Conversations with Feminist Theory: Feminist Pathways, Carceral Logic, and the Abuse-to-Incarceration Pipeline

• In Event: Researching and Responding to Patriarchy and Gendered Violence

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that mainstream feminist literature views interpersonal violence through a carceral lens with a primary focus on cisgender, heterosexual white girls. Feminist pathways take a similar approach, particularly when examining the abuse to incarceration pipeline unique to girls. The problem with this perspective when examining the abuse to incarceration pipeline is continued validation of the state’s authority in its role in making and enforcing laws such as status offenses (i.e., only laws that apply to minors) and the criminalization of survival behavior. This is evident in the description of girls’ behavior as “crimes” rather than examining the criminalization of both normal teenage behavior such as status offenses and survival behavior as a result of trauma. This article situates itself within racial and gendered institutions theory and Black feminist theory to make visible feminist pathways literature’s continued use of carceral feminism. Using the “thinking with theory” (Jackson & Mazzei, 2017) approach, the authors identify core aspects of the feminist pathway paradigm and present a novel multi theoretical framework that effectively centers intersecting forms of oppression and advocates that to prevent harm, and mitigate existing harm, the response to girls should be race-conscious, trauma-informed, and anti-carceral.

Authors

• Elizabeth Moberly, West Virginia University

• Mackenzie Freeman, West Virginia University

• Brandie Pugh, West Virginia University