COMPARATIVE CRIMINALIZATION: CULTURAL MEANINGS OF ADULTERY AND GENDER VIOLENCE IN HAWAI‘I IN 1850 AND 1990

Authors

Sally Engle Merry, Wellesley CollegeFollow

Abstract

This essay analyzes the impact of court cases concerning sexuality and adultery on customary understandings of kinship and gender in Hilo, Hawai‘i. During the periods covered the nature of the cases, the content of the law, and the implementation of punishment changed radically. Nevertheless, there are similarities in modes of criminalization during the 1840s and 1850s, on the one hand, and during the 1990s, on the other. Both used the authority and sanctioning power of the law to redefine marriage and gender relations. Both were implemented through local practices of police, courts, and corrections/treatment officials, which provided incentives for compliance as well as opportunities for resistance, evasion, and noncompliance from the general population. The periods are also substantially different. The first sought to place women under the control of husbands in a private sphere beyond the law, while the second invited the law into the family to protect the woman. A comparison provides insight into changes in the elements that focus the moral values of a community.

Recommended Citation

Merry, Sally Engle (2002) "COMPARATIVE CRIMINALIZATION: CULTURAL MEANINGS OF ADULTERY AND GENDER VIOLENCE IN HAWAI‘I IN 1850 AND 1990," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol25/iss1/8