Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Member Profiles section of the SARAH newsletter!
In this edition, we introduce you to Pat Van Voorhis, a professor in the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Cincinnati and Jennifer Scroggins, a Ph.D. student at the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Pat Van Voorhis has served the field of gender and crime in multiple capacities. She has published numerous peer reviewed articles, books, and book chapters that focus on risk assessment, prison classification, gender-responsive classification instruments, outcome measures, and treatment within corrections. In her profile, she tells us about the impact that others had upon her entrance into the field of gender and crime, the significance of utilizing research for social change, and her commitment to the field and to her students.
Jennifer Scroggins’ research interests include the relationships between inequality, race, and gender, feminist theory, women’s reentry and environmental crime. She has served as a teaching assistant for numerous courses in Sociology and was recently invited to give a talk on active non-racism. In her profile, she tells us about how a book used in her Introduction to Criminology course stimulated her interest in gender and crime, the importance of outside interests, and how narrowing her focus within academics has led her to a field about which she has become very passionate.
If you have suggestions for DWC members or significant contributors to the field of women and crime that you would like to see profiled, please contact Venezia Michalsen at michalsenv@mail.montclair.edu or Alana Van Gundy-Yoder at yoderal@muohio.edu. We would enjoy hearing from you!
Until next edition,
Venezia and Alana
DR. PAT VAN VOORHIS
DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
How did you become interested in the field of women and/or gender and crime?
This area was just beginning while I was in graduate school, quite a while ago. My advisor, Rita Warren planted a number of seeds. Then upon moving to my first academic position, at Indiana State University, and especially upon my move to the University of Cincinnati, I became involved in activism, as a member of the Board of Directors of Crazy Ladies Bookstore, an associate faculty member in the UC Department of Women’s Studies, and the co-founder of a community dialogue, called Bridges to Feminist Understanding. For several years I taught a course titled Women, Children and Courts. My friendship with Joanne Belknap was also instrumental; Jo can certainly keep the issues out in front of us. Probably like many women in DWC, my own experiences with salary differentials, health care costs, power imbalances and others sources of differential treatment, motivated me to an interest in documenting women’s issues.
How do you define yourself as a scholar/activist/educator?
Maybe it is age and the fact that I am coming near to the end of my career, but scholarship that cannot inform needed social change is of no interest to me. My early interests in research/advocacy involved me and other scholars in studies of correctional effectiveness. These clearly ran contrary to philosophies that espoused “nothing works” or advocated “punishing smarter”. More recent work on women offenders has been even more rewarding—and contentious. In both cases—prevailing federal and state policies of cutting funds to correctional treatment or those that ignored relevant services to women offenders —needed to be countered by research evidence. It has been fun to be a small part of the effort to amass that evidence and even more fun to see my students making their own contributions, e.g., towards further validation of women’s pathways, controlled studies of gender-responsive programs, etc. When change is the priority, however, the projects do not stop with the research. We have had to be a very active part of the research dissemination process and be prepared to leave our offices to help agencies use relevant research or give talks to policy makers and practitioners. I spend A LOT of time training agencies and meeting with their administrators. It is much fun to bring this work into the classroom as well…to teach core course materials and then to move to “this is where we hope to be having an impact.” So “how do I define myself as a scholar/activist/educator?” I desire my scholarship to have implications for social change, I am prepared to bring it to the field myself, and I enjoy bringing this work to students, having them join my efforts, and then observing their careers unfold.
What are your current projects or interests?
I have two projects underway at the present time. The largest is a continuation of the Women Offender Classification Project, originally funded by NIC. At the outset of this project, I had been bothered by earlier perspectives on offender risk factors which failed to mention problems that many believed were bringing women back into the justice system–like trauma, abuse, depression, self-efficacy, relationship issues, and parenting issues. Women’s risk factors were not appropriately understood, because most criminological and correctional research focused on male offenders. The worst part of this is that risk factors lead to funding priorities and funding priorities determine whether these needs will be addressed. Long- story-short; our research (and other studies) have shown that abuse, depression, self-efficacy, relationship dysfunction and parental stress are risk factors for women. We have completed the design of new risk/needs assessments for women offenders. Our work now is to help states implement these instruments. With statewide adoptions taking place in California, Michigan, New Mexico, and Georgia, we really hope that the assessments will call attention to the need to build the programs that can effectively target gender-responsive risk factors. By the way, we are also happy to provide the risk scales to researchers (see, www.uc.edu/womenoffenders).
The second project is my ongoing work with the Georgia Department of Corrections to implement evidence-based practice in institutions and re-entry programs. This is a multi-pronged research and development project that has measured the progress of implementation over-time, while also training practitioners to facilitate evidence-based programs. We are currently matching the program data to outcomes over time, as the models became more and more integrated into state practice. We have also begun to track women’s programs.
