Animal rights is one of the fastest growing social movements today. Women greatly outnumber men as activists, yet surprisingly, little has been written about the importance and impact of gender on the movement. Women and the Animal Rights Movement combats stereotypes of women activists as mere sentimentalists by exploring the political and moral character of their advocacy on behalf of animals. Emily Gaarder analyzes the politics of gender in the movement, incorporating in-depth interviews with women and participant observation of animal rights organizations, conferences, and protests to describe struggles over divisions of labor and leadership. Controversies over PETA advertising campaigns that rely on women's sexuality to "sell" animal rights illustrate how female crusaders are asked to prioritize the cause of animals above all else. Gaarder underscores the importance of a paradigm shift in the animal liberation movement, one that seeks a more integrated vision of animal rights that connects universally to other issues--gender, race, economics, and the environment--highlighting that many women activists recognize and are motivated by the connection between the oppression of animals and other social injustices.

Restorative justice (RJ) emerged as a response to the limitations of the Western criminal/legal system. Proponents of RJ suggest that ordinary people affected by crime should be given the means to define and participate in responses aimed at repairing harmful action. The development of RJ victim–offender mediation programmes in Scandinavian countries was influenced by Nils Christie's argument that government, through the criminal justice system, steals conflict from those most directly affected by it: victims and offenders. Other criminological perspectives linked to RJ include: peacemaking criminology; John Braithwaite's concept of reintegrative shaming, which helped form the basis for the police conferencing model developed in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia; and Lawrence Sherman's defiance theory. In addition to indigenous justice practices, formative influences on RJ include victim advocacy groups, the restitution movement, informal justice proponents, prison abolitionists, social justice groups and religious communities such as the Mennonites in North America.

There is much debate about the appropriateness of using restorative justice (RJ) to address intimate partner violence (IPV). This qualitative research examines a restorative pilot programme in Minnesota specifically designed for cases of partner violence. The programme involved separate restorative processes for each party-sentencing circles for offenders and support circles for victims. It enlisted the help of family and community members to disrupt abusive patterns. The programme appeared to decrease violent actions of offenders and increase safety, social support and material resources for some victims. The results offer useful lessons for the development of RJ practices for partner violence, including how to integrate the values and practices of RJ with those of the battered women's movement.

This article reports on the development and use of restorative circles for delinquent girls. Our study focused on a program unique in its goal of blending restorative justice with gender-responsive philosophies and practices. The Amicus Girls Restorative Justice program involved two populations: serious or chronically offending girls at a residential treatment facility and girls on probation or in juvenile detention. Using participant observation and interviews, we demonstrate that restorative gender-responsive programming is still in its infancy, as major elements of restorative justice were absent from one of these sites. The program still serves as an instructive example of a recent innovation, demonstrating that when the vision of restorative gender-responsive programming is most fully actualized, it provides tremendous benefits to girls involved in the justice system. Keywords: restorative justicegender-responsive programminggirlsdelinquency Acknowledgement Special thanks to Tonya Slager, our excellent research assistant on this project. Notes 1. All names have been changed. 2. Kasey's circle included five other girls at the institution, three program staff (including her grief and trauma counselor), her probation officer, her athletic coach from her high school, and the authors. 3. There is some debate in the literature regarding the importance of gender-responsive programming. Some argue that gender and patriarchy are central to our understanding girls' risk factors for delinquency and resulting programmatic needs (see Belknap & Holsinger, 2006 Belknap, J. and Holsinger, K. 2006. The gendered nature of risk factors for delinquency. Feminist Criminology, 1: 48–71. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), while others (see Latessa, Cullen, & Gendreau, 2002 Latessa, E., Cullen, F. and Gendreau, P. 2002. Beyond correctional quackery: Professionalism and the possibility of effective treatment. Federal Probation, 66: 43–49. [Google Scholar]) maintain that risk factors and 'best practices' are similar for males and females. 4. Minnesota's juvenile justice system is largely county-based. Counties have the option of committing serious or chronically offending youth to the Commissioner of Corrections (i.e. 'state-committed'). 5. Researchers sometimes overlook the collaborative effort between juvenile courts, correctional programs, probation agents, crime victims, and volunteer communities in pursuing the goals of RJ. The impact of RJ is often related to coordinated efforts within the existing system (Bazemore & Umbreit, 1995 Bazemore, G. and Umbreit, M.S. 1995. Rethinking the sanctioning function in juvenile court: Retributive or restorative responses to youth crime. Crime & Delinquency, 41: 296–316. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2001). We found the collaboration between the residential facility and Amicus to be a crucial element in the program's success. 6. One girl ran from the program while completing its final stage of semi-independent living. She had received information that her mother was in trouble, and so returned home in an attempt to help. The girl kept in phone contact with her Radius counselor while on the run, a notable testament to the relationship-building that was a hallmark of the program.

