The UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice (Formerly Hastings Journal on Gender and the Law) is looking for papers on the topic of “Adultification Bias,” for Volume 35, Issue 2 (Spring 2024).
Adultification is a term used to define how Black children are viewed as older than they are. In 2017, researchers published the first empirical study on adultification bias of Black girls (Epstein, Blake & González, 2017), noting that “Adultification is a form of dehumanization, robbing black children of the very essence of what makes childhood distinct from all other developmental periods: innocence. Adultification contributes to a false narrative that black youths’ transgressions are intentional and malicious, instead of the result of immature decision making — a key characteristic of childhood.” Since then, adultification bias has moved into the legal lexicon with increasing frequency and a national movement has emerged that uses adultification bias to explicate intersectional biases against Black girls. We find this to be an important topic for our journal to highlight.
We will also be hosting a symposium on the this topic on April 5th, 2024.
The Journal is interested in publishing articles ranging in all lengths (with Bluebook form footnotes). We are also open to essays or other sorts of thought-pieces that can be shorter in length, such as case studies.
Please submit your paper proposal or abstract by 5:00 PM on Friday, November 17 to jgj@uclawsf.edu.
And please reach out to jgj@uclawsf.edu with any questions you may have!
Sincerely,
Mackenzie Murphy and Madeline Frank
JGJ Co-Editors-in-Chief