SOC 406- Women & Crime

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  SOC 406- Women & Crime
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a [Sociology] course for undergraduate students by Flor Saldana at California State University San Marcos. The open textbook provides required readings and videos to introduce/enhance students’ knowledge. Material covers theory, crime contexts, and criminal justice issues in the study of women and crime. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was reduce course costs for students. Most students access the open textbook in their Library Reserves list available through the library.

Course Title and Number: SOC 406: WOMEN & CRIME 
Brief Description of course highlights:  A critical analysis of women as offenders and victims of crime. How the social construction of gender impacts the processing of women in different stages of the criminal justice system (CSUSM Online Course Catalog)

Student population: Common students are Sociology and Criminology and Justice Studies majors, who are interested in criminal justice, government, non-profit sector, and law careers.

Learning or student outcomes: 
By the end of semester, students will be competent in the following areas:

1. Understand gender & patterns of crime
2. Compare diverse experiences relating to girls’/women’s involvement in crime (especially in relation to race, gender, class, nationality, sexual orientation, age).
3. Ability to sociologically examine contexts of offending for girls/women
4. Apply criminological knowledge to produce an intersectional analysis of women’s involvement in crime. 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. The greatest incentive was reducing course costs for students. I remember being a student and appreciating any savings in course materials.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I consulted librarians, other faculty, and evaluated open access resources relating to course topics.

Sharing Best Practices: My best advice is for faculty to start with the structure and units of study of their course in mind. Then evaluate open access resources that align with your course topics. I highly recommend consulting with a school librarian if you cannot find what you are looking for, librarians are an amazing and talented resource.
Describe any challenges you experienced, and lessons learned. 

One minor challenge was getting access to some of the readings in the course, however the issue was smoothly resolved with the help of librarians.

Flor Saldana  
Lecturer professor at California State University, San Marcos. I teach courses within sociology and criminology and justice studies.

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csusm.edu/sociology/facdirectory.html

Please describe the courses you teach.
I teach courses broadly within Sociology and Criminology disciplines

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  I love teaching college students and I am always looking for innovative practices in teaching. Learning should be enjoyable, as well as challenging and I always appreciate students' input in their own learning.  Research interests are medical sociology, Latinx communities, technology and society, teaching equity practices, and higher education. I am passionate about my role as an educator, research collaborations, and teaching a diverse student body in the CSU system.

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: 
Brief Description: The required readings are structured in 3 units: Unit I (Gender & Criminology) includes readings covering criminological theory and crime patterns, Unit II (Women/Girls and Contexts of Offending) covers readings on women/girls in gangs, media, drug use and drug trafficking, narco culture, and lastly Unit III: (Women/Girls and Criminal Legal System) includes readings on gender-based abuse, gender and punishment, and state-sanctioned violence.

Please provide a link to the resource

• Britton, D. M. (2000). Feminism in Criminology: Engendering the Outlaw. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 571(1), 57–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/000271620057100105 
• Kruttschnitt, C. (2010). The paradox of women’s imprisonment. Daedalus (Cambridge, Mass.), 139(3), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00021 
• Cops, D., & Pleysier, S. (2011). “DOING GENDER” IN FEAR OF CRIME: The Impact of Gender Identity on Reported Levels of Fear of Crime in Adolescents and Young Adults. British Journal of Criminology, 51(1), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azq065 
• Steffensmeier, D., & Allan, E. (1996). Gender and Crime: Toward a Gendered Theory of Female Offending. Annual Review of Sociology, 22(1), 459–487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.22.1.459 
• Belknap, J., & Holsinger, K. (2006). The Gendered Nature of Risk Factors for Delinquency. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 48–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085105282897 
• Potter, H. (2013). Intersectional Criminology: Interrogating Identity and Power in Criminological Research and Theory. Critical Criminology (Richmond, B.C.), 21(3), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-013-9203-6 
• Lopez, V., & Pasko, L. (2017). Bringing Latinas to the Forefront: Latina Girls, Women, and the Justice System. Feminist Criminology, 12(3), 195–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085117703235 
• Farr, K. A. (2000). Defeminizing and Dehumanizing Female Murderers: Depictions of Lesbians on Death Row. Women & Criminal Justice, 11(1), 49–66. https://doi.org/10.1300/J012v11n01_03  
• Chesney-Lind, M., & Eliason, M. (2006). From invisible to incorrigible: The demonization of marginalized women and girls. Crime, Media, Culture, 2(1), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659006061709 
• Berrington, E., & Honkatukia, P. (2002). An Evil Monster and a Poor Thing: Female Violence in the Media. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 3(1), 50–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/140438502762467209 
• Rose, R. E., Singh, S., Berezin, M. N., & Javdani, S. (2023). “Roses have thorns for a reason”: The promises and perils of critical youth participatory research with system-impacted girls of Color. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12651  
• United States. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Girls Study Group, & Zahn, M. A. (Eds.). (2010). Report: Causes and correlates of girls’ delinquency / by Margaret A. Zahn [and others]. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
• Odem, M. E. (1995). Read Chapter 2: Delinquent daughters : protecting and policing adolescent female sexuality in the United States, 1885-1920 / Mary E. Odem. The University of North Carolina Press; Chapel Hill ; London : The University of North Carolina Press.
 
• Sutton, T. E. (2017). The lives of female gang members: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 37, 142–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.10.001 
• Cepeda, A., & Valdez, A. (2003). Risk Behaviors Among Young Mexican American Gang-Associated Females: Sexual Relations, Partying, Substance Use, and Crime. Journal of Adolescent Research, 18(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558402238278   
• Springer, K. W. (2010). The Race and Class Privilege of Motherhood: The New York Times Presentations of Pregnant Drug-Using Women. Sociological Forum (Randolph, N.J.), 25(3), 476–499. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1573-7861.2010.01192.x  
• Du Rose, N. (2015). Read Pages (17-31): The governance of female drug users : Women’s experiences of drug policy (1st ed., Vol. 50872). Policy Press; Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89h83 
• Campbell, H. (2008). Female Drug Smugglers on the U-S.-Mexico Border: Gender, Crime, and Empowerment. Anthropological Quarterly, 81(1), 233–267. https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2008.0004 
• Sánchez, C. A. (2020). (Read Chapter 1): A sense of brutality : philosophy after narco-culture / Carlos Alberto Sánchez. Amherst College Press; Amherst, Massachusetts : Amherst College Press. https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/90769
• Jorge, M. S. (2021). (Read English version in Module): Narcocultura visual e feminismo liberal: um estudo de caso. Estudos Históricos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 34(72), 148–168. https://doi.org/10.1590/s2178-149420210108 
• Davis, A. Y. (Angela Y. (2003). (Read Chapter 4): Are prisons obsolete? / Angela Y. Davis. Seven Stories Press; New York : Seven Stories Press.
• Pasko, L., & Lopez, V. (2018). The Latina penalty: Juvenile correctional attitudes toward the Latina juvenile offender. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 16(4), 272–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2015.1015196  
• Maldonado-Fabela, K. L. (2022). “In and Out of Crisis”: Life Course Criminalization for Jefas in the Barrio. Critical Criminology (Richmond, B.C.), 30(1), 133–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-022-09615-2  
• Monterrosa, A. E. (2023). Imprisoning Intimacy: The Expanding Sites of Racialized-Gendered Carceral Violence. Gender & Society, 37(3), 447–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231171169 
• Paltrow, L. M. (2022). Roe v Wade and the New Jane Crow: Reproductive Rights in the Age of Mass Incarceration. American Journal of Public Health (1971), 112(9), 1313–1317. 
• Wirtz, A. L., Poteat, T. C., Malik, M., & Glass, N. (2020). Gender-Based Violence Against Transgender People in the United States: A Call for Research and Programming. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(2), 227–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018757749  
• Suzor, N., Dragiewicz, M., Harris, B., Gillett, R., Burgess, J., & Van Geelen, T. (2019). Human Rights by Design: The Responsibilities of Social Media Platforms to Address Gender‐Based Violence Online. Policy and Internet, 11(1), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.185
• Rieger, A., Blackburn, A. M., Bystrynski, J. B., Garthe, R. C., & Allen, N. E. (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender-based violence in the United States: Framework and policy recommendations. Psychological Trauma, 14(3), 471–479. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001056

Student access:  Students access their course readings and videos online and through Library Reserves via Canvas. Students use their personal laptop, mobile device, and/or school library computers to access material.  

Supplemental resources:  I provide PDF to give students a resource on citing: Source Title: Quick Tips for ASA Citation Style 

https://www.asanet.org/wp-content/uploads/savvy/documents/teaching/pdfs/Quick_Tips_for_ASA_Style.pdf 

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  Average cost $61

License: Materials are available for free online (open access) or available through Library Reserves.