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I am a critical, multi-disciplinary, and community-engaged scholar, with a focus on researching and disrupting racism, settler colonialism, and gendered state violence with a specific focus on carceral sites such as prisons and policing. I firmly believe those most impacted by systems of domination and oppression are best positioned to inform micro, mezzo, and macro level analyses and interventions, and my role is to work in relationship and solidarity with those facing these forms of harm.
I completed my PhD in Social Work in 2023, under the supervision of Dr. Shoshana Pollack and committee members Drs. Kathy Absolon, Jennifer Root, and Rai Reece. My research explored how the use of strip searching in women’s prisons is a form of gendered, misogynoir, and colonial genocidal state-inflicted sexual violence. My research program is informed by this work and focuses primarily on anti-carceral/abolitionist and decolonizing social work.
My decolonizing social work practice and pedagogies are deeply informed by the teachings I have received from the Centre for Indigegogy at Laurier. To date, I have completed the Advanced Decolonizing Education Certificate, Indigenous Research Series, and Introduction to Circle Work. From 2021-2022 I was a project coordinator with the Centre for Indigegogy for a SSHRC Insight Grant exploring settler and Indigenous decolonizing journeys through sharing circles and digital story-making. I am currently a research associate with the Centre.
Prior to joining the FSW, I completed my MA in Community Psychology at Laurier in 2010 and my BSc in Psychology from Western University in 2004.
- Genderded state violence
- Anti-carceral/abolition social work
- Decolonizing pedagogies and practices
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Hutchison, J. (2024). The gendered, misogynoiristic, and colonial genocidal logics of strip searching. Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work. Published online first, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099241297153
Hutchison, J. (2024). Towards a decolonial abolition feminist methodology: A research project exploring women’s experiences of strip searching in prison. Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, 12(1), 46-69. https://doi.org/10.48336/IJRXOG4597
Hutchison, J. (2021). Applying feminist principles to social work teaching: Pandemic times and beyond. Qualitative Social Work, 20(1-2), 529-536. https://doi-org.libproxy.wlu.ca/10.1177/1473325020973305
Hutchison, J. (2020). “It's sexual assault. It’s barbaric”: Strip searching in women’s prisons as state inflicted sexual assault. Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 35(2),160-176. https://doi-org.libproxy.wlu.ca/10.1177/0886109919878274
Hutchison, J. (2019). “Bend over and spread your butt cheeks”: Access to justice for women strip searched in prison. Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, 8, 65-90.
Olson, J., Cheung, I., Conway, P., Hutchison, J., Hafer, C. (2011). Distinguishing two meanings of moral exclusion: Exclusion from moral principles or principled harm doing? Social Justice Research 24(4), 365-390.
Aikman, L., Roberts-Smith, J. with Crozier, K., Hutchison, J., Lowerison, C., Lynch, S., Allah, M.,Thompson, J., Watts, H., & White, M. (2020). Relational Audience Engagement in Guarded Girls: A Critical Reflection. Review: The Journal of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America, 26(1), 34-44.
Pollack, S., & Hutchison, J. (2018). Impact of Walls to Bridges Courses on Correctional Facilities. Walls to Bridges, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Kitchener, ON.
- SK665: Relational Accountability
- SK641: Social Policy and Activism (Winter 2024)
- SK504: Research 1
- SK615: Research 2
- CC319: Crime Prevention
- CC304: Addictions and Crime
Hutchison, J. (2023, June 1). Women experience strip searching as sexual violence. [Invited Op-Ed]. The Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/opinion/women-experience-strip-searching-as-sexual-violence/article_63cc6910-1485-5eba-90c5-5d0b0f0a1e1d.html
Chaarani, J. (2023, May 31). Women in custody are more likely than men to be strip searched, Waterloo regional police data shows. [Newspaper interview] CBC Kitchener Waterloo. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/wrps-waterloo-regional-police-service-waterloo-region-1.6853273
Levy, G. (2021, December 2). Waterloo Region advocacy group opposes proposed police budget increase. [Newspaper interview] Toronto Star. https://tinyurl.com/3vtjfzw
Seto, C. (2021, November 26). Calls to reallocate police funding grow louder as budget presentation approaches. [Newspaper interview] The Record. https://tinyurl.com/zw9dt3rm
Hutchison, J. (2021, September 1). Unpacking incarceration and abuse (Episode 8) [Audio podcast episode]. In She is Your Neighbour. Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. https://tinyurl.com/2cftvfp8
Sharkey, J. (2021, April 9). Waterloo Regional Police Service suspends 'diversity' cruisers after community backlash [Newspaper interview] CBC KW. https://tinyurl.com/5zfdn3sr
Monteiro, L. (2019, November 22). Former Grand Valley Institution for Women inmates talk about 'humiliating' and 'degrading' strip searches while in prison [Coverage of panel I organized]. The Record. https://tinyurl.com/2matr2sc