A striking characteristic of the animal rights movement is that women constitute the majority of its activists. This qualitative study of twenty-seven women animal rights activists analyzes how they make sense of their centrality in the movement. The article discusses how cultural discourses regarding sex and gender shape the way women activists interpret their own activism, and the predominance of women in the movement. Their accounts often seek to explain the absence of men more than the presence of women. Women activists explain their large presence in animal rights through biological influences, social learning, and empathy based on common oppressions. As they considered the connection between gender and animal rights activism, women alternatively accepted, rejected, and reformulated dominant ideas about sex and gender. Their complex accounts of the relationship between gender and animal activism highlight the inherently political nature of their choice to become activists.

This qualitative study of 27 women animal activists examines the risks and rewards that accompany a commitment to animal rights activism. One of the common beliefs about animal rights activists is that their political choices are fanatic and unyielding, resulting in rigid self-denial. Contrary to this notion, the women in this study experienced both the pain and the joy of their transformation toward animal activism. Activism took an enormous toll on their personal relationships, careers, and emotional well being. They struggled as friendships ended and family relationships suffered; some experienced harassment and abuse as a result of their efforts. Yet the women were just as likely to extol the rewards and pleasure gained from their participation in the cause of animal liberation. These included a heightened awareness of political issues, greater self-confidence, the feeling that they were making a difference in the world, and the joy of living a "more meaningful life.".

Recidivism reduction is an important objective of restorative justice programs. However, too much attention to recidivism may marginalize basic goals of restorative justice-particularly that of healing harms. In this paperwe speculate on the prospects for restorative justice if recidivism rates of participating offenderswere not monitored. Weforesee both positive and negative consequences. Neglecting recidivism may undermine relationships between restorative justice programs and government agencies, insofar as the latter are chiefly concerned with offender management. Restorative justice also needs support from a public that wants "results." Yet, a restorative justice untethered to the recidivism project could deliver the balanced approach it promises, attending to the needs of victim, offender, and community. We conclude that current arrangements, including institutions and attitudes, sustain restorative justice but also constrainwhat it can be. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.

Women who participate in outdoor recreational activities reap many physical and emotional benefits from their experiences. However, gender-related feelings of objectification, vulnerability, and fear in this space limit women’s participation. In this study, the authors investigate how women pursue their enjoyment of urban outdoor recreation at South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona, despite their perceptions and experiences related to fear of violence. Through surveys and interviews with women who recreate at South Mountain, the authors look at the ways the women cope with their fear using various strategies. This study reveals the gender-related conflicts that persist for participants, who grapple with their appreciation of uncompromised nature and their need to feel safe in this environment. Ultimately, they illustrate how an ongoing negotiation exists for the women as the authors balance choices and concerns related to their outdoor recreation and what aspects of surveillance and control they consider, reject, or accept.

This study examines the perceptions of girls held by juvenile probation officers, psychologists, and others involved in juvenile court decision making. Through qualitative analysis of girls' probation case files and in-depth interviews with juvenile probation officers, we discuss the social construction of gender, race, culture, and class. Our findings suggest that in an environment marked by scarce resources, gender and racial/ethnic stereotypes leave girls few options for treatment and services in the juvenile court. Some probation officers expressed distaste for working with girls and had little understanding of culturally or gender-specific programming. Others were frustrated by the lack of programming options for girls in the state. Based on our findings, we question whether the current ideology or structure of juvenile probation can nurture a holistic approach to justice for girls.

