Does 'Law and Order' Perpetuate Misogynistic Ideas of Women and their Motivation to Kill?

CAMDEN – While the crime drama Law and Order celebrates its 20th season this fall, a Rutgers University–Camden criminologist explores the potential gender biases portrayed in NBC’s hit show.

Drew Humphries, editor of the recently published book Women, Violence, and the Media: Readings in Feminist Criminology

In her chapter, “Constructing Murderers: Female Killers of Law and Order,” Humphries outlines a study she conducted on 22 Law and Order episodes in the summer of 2001. According to her findings, “two-thirds of the female murderers met their victims in the context of the family . . . where sexual trauma, dysfunctional relationships, or vengeance drove them to kill.” Conversely, male killers were shown to commit their crimes in the context of work which, according to Humphries, illustrates the “masculine assumption” that women belong in the family.

In the 19 years that Law and Order has been on the air, however, a lot has changed regarding women and violent crimes, where women are most often the victims. Accordingly, her book is intended for college-age women studying criminal justice, serving as a guideline to better understand feminist criminology.

In a recent interview, Humphries, a professor at Rutgers–Camden since 1976, noted the slow, but important progress that has been made in the justice system.

“Twenty years ago, who heard of stalking?  But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Now there is a way to officially report and properly respond to incidents that have been happening, but were not being addressed. It will take time for mindsets to change about what acts are now punishable by law,” she says.

Humphries is the author of the book Crack Mothers: Drugs, Pregnancy and the Media.  In 2003, she won the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division on Women and Crime of the American Society of Criminology.  She teaches a variety of courses in the undergraduate and graduate criminal justice programs at Rutgers–Camden.

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Written by Courtney Preston.