This spring, Dawn Beichner, professor in the Criminal Justice Sciences Department, attended the 63rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW63), as the liaison for the World Society of Victimology, an international NGO on which she serves on the Executive Committee.
Beichner collaborated with Sheetal Ranjan (Chair of the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Women and Crime), Rosemary Barbaret (Criminologists Without Borders and International Sociological Association), and Elaine Arnull (American Society of Criminology’s Division of Women and Crime) to develop six side and parallel events. Ranjan and Barbaret approached Beichner to be involved with this event due to her work on the Executive Committee of the World Society of Victimology.
“My co-organizers and I created two side events and four parallel events at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women related to women, victimization, access to justice, and social protection,” said Beichner. “We tasked each of the panelists to provide a list of best practices and policy recommendations in her subject area that conforms to the CSW theme and UN Sustainable Development Goals. The end product is that panel attendees leave the events with a practical guide for addressing women’s issues, which can be used to inform the policies in their respective home countries.”
Beichner also chaired one of the parallel event panels titled, “Women, Re-Entry, and Social Protection” and also presented a paper therein, “A Call to Action: Policy and Practice Recommendations for Incarcerated and Returning Women.” She was selected due to her research and advocacy work that she has done in regards to incarcerated women and their families. View a full recording of the panel.
In addition to Beichner’ s work organizing the event as well as presenting, she also attended multiple panels and presentations. “One of the most memorable events for me was a panel on the incarceration of indigenous women in New Zealand,” said Beichner. “Similar to the racial and ethnic disparities in our prison populations in the USA, prison populations in New Zealand are disproportionately indigenous. Throughout the panel, I kept thinking about the parallel problems that existed between our two countries.”
Listen to Beichner and her co-collaborators describe their experience.
“It was incredibly empowering to be surrounded by thousands of people, from all over the world, who were also advocating for women’s rights,” said Beichner.