Who is your favorite person (or animal!) to spend time with, and what are your favorite things to do when you are with them?
I have been in a very happy, 20-year relationship with Kathleen Mack, a psychotherapist in Cincinnati. We enjoy discussions of each other’s work, but spend most of our leisure time outdoors. A few years ago we purchased a log cabin and a rehabbed caboose (that’s right) in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio. We get there about once a month for a good deal of hiking among caves, waterfalls and cliffs. We like to entertain friends there as well. Our best times are also on golf courses and in kayaks off the Gulf Coast of Florida or in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. We have and love a red poodle Annie, and a “tortey” cat, Zena (warrior princess) who showed up on our porch as an abandoned kitty and made a strong case for being in our lives.
How do you wind down after a stressful day?
I am very good at this! Our day often does not end until 7 or 8 pm, but it is punctuated by a glass of wine, the TV news shows (wasn’t it fun keeping up with this last Presidential election?) or a sports event. One must also have quality time with the animals and keep up with extended family. I highly recommend hot tubs, and two nights a week (if I am not traveling) I stop at the gym on my way home. Often, I like to cook some dish with 50 ingredients in it! I try to impress upon my students that it is possible to enjoy life and be productive.
What obstacles do you feel you have overcome to be where you are today?
…the usual. My story likely does not differ from those told by other female academics of my generation. I used to talk a lot about it, but now it only drains energy to do so. I have been through peaks and valleys. Some of this story continues to this day. It is a much bigger story than the one that appears on this page, and became more poignant with my research on women’s issues….some day…maybe.
What would you like to be remembered for?
I would like to be remembered for the use of risk research to call greater attention to the needs of women offenders. I would also like to be remembered for a strong commitment to the training of the students I mentored.
What is one of your lifelong goals?
I have always wanted a house on a quiet beach and to have more time for nature photography and painting. I almost went to art school instead of the social sciences. I would like to get back to art some day. Maybe be part of an art cooperative, maybe have my own corner in some gallery. Damn! …too many interests!
For more information on Pat Van Voorhis, please visit:
http://criminaljustice.cech.uc.edu/faculty_and_staff?userid=vanvoop
JENNIFER SCROGGINS
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE
How did you become interested in the field of women and/or gender and crime?
I first became interested in gender and crime during my Master’s Degree program, when I was taking an introductory criminology course. One of the books we had been assigned to read was a compilation of the stories of women who had been incarcerated. As I read that book, I realized the importance that gender plays not only in events that may lead to incarceration, but also its importance on experiences while incarcerated.
How do you define yourself as a scholar/activist/educator?
I define myself as a scholar of social justice. I am particularly interested in the relationship between gender and punishment, and much of my work reflects an ongoing attempt to uncover these injustices in hopes that awareness of them will eventually lead to more just practices.
What are your current projects or interests?
I’m currently working on a project comparing media depictions of mothers who have killed their children to their sentencing outcomes. I’m especially interested in examining whether the mad/bad dichotomy that exists in media depictions of mothers who kill is related to the type and severity of sentence afforded the mothers. I have also been doing fieldwork with a local police department. While I’ve been studying police culture as a whole, I’ve been paying particular attention to the way that gender (and other power relationships) structure interpersonal communication and relationships between officers.
Who is your favorite person (or animal!) to spend time with, and what are your favorite things to do when you are with them?
I most enjoy spending time with my two dogs, Cammie and Eddie. One of their favorite things (and, therefore, one of mine) is being taken on long walks, so I try to do that most evenings.
How do you wind down after a stressful day?
After a stressful day I usually wind down by reading about things that have absolutely nothing to do with my professional interests. For instance, a few months ago I became obsessed with bears, so I spent countless hours reading about them; I’m pretty well-versed now!
What obstacles do you feel you have overcome to be where you are today?
I’ve been fortunate, in that my family and friends have always been very supportive of my educational endeavors, and that my life circumstances haven’t hindered these things. As such, most of the obstacles I’ve had to overcome to be where I am today have been internal struggles. Most notably, it took me a very long time to really figure out what I actually wanted to do with my future. As an undergrad, I wanted to change majors each time I took a new, exciting class. As a Master’s student, I wanted to specialize in everything, just in case I might find something more “me” than what I’d already studied. It wasn’t until I became a Ph.D. student that I was able to find one or two things that I absolutely love; since then, academia has been a lot more rewarding, as I get to spend my days doing exactly what I want to be doing.
What would you like to be remembered for?
I would like to be remembered for always being very passionate about what I do but never taking myself so seriously that I lose the ability to see the comedy in tough or stressful situations.
What is one of your lifelong goals?
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to teach. I can think of few things more rewarding than helping a student find his or her passion and then being there to support the exploration of it.
For more information on Jennifer Scroggins, please visit: