The academic network “Gender and Criminal Justice” brings together interdisciplinary scholars with the goal of systematically advance current gender and queer theoretical approaches in social science and humanities research on the criminal justice system, thereby providing the impetus and infrastructure for a focused examination of the categories of gender and sexuality in German-language criminological research.

The founders—Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dörte Negnal (Faculty II), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Anika Gomille (Faculty III), M.A. Doreen Muhl (Faculty II), and Prof. Dr. Friederike Faust (University of Göttingen), based on their previous work in criminological theory and empirical research, share the view that, since the early 1990s, gender-theoretical perspectives on criminal justice have largely stagnated in German-language criminology, resulting in a loss of connection to the corresponding international debates. While German-language criminological research has pursued a gender-sensitive approach, gender-theoretical discussions on criminal justice have primarily taken place within other academic circles in the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences. In this regard, we see the potential for a criminology in Germany that is capable of engaging with the international community and is equipped to meet the challenges of the present in building a bridge between the two approaches and their further development through dialogue. For a criminology capable of arguing from a gender-theoretical perspective is, first, fundamental to adequately defining the subject matter of an interdisciplinary field—after all, gender itself is centrally embedded within it; second, it provides the analytical tools needed to critically analyze current, socially polarizing issues surrounding gender and the criminal justice system from a power-critical perspective and to make criminological contributions.

By focusing on the criminal justice system, we address core areas of criminological research of high gender relevance. The criminal justice system—understood as the institutions and processes through which the state enforces norms—is permeated by societal conceptions of gender and, at the same time, exerts a reciprocal influence on them. Current debates surrounding gender and the criminal justice system—for example, questions regarding gender and sexual self-determination, the treatment of transgender individuals in detention, the criminal justice response to sexualized violence, or post-categorical law, are expressions of these entanglements, which require a theoretical framework that is internationally relevant.

Given that marginalized groups continue to face disproportionate encounters with the criminal justice system, we consider an intersectional, gender-critical examination in this area of criminological research to be fundamental. In this sense, the focus on the criminal justice system serves as a barometer for better understanding the power and domination dynamics of state norm-enforcement processes and for assessing their impact on groups of people facing multiple forms of discrimination. In doing so, we build upon the gender-theoretical debates initiated in the 1970s and80s and discuss their further development in light of international gender- and queer-theoretical analyses and with an eye toward the current German-language research landscape, which is primarily concentrated in the field of corrections. This requires a structured, interdisciplinary exchange of ideas over several years between gender-sensitive and theory-oriented perspectives, as well as with those of Anglophone gender- and queer-theoretical criminology. The network will foster these exchanges through joint workshops, publications, conferences, and the development of research project proposals.