Jerry Flores honoured by American Sociological Association
Published: July 29, 2020
The University of Toronto Mississauga’s Jerry Flores has received the 2021 American Sociological Association Distinguished Early Career Award of the Section on Children and Youth - which honours exceptional research contributions to the sociology of children and youth.
An assistant professor in the department of sociology, Flores conducts research on gender and crime, prisons and race. Much of his research has focused on juvenile detention facilities, and the impact of incarceration on youth. He has also conducted studies on “jail pedagogy,” which looks at how juvenile prisoners are educated in prisons.
His first book, Caught Up: Girls, Surveillance and Wraparound Incarceration, examines young Latina prisoners in southern California and their transition to prison life. The book reveals how detention centres can push youth further into the criminal justice system.
Flores received a Connaught New Researcher Award in 2019.
Flores hopes the award and the narratives of young people can help bring positive social change. He aims to continue writing about inequality, and how it disproportionately affects Latina and Indigenous women.
“My ultimate goal is to live in a world where research like my own is no longer necessary,” he said.
