Seotember 9, 2003

Worlds of Girls: In Trouble With the Law
Christiana Kinder at 6-8700


Greetings, Colleagues,

The first Great Cities Faculty Scholar Seminar will be held on Tuesday, September 9 at 3:00 pm in the large conference room.
Faculty Scholar Laurie Schaffner will present:
Worlds of Girls: In Trouble With the Law
The experiences and opinions of girls from low-income Chicago communities who are in trouble with the law are often underrepresented and misrepresented in public policy, academic research, as well as the media. While research on violence and trauma are of great interest to urban scholars, little is known about the reasons that assault ranks higher as a reason of arrest for girls than for boys, both in Chicago and nationwide. This work presents in a new light some of the challenges that half of our urban youth population face and explores the commodification of adolescent girls' sexuality and the rise in community violence for young women. Professor Laurie Schaffner is a sociologist in the UIC Criminal Justice Department whose work focuses on gender, adolescence, and the law. Her recent article in the International Journal of Children's Rights highlights paradoxes in the construction of adulthood when young men are transferred to adult corrections while young women are seen as innocent and naive victims of statutory rape. Dr. Schaffner is a co-founder of the Chicago Girls Coalition. Please RSVP to Christiana Kinder at 6-8700 and join us in welcoming Dr. Schaffner. We look forward to seeing you.