Avoid and Delegate

Chapter 7 traces how law enforcement managed their sense of disempowerment. When women showed up unaccompanied, they suppressed their complaints. But when had organized help, law enforcement neither suppressed their claims nor did their jobs. Instead, they “incorporated” organized women into regulatory functions. Incorporation took two forms. First, law enforcement reassigned casework by urging women to conduct investigations, round up witnesses, and deliver documents. At other times, they promoted “parallel claims,” encouraging women to extract concessions and carry out extralegal punishment.