Black Feminist Criminology

Zina McGee & Sophia Buxton & Tyrell Connor

Black feminist thought is collective knowledge used to empower African American women. Such knowledge empowers women by making them conscious of how change can occur in their everyday lives. This entry first reviews the status of African American women and describes key themes in Black feminist thought. It then considers ways in which an understanding of the values emphasized by Black feminism might decrease the rates of criminal behavior among African American women. Research suggests that African American women in the United States share a variety of common experiences, such as family and work within the African American culture, that are not experienced by non-African Americans or by males. Though there are commonalties in the experiences among African American women, this does not suggest every experience or its significance is the same. Some sociologists suggest that African American women have been thought to be oppressed; however, Black feminist thought challenges ...

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