Intersectionality and Criminal Justice

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Aviah Day
• Assessment: a 4000-word essay (100%)

In this module we introduce you to, and allow you to critically engage with, intersectionality theories, concepts and approaches. Our emphasis is upon how this interpretive tool can be used to critically explore the interaction of race, gender, class, sexuality and disability with crime, crime policy and the criminal justice system. Also, how intersectionality theories and ideas are being used to understand crime policy and to critique extant criminal justice processes.

Indicative syllabus

• Origin stories: from Black feminism to intersectionality
• Bridging the gap between theory and praxis: ‘race’, class, gender and beyond
• Violence at the intersection
• The victim/perpetrator dichotomy
• Intersectionality and interdisciplinary knowledge
• Immigration, borders and violence
• Queer and trans lives, violence and justice
• Disabling justice
• Intersectionality as an analytical category and method
• Intersectionality wars
• Theory to praxis in the criminal justice system

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand, critically evaluate and deploy intersectionality theories, concepts and ideas
• critically analyse the relationship between intersectionality theory, criminological research and criminal justice practice
• understand and contextualise criminal justice policy debates and the theoretical perspectives within an intersectionality framework
• critically evaluate theoretical approaches to understanding crime and the criminal justice system informed key intersectionality debates
• articulate clearly and fluently your own views with regard to the viability of intersectionality theoretical concepts and ideas, as well as the impact on discussions of crime and criminal justice.