• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Women in the Criminal Justice System: Law, Policy and Institutions

Module description

This module will introduce the position of women in the criminal justice system, both as victim and offender, and will explore the regulation of a range of issues from reproductive rights to sex work, to sexual assault and serial killers. The core theoretical element throughout will be the analysis of the respective influence of political and cultural organisations – such as the police, government, penal reform system, media and civil society – through various conceptual lenses including new institutionalism. As a result, the strong emphasis of the course is the overlap between law and politics, and acknowledgment of the duality endemic to the UK’s criminal justice approach that starkly labels female conduct as either good or bad and overlooks, and harmfully assimilates, important minority perspectives. Through specific empirical application, such as the case of Lucy Letby, the need for appropriate protection for sex workers and the ‘Bradford Murders’, and the call for public inquiry into ‘rape gangs’, students will be able to consider the regulatory challenges this binary creates when women are seen to be conforming to more than one stereotype.

The module has no pre-requisites. Although principally concerning public policy, it comprises a multi-disciplinary approach to politics, law and criminology, and will appeal not only to students interested in women’s issues, but to those concerned with the interconnectedness between law and politics. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

The course is divided into policy domains that are explored through three points of inquiry; the first will concern how women are regulated in the 21^st century, including the current statutory schemes, and the range of legal and policy instruments designed to shape and influence behaviour. The second section will question why these policy domains are shaped in this manner, and the influence of key institutions in this process will be critically examined. Finally, the intersectional consequences of such governance both for women directly engaged in such activities, and for the gender more generally, will be evaluated, and future lessons for policymakers suggested.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. understand the intersectional nature of how women are regulated across the three legal jurisdictions of the UK;
• 2. critically assess how law and policy is created and perpetuated across these policy domains.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. analyse a range of theoretical approaches to comparative policy analysis, including institutional approaches;
• 4. analyse the role of key institutions and actors both at the macro level of policy formulation, and at the micro implementation stage.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. articulate the legal and political complexities that regulate women, and the intersectional consequences of such activity;
• 6. engage real world dilemmas and propose evidence-based solutions to these problems.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The organisation of political life, abortion policy and reproductive freedom
• Evidence based policymaking and professionals
• The regulation of sex work
• Sex for sale in the EU
• Women who kill
• Pornography
• Intersectionality in public inquiries
• Rape legislation
• Policy implementation and SLBs
• Girls and juvenile offending

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

• Amery, Fran. 2020. Beyond pro-life and pro-choice: The changing politics of abortion in Britain. Bristol University Press.
• Cooper, Sarah. 2023. Analysing Gender in Healthcare: The Politics of Sex and Reproduction. Springer Nature.
• Cooper, Sarah. 2016. Regulating Women: Policymaking and Practice in the UK. Rowman and Littlefield.
• Gjika, A. 2023. When Rape Goes Viral: Youth and Sexual assault in the Digital Age. University of California Press.
• Kantola, Johanna, and Georgina Waylen. 2024. "Analysing legislatures using a feminist institutionalist lens." European Journal of Politics and Gender: 1-24.
• Krook, Mona Lena, and Fiona Mackay, eds. 2010. Gender, Politics and Institutions: Towards a Feminist Institutionalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Lowndes, Vivien and Mark Roberts. 2013. Why Institutions Matter: The New Institutionalism in Political Science. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Meshelemiah, J. C., Thanises, A. C., & Yeboah, P. O. (2025). Sex trafficked women, drug dealers, and men who buy sex: A look at “race”. Violence Against Women, 31(2), 637-663.
• Williamson, M. (2025). Cultural Influences on Transgender Rights: Examining the Role of Religion. Politics & Gender, 1-27.
• Zempi, Irene. 2021. Misogyny as hate crime. Ed. Jo Smith. London: Routledge.

Key words search

Women-Criminal Justice System-Law-Policy-Intersectionality