Hazlewood, J. (2019, November 19). End strip searches in Canadian prisons, Laurier researcher says [Radio and newspaper interview] CBC KW. https://tinyurl.com/wstufv7w
Hutchison, J., Gentile, S., & Pierini, A. (2019, May 3). Why we must end strip searches in Canada’s prisons for women. Vice Canada. https://tinyurl.com/4zyntrp3
2024-2025 Principal Investigator, Laurier SSHRC Exchange Grant, Social work continues to bury Indigenous children and families in its systems: A decolonizing symposium ($7000)
2024-2026 Co-Applicant, SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, Developing partnerships to investigate and address the processes and outcomes criminalization and incarceration in Canada. ($199, 589)
2023-2025 Co-PI with Giselle Dias, SSHRC Connections Grant, Stories of Unpacking Colonialism: A Decolonizing Journeys Documentary ($49,290)
2020-2022 Collaborator & Research Assistant, SSHRC Connections Grant, Walls to Bridges, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University; Principal Investigator: Dr. Shoshana Pollack ($20,828)
2021-2022 Project Coordinator, SSHRC Insight Grant, Centre for Indigegogy, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University; Principal Investigator: Dr. Kathy Absolon ($236,756)
2020-2022 Principal Investigator, Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, SSHRC funded Doctoral Fellowship ($20,000 per year, $40,000 total)
Fortier, C., Hutchison, J., Dias, G., and Smoke, A. (2024, October). Abolish social work (as we know it) Book Launch and Discussion. [Invited panelist]. Faculty of Social Work, Renison University College.
Krewac, P. (Chair), Cheechoo, K., Hutchison, J. & Montejo, M. (2024, June). Refusing patriarchy: Putting an end to the global violence waged against Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse people. [Invited Roundtable Discussion]. Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference. Bodo, Norway. In-person.
Hutchison, J. (2023, November). Strip searching always was, and always will be sexual violence: Women’s experiences of strip searching in prison as gendered, misogynoir, and colonial genocidal sexual violence. [Oral Presentation]. Sisters Inside Conference: Abolition Feminism Now. Brisbane, Australia. In-person.
Hutchison, J. (2023, June). An anti-carceral pedagogy of hope: Critical engagement with carceral logics in social work education. [Oral Presentation]. 2023 European Conference on Social Work Education. Porto, Portugal. In-person.
Dias, G., & Hutchison, J. (2022, October). Decolonizing and anti-carceral social work. [Oral Presentation]. Canadian Association of Social Work Education Conference (CASWE-ACFTS). Virtual.
Hutchison, J. (2022, October). “They’re assimilating policies:” Strip searching in women’s prisons as a mechanism of gendered colonial genocide. [Oral Presentation]. Canadian Association of Social Work Education Conference (CASWE-ACFTS). Virtual.
Hutchison, J. (2022, May). Unearthing colonial secrets: Strip searching as gendered colonial genocidal sexual violence. Consuming Justice: Law, Crime, Justice and Consumption Conference. Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies, University of Winnipeg.
Hutchison, J. (2022, February). It takes a riot: Black histories, Black futures, and community organizing. [Invited panel participant]. Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Toronto, Kitchener, ON.
Dias, G., & Hutchison, J. (2021, November 24). Abolition and transformative justice: Re-imagining social work [National webinar series]. Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canada.
Hutchison, J., & Dias, G. (2021, October 27). Defunding the police: Implications for social work [National webinar series]. Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canada.
Dias, G., & Hutchison, J. (2021, September 29). Decolonizing social work practice, education, and research [National webinar series]. Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canada.
Hutchison, J. (2021, August 10). Gendered, racialized, and colonial violence of being strip searched while menstruating. In K. Elliott (Moderator), Changing the flow research roundtable [Panel presentation]. Changing the Flow, Waterloo, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2021, June 10). Rethinking “crime” [Keynote address]. Speakers’ Series, Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, Waterloo, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2021, May). Intersections of harm: Sexual violence and the state [Panel presentation]. Equity4Who, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2019, November). Strip searching in women’s prisons: A panel discussion with people who used to be in prison [Organized and moderated panel presentation]. Wilfrid Laurier University, Kitchener, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2019, May). “It's sexual assault. And it’s barbaric”: An exploration of why strip searching in women’s prisons is not understood as sexual assault [Oral presentation]. National Conference on Critical Perspectives in Criminology and Social Justice (NCCP), Brantford, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2019, March). “I don’t think I’ll ever recover from it”: Harms associated with strip searching women in prison [Oral presentation]. The 7th Annual Justice, Crime, and Deviance: Graduate Research and Networking Conference, Brantford, ON.
Hutchison, J. (2018, September). “Bend over and spread your butt cheeks”: Women