JUPS Freshman Presents Paper at Capital Area Association for Peace Studies Conference in Maryland
Rising sophomore Heather Artinian (COL ’15) presented a paper titled “Women in Prison: Still Human,” at the Capital Area Association Peace Studies Conference at Bowie State University in Maryland in March.
“The conference was a great way to learn from other students and colleagues,” says Artinian. “It was really interesting to hear everyone’s opinions and to be part of a conference that people were really interested about.”
Bowie State University hosted this conference as a part of its Peace Week, to address the growing issue of violence, especially against women, both on its campus and across the country. According to HBCU Buzz, a website devoted to news about historically black colleges and universities, the Peace Week events were “aimed at stemming campus violence, promoting peace and helping students correctly solve conflicts without resorting to violence.”
The conference was set up as several presentations throughout the day.
Artinian’s paper was about women in the prison system in the United States, and how their education, healthcare, right to privacy and procedure in the judicial system are inadequate and compromised.
“The title of my paper is ‘Women in prison: Still Human.’ It is basically about how women are treated in prisons in the United States, and how this treatment inhibits them from rehabilitation but also ultimately their rights,” explains Artinian. “I found that the United States is well aware about the deficiencies and inadequate care across women's prisons, and yet it continues to perform actions that worsen the conditions further or do not attempt to help at all.”
Artinian’s presentation was followed by a 15-minute question and answer session.
“The attendees of my conference were appalled by the information that I presented to them, and the general response was that: why would not the government do anything? Because I showed that the government was well aware and had even done studies about the injustices occurring and yet did not attempt to correct or rectify the situation.”
Artinian is pursuing a Government major and a Justice and Peace minor in the College, and spent last summer interning at a law firm this past summer. “I’m studying Government…because I would love to have a career in constitutional law; [I’m] hoping to become a Supreme Court Justice, and [I’m studying JUPS] as my minor because I really believe that we should act on many social injustices that occur in this country and abroad.”
If you would like to read Heather’s paper, you can contact her at hsa26@georgetown.edu.
