NCJ Number
187851
Journal
Critical Criminology Volume: 9 Issue: 1/2 Dated: Autumn 2000 Pages: 9-21
Date Published
2000
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article uses a case study approach to explore the issues of class conflict, racism, sexism, and sociology of psychiatric diagnosis.
Abstract
The case study features Lisa, a 22-year-old Aboriginal prostitute, in and out of psychiatric institutions and jails since a teenager, who was convicted of robbery and assault with a weapon, labeled a dangerous offender (DO), and sentenced to an indeterminate (life) term. The sentence was appealed, partly on the grounds that the DO designation had been made in reliance on stereotypes and myths about women involved in the criminal justice system. In addition, the psychiatric evidence against her was based on data from samples of male offenders and should not have been applied to female offenders. Much of the psychiatric evidence suggested that she was both homosexual and sadistic, thus making her sexual orientation an indicator of pathology and a reason for the indeterminate sentence as a dangerous offender. The court gave little or no serious attention to Lisa's chronic drug abuse and did not address the structural inequality of her ghetto community. The article describes this case as an illustration of the intersection of class conflict, gendered roles, and racism. The dangerous offenders provisions became part of society's effort to maintain ideological, gender, and structural hegemony while doing as little as possible to address the underlying conditions that led to Lisa's instrumental use of violence. Lisa's designation as a DO was reversed and vacated; the article briefly describes the grounds for the reversal and some of the consequences for Canadian criminal law. Notes, references