Arnold, R. A. (1990). Process of victimization and criminalization of black women. Social Justice, 17(3), 153–166.
Beal, F. [1970]1995. Double jeopardy: To be black and female. In B. Guy-Sheftall (Ed.), Words of fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought (pp. 145–155). New York: The New Press.
Bui, H. N. (2004). In the adopted land: Abused immigrant women and the criminal justice system. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Burgess-Proctor, A. (2006). Intersections of race, class, gender, and crime: Future directions for feminist criminology. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 27–47.
Carbado, D. W. (2013). Colorblind intersectionality. Signs, 38(4), 811–845.
Cho, S., Crenshaw, K., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs, 38(4), 785–810.
Chun, J. J., Lipsitz, G., & Shin, Y. (2013). Intersectionality as a social movement strategy: Asian immigrant women advocates. Signs, 38(4), 917–940.
Cleaver, K. N. (1997). Racism, civil rights, and feminism. In A. K. Wing (Ed.), Critical race feminism: A reader (pp. 35–43). New York: New York University Press.
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2006). From black power to hip hop: Racism, nationalism, and feminism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139–167.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity, politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
Crenshaw, K. (2011). Postcript. In H. Lutz, M. T. H. Vivar, & L. Supik (Eds.), Framing intersectionality: Debates on a multifaceted concept in gender studies (pp. 221–233). Surrey, England: Ashgate.
Daly, K. (2010). Feminist perspectives in criminology: A review with Gen Y in mind. In E. McLaughlin & T. Newburn (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of criminological theory (pp. 225–246). London: Sage.
Davis, A. Y. (1983). Women, race and class. New York: Vintage Books.
Davis, K. (2008). Intersectionality as buzzword: A sociology of science perspective on what makes a feminist theory successful. Feminist Theory, 9(1), 67–85.
De Coster, S., & Heimer, K. (2006). Crime at the intersections: Race, class, gender, and violent offending. In R. D. Peterson, L. J. Krivo, & J. Hagan (Eds.), The many colors of crime: Inequalities of race, ethnicity, and crime in America (pp. 138–156). New York: New York University Press.
Diáz-Cotto, J. (2006). Chicana lives and criminal justice: Voices from el barrio. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
García, A. M. (Ed.). (1997). Chicana feminist thought: The basic historical writings. New York: Routledge.
Giddings, P. (1984). When and where I enter: The impact of black women on race and sex in America. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Gilbert, O. 1998(1850). Narrative of Sojourner Truth. New York: Penguin.
Gordon, V. V. (1987). Black women, feminism and black liberation: Which way?. Chicago: Third World Press.
Guy-Sheftall, B. (Ed.). (1995). Words of fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought. New York: The New Press.
Hull, G. T., Scott, P. B., & Smith, B. (1982). All the women are white, all the blacks are men, but some of us are brave: Black women’s studies. New York: The Feminist Press.
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. (2006). Color of violence: The INCITE! Anthology. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Jones, N. (2010). Between good and ghetto: African American girls and inner-city violence. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Josephson, J. (2002). The intersectionality of domestic violence and welfare in the lives of poor women. Journal of Poverty, 6(1), 1–20.
King, Deborah. K. (1988). multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of black feminist ideology. Signs, 14(1), 42–72.
Lykke, N. (2011). Intersectional analysis: Black box or useful critical feminist thinking technology. In H. Lutz, M. T. H. Vivar, & L. Supik (Eds.), Framing intersectionality: Debates on a multifaceted concept in gender studies (pp. 207–220). Surrey, England: Ashgate.
McCall, L. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs, 30(3), 1771–1800.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and crime: Critique and reconceptualization of theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (1997). Crime as structured action: Gender, race, class, and crime in the making. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Moraga, C., & Anzaldúa, G. (Eds.). (2002). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. Berkeley, CA: Third Woman Press.
Nash, J. C. (2008). Re-thinking intersectionality. Feminist Review, 89(1), 1–15.
Painter, N. I. (1996). Sojourner truth: A life, a symbol. New York: W.W. Norton.
Potter, H. (2006). An argument for black feminist criminology: Understanding African American women’s experiences with intimate partner abuse using an integrated approach. Feminist Criminology, 1(2), 106–124.
Potter, H. (2008). Battle cries: Black women and intimate partner abuse. New York: New York University Press.
Potter, H., & Thomas, D. T. (2012). We told you that’s how they are: Responses to white women in abusive intimate relationships with men of color. Deviant Behavior, 33(6), 469–491.
Richie, B. E. (1996). Compelled to crime: The gender entrapment of battered black women. New York: Routledge.
Richie, B. E. (2012). Arrested justice: Black women, violence, and America’s prison nation. New York: New York University Press.
Roth, B. (2004). Separate roads to feminism: Black, Chicana, and white feminist movements in America’s second wave. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, B. (Ed.). (1983). Home girls: A black feminist anthology. New York: Kitchen Table Women of Color Press.
Smith, A. (2005). Conquest: Sexual violence and American Indian genocide. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Tomlinson, B. (2013). To tell the truth and not get trapped: Desire, distance, and intersectionality at the scene of argument. Signs, 38(4), 993–1017.
Villalón, R. (2010). Violence against Latina immigrants: Citizenship, inequality, and community. New York: New York University Press.
Visher, C. A. (1983). Gender, police arrest decisions, and notions of chivalry. Criminology, 21(1), 5–28.
Wing, A. K. (Ed.). (1997). Critical race feminism: A reader. New York: New York University Press.
Wing, A. K. (Ed.). (2003). Critical race feminism: A reader (2nd ed.). New York: New York University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Potter, H. Intersectional Criminology: Interrogating Identity and Power in Criminological Research and Theory. Crit Crim 21, 305–318 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-013-9203-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-013-9203-6