Despite the growing trend of waiving youth to adult/criminal court, little is known about how convicted youth experience adult prison. To date, no research has been published about girls in adult prisons. In this study, intensive interviews were conducted with 22 girls serving time in a women's prison in the Midwest, as well as four staff working in the girls ' unit. The findings describe the complex lives of girls housed in an adult women's prison, in particular, their difficulties in gaining access to adequate schooling, work training, counseling, and health care. We also address the girls' contact with adult women prisoners, as well as their relationships with staff at the prison. Beyond improving their conditions of confinement, our research highlights the need to consider the appropriateness of placing girls in adult institutions.

There are tremendous gaps in our theories and knowledge about girls who have committed crimes deemed so serious as to justify adult sentencing. This study is guided by a feminist approach to "give voice" to 22 girls incarcerated in a women's prison in the Midwest. Through in-depth interviews, the girls describe their lives before prison and their perceptions of being tried and convicted as adults. Consistent with other research on female offenders, these girls reported lives fraught with violence and victimization, sexism, racism, and economic marginalization. This study calls for a more careful and complex look at issues of victimization, agency, and responsibility among female offenders, particularly those proclaimed "adults" by the legal system.

ABSTRACT This commentary examines how the politics of gender have influenced and shaped the modern debates over sexual abuse and memory. It explores the level of scrutiny applied to women accusers, the language used to characterize women within the debate, and why the sexual abuse memories of women have become the specific and focused target of “false memory proponents and the media”. A comparison is made between tactically similar backlash movements against women and feminism.

Introduction DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, OR BATTERING, [1] IS A SEEMINGLY INTRACTABLE PROBLEM Given its persistence over individual lifetimes, generations, and societies. Although recent years have seen a decline in battering incidents in the United States, in step with violent crime generally, it remains a problem affecting large numbers of women. In 1996, American women experienced an estimated 840,000 violent victimizations by an intimate (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999a). Some critics say that contemporary responses battering actually magnify abuse by reproducing women's powerlessness. Two common strategies that are designed help the battering victim, law and mediation, may undermine her power act. Laws that get tough on batterers have fallen short of their intended goals, in part because the extralegal causes of women's oppression remain unchanged (Smart, 1995: 156-157). Mediation, a non-legalistic alternative, is criticized for reinforcing the view of battering as a private matter (Lerman, 1984; Rowe, 1985; Menard and Salius, 1990). Moreover, both approaches circumscribe victims' action. Legal authorities assign the victim a passive role; mediators direct participants toward a single outcome, reconciliation. Thus, though typically polarized, law and mediation both govern the victim in the sense of determining the options available her (Foucault, 1982: 221). In recent years, the restorative movement has introduced new variations on mediation. These interventions promise social through healing encounters between victims and offenders, sponsored by community members. While feminists have all but rejected traditional mediation, restorative is being called a vision of justice (Harris, 1991; see also Pranis, 1998). Increasingly, the potential for restorative approaches reduce domestic violence is being revisited from this perspective (Yellott, 1990; Pennell and Burford, 1996; Nicholl, 1998). The purpose of this article is evaluate the potential of restorative programs reduce domestic violence. First, we examine current interventions that rely, respectively, on the power of law and the power of dialogue stem domestic violence. Second, we describe the restorative philosophy and consider the promises and the problems of restorative interventions for domestic violence. We discuss the lessons of the shelter movement, which has taken both legal and extra-legal action, for developing restorative responses battering. Contemporary Responses Battering Since the 1970s, two parallel approaches have been taken concerning battering. These two dominant and often contrasting approaches are here referred as the legal model and the mediation model. [2] The legal model is most often championed by feminists. The mediation model is associated with the informal movement, and has sustained heavy criticism from feminists. The Legal Model The Criminalization of Battering. In the United States, before the mid-1970s, battering was largely hidden from the public eye (Tierney, 1982). Women's abuse at the hands of their male partners was generally viewed at best as a private matter or, at worst, the prerogative of men. Accordingly, legal protections for battered women were limited except in some unusually brutal cases. Law enforcement officials maintained an explicitly hands-off approach the problem (Schechter, 1982: 157). Police officers were instructed to do anything except arrest violent husbands (Fagan, 1996: 8). Likewise, prosecutors were discouraged from actively pursuing cases. These policies were driven by cultural tolerance of domestic violence against women and legitimated by the view that women would later drop the charges (Ibid.). Vigorous activism by grass-roots feminist groups in the 1970s brought about legal reforms in three areas: arrest and prosecution policies, treatment of batterers, and restraining orders (Ibid. …