Justice-Involved Youth

Carol Cross, PhD, has professional experience that includes introducing arts experiences in nontraditional settings, working with adults and adolescents experiencing homelessness or incarceration, and with at-risk and high-risk youth. She has also taught at the university level. A visual artist and educator, Cross holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, British Columbia. Her Master’s thesis focused on the social benefits of establishing sustainable community programs, and education as social intervention for youths at risk. In her efforts to build positive social change and early intervention in schools, and raise awareness of violence as a social problem, she set up a free, after-school photography and writing program for teens at risk in Vancouver with the support of Provincial and Government of Canada funding. Awarded a Government of Canada contract, she began working with incarcerated male and female teens in British Columbia. Her doctoral research, a qualitative study, examined critical pedagogy, adolescent development, and research into the governance and policies surrounding incarcerated male and female youth. She is the author of Juvenile Justice and Expressive Arts: Creative Disruptions through Art Programs for and with Teens in a Correctional Institution. She holds a PhD from the University of Victoria.