Professor at UCI - Department of Criminology, Law & Society

UCI SCHOOL OF SOCIAL ECOLOGY Valerie Jenness, professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine has been named the recipient of the Western Society of Criminology’s Meda Chesney-Lind Award for “significant contributions to scholarship or activism on the intersection of women and crime.”

“There is a deep recognition of Professor Jenness’ profound and important work on the experiences of trans women in prison, that is both pioneering from a research perspective and deeply human in its impact,” said Hadar Aviram, law professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and chair of WSC’s awards committee.

The award was bestowed earlier this month at the WSC’s annual conference in Honolulu. It comes on the heels of another honor — the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Terrorism and Bias Crime — Jenness recently received in Atlanta. That award honors her sustained and distinguished scholarship with Ryken Grattet, UC Davis professor of sociology, on hate crime.

“The recognition from the Western Society of Criminology and the American Society of Criminology is very humbling,” Jenness said. “There is so much incredibly impressive research being produced by my colleagues here at UCI and across the nation. It’s just an honor to be deemed worthy of recognition. It’s a humbling experience and an experience that reminds me how fortunate I am to get to do my work with wonderful collaborators and in the supportive environment provided by my home department — Criminology, Law and Society — and UCI more generally.”

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