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Eight books, ten technical reports and 22 peer-reviewed articles are just a few of the accolades held by the 2022 recipient of the President\u2019s Distinguished Scholar award, April Terry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seen as the top honor at Fort Hays State University, the President\u2019s Distinguished Scholar is awarded to a faculty member based on their contributions to the university and their discipline of study through scholarly and creative activities. Terry, an assistant professor in the criminal justice program, was announced as this year\u2019s recipient during the fall convocation in August and recognized at a presentation held on Wednesday in Forsyth Library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer professional experiences in the criminal justice system have formed her teaching philosophy of engaging students in applied experiences, as well as traditional academic literature,\u201d FHSU President Tisa Mason said at the presentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Mason, Terry is also active in community service. In 2020, she and colleague Sarah Broman Miller worked on an undergraduate literacy project where they read to incarcerated mothers and grandmothers at the Topeka Correctional Facility. This work tied into Terry\u2019s presentation on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titled \u2018A Veneer of Idyllic but [Un]safe Dirt Roads: Young Women\u2019s Pathways to Safety and Belonging behind Prison Walls,\u2019 Terry\u2019s presentation focused on her study of girls and women from rural areas who are incarcerated in Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we look at girls and women, most incarcerated girls and women have very extensive abuse histories,\u201d Terry said. \u201cNot one-time traumatic events, but chronic abuse histories. Unfortunately, a lot of our criminological theory and criminal justice studies have always focused on boys and men in urban places. A good chunk of my research is to look at girls and women in rural places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Terry, rural areas are prone to judgment based on gender norms and family name, leading to an \u2018inner circle.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we do that, we have this tendency to ignore, maybe intentionally or unintentionally, girls\u2019 call for help when they need things or report things,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of times, we find that girls respond by engaging in what people might call delinquent or deviant behavior, including things like running away, using drugs and alcohol and engaging in self-harming behavior.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Terry went on to share statements from girls and women in the Juvenile Correctional Complex and Topeka Correctional Facility who she interviewed. The statements she shared revealed the girls and women felt safer while incarcerated than they were before. Some also shared they are grateful for the time they have spent incarcerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese people are grateful that they\u2019re locked up in this setting, because that was better than the environment from which they came from, and they felt like it was an opportunity to start over,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The youngest girl Terry interviewed was 14 years old. She also interviewed people in communities such as probation officers and juvenile judges. These individuals talked about the stigma around seeking help, generational issues and the lack of services in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were very much aware of the fact that we don\u2019t have a lot of services, people are hesitant to seek services and when they do, it depends on who you are how even professionals will react,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While summarizing her findings, Terry pointed to several proactive and reactive strategies. The first was giving abused girls and women a place to go. She also talked about preventing the path from Child Protective Services to the juvenile justice system and better trauma-informed responses in schools. Lastly, she talked about the reintegration process incarcerated individuals go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a really ugly habit in this country of waiting to reintegrate people after they\u2019ve been incarcerated until weeks or months before they get out,\u201d she said. \u201cThey may be locked up for years, and then six months before they leave we make this attempt to reconnect them in the community. We have really lost a lot of valuable time by then. Research suggests people should begin reintegration the day they\u2019re incarcerated and every day thereafter, and we should increase the types of transitional services we have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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