The first part of the paper examines the realities of criminalization agendas and increased punitiveness through incarceration rates. The second part explains the dependence on criminal law and criminal justice institutions by feminists and new social movements. Focusing on wife assault and battery, this part points out strategies of criminalization have benefited privileged white women at the expense of women of color, aborigines, and immigrants and identifies problems with the failure to engender social control concepts. The third part looks at what is known about policies and strategies having the potential to transcend criminalization and facilitate social transformation, paying special attention to the construction, roots, and maintenance of hegemonic masculinity. Overall, the author argues that effective social control of aberrant behavior must be sought outside criminal justice institutions and that the feminist and progressive focus should shift toward examining how to create less violent persons (particularly men), families, communities, and societies. 239 references and 28 footnotes