1 Introduction
The idea of this book arose from informal discussions about our research subjects at different times during our academic careers. These conversations were informal because in the academic context in Portugal, it is common for one researcher to work within the crime and prison studies area while another works within the juvenile delinquency area. Recognizing the thriving body of recent gender-based research around female crime and delinquency in the country, we decided to create academic opportunities for sharing our studies and our views on the topic, while we tried to find a common basis for debate. In 2013 in Oporto, we organized a panel during the European Society of Criminology Meeting, with Portuguese submissions only. Despite our multidisciplinary fields of interest and diverse topics of analysis, we all felt we had some common ground and many new leads to consider.
Many questions arose during our discussion. Some of these were, What is the role that structural gender inequalities play in women’s and girls’ lives and in their relationship to the justice system? Are stories of victimization common to girls and women who end up in the justice system? Are there possible important connections between victimization and criminal behaviour? Is there a single story about the links between gender and delinquency or crime ? Or, on the other hand, despite some similarities, are there differences among women when we focus on specific crimes or particular situations? What links are we able to establish between female crime and female delinquency ?
So, we decided to expand what was a localised debate in a room at a conference into a wider net of possibilities by publishing it in book format. If on the one hand, multidisciplinary research on female crime and delinquency has increasingly focused on transgressive girls and women, on the other hand, discussions on the link between gender and crime or delinquency still have a long way to go. We have compiled this book in order to explore the interdisciplinary views on this link critically and reflectively, while supporting a gender-sensitive reading.
It is certain that there is room for much more discussion, and that this book does not intend to cover all recent trends in a wide range of phenomena, especially because many of these have not even been studied in Portugal yet. We hope, however, that this venture will be challenging enough to re-ignite discussions on female crime and delinquency internationally, leading lawmakers, politicians, academics and practitioners (in schools, neighbourhoods , the juvenile justice system , the criminal justice system, etc.) towards a better understanding of and more successful intervention in various contexts.
The goal is not only to give visibility to other contexts in which we may gain knowledge about female crime and delinquency , but also to find other ways of conceptualizing and reconfiguring how we think about society.
2 Why Do We Need To Talk About Portugal?
Many prospective readers may now be wondering why they should want to read about female crime and delinquency studies conducted in a small country in Europe. Or, at best, readers may be questioning whether the book will add something new to what is already known about girls and women in crime and the justice system.
As much of the gender and feminist criminological research on female crime and delinquency originates and is spread from the United States and United Kingdom, we aim to give visibility to the research being developed in more peripheral countries, thereby offering a valuable contribution to the existing literature on the subject. What many researchers may see as non-original is pioneering work in the Portuguese context in studies on female crime and delinquency and the justice system. Moreover, it is essential for understanding dynamics and content in a comparative cross-cultural way. If there is no space in the international context to understand cultural idiosyncrasies, knowledge is limited to what has been mainstream in these matters. These chapters do not ignore international studies and, therefore, major concepts and theoretical approaches from different contexts are used and support part of the work offered by the authors of this book. Even if these concepts converge with international studies, and even if theoretical approaches move national studies in certain common directions, together they also offer relevant and specific findings worthy of comparative exploration.
Although focused on female offenders and the criminal justice system in Portugal, all chapters consider international concepts and theoretical frameworks in order to understand both the differences and the similarities between Portuguese and international realities in the varied topics covered.
To examine the Portuguese context more searchingly, and to be able to understand its particular dynamics, it is important to clarify some legal aspects and to position it statistically in comparison with other societies. In Portugal, as in Italy and Spain, juvenile offenders are managed by authorities other than those within the Prison Administration. Legally, it is from the age of 16 onwards only that a person is considered to be responsible for his actions. Any offence committed up to this age limit, even if it could be qualified as a crime under criminal law , can be subject only to intervention that leads to the establishment of protective and educational measures. The child or young person is never subjected to criminal trial. Thus, nationally, it is not possible to talk about juvenile crime, except for acts committed by persons over 16 years old, when they are already considered criminally liable (see clarification by Duarte and Carvalho 2015, 2017) . Therefore, we distinguish conceptually between delinquent practice and criminal practice, and we engage with two separate systems which focus on and deal with two different law-breaking populations : under 16, both girls and boys fall under a special measure called the Educational Guardianship Law (LTE) ; after turning 16, young adults and adults are under the Penal Code.
As opposed to what happens (more and more) internationally, with a very punitive approach to juvenile delinquents being practised in many countries, in Portugal the juvenile system maintains ...