Hybrid Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): "On Harm and Hope: Carceral Systems, Youth Well-Being, and the Possibilities for Intervention" - Noor Toraif, PhD, MA

On Harm and Hope: Carceral Systems, Youth Well-Being, and the Possibilities for Intervention

Noor Toraif, PhD, MA

Deans' Distinguished Visiting Professorship

Assistant Professor, Social Work
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice 
 

Dr. Noor Toraif is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. Her mixed methods and community-engaged research examines the nexus of the child welfare, juvenile, and criminal legal systems. She investigates youth and young adults’ experiences within these systems, the causes and consequences of carceral contact, the roles institutions play in perpetuating or preventing youth criminalization, and community-based strategies for disrupting youth criminalization.

Dr. Toraif currently serves as Principal Investigator on a study examining the role of public defender teams in supporting system-impacted emerging adults and preventing incarceration; a Co-Investigator on a study investigating the contributions of holistic defense teams; and a Co-Investigator on an LA County-based study examining the impact of guaranteed income and economic and social support for youth aging out of the Los Angeles foster care system.

Her broader research agenda examines points of crossover from the child welfare system to the juvenile legal system; conditions of youth criminalization in legal and social service settings; the longitudinal well-being outcomes associated with youths’ criminal legal involvement; the impacts of restorative-justice based youth diversion; and participatory methodologies that engage youth as co-producers of knowledge.

Dr. Toraif’s research is published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including PLoS one, the American Journal of Community Psychology, the Journal of Adolescent Research, Sociological Inquiry, Child Welfare, and Research on Social Work Practice.

Dr. Toraif received her PhD from the Boston University School of Social Work, where she was also a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Society for Social Work and Research Doctoral Fellow, and a Harvard Rappaport Fellow. She earned her MA in Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University, specializing in children’s and families’ programs and policies, where she also received Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Engagement Scholar Fellowship. She earned BA degrees in both Neuroscience and Psychology and Philosophy at Boston University.

Streaming available via Zoom.