The author argues that stereotypical images of women have been used to explain both women's lack of criminal behaviour and the nature and extent of their criminality. They are also employed to account for both responses to female offenders and female victims in the criminal justice system and the kind of work thought appropriate for women there. Allison Morris critically examines the way in which these attitudes and conceptions of women's social roles affect their position within the criminal justice system, and highlights the special problems women experience there.

Focusing on women as defendants and prisoners, as victims and criminal justice professionals, Dr Morris shows that an understanding of women's crime is of fundamental significance of criminology. This book will be an important addition to the literature on crime, as both a correction of and a complement to the criminology of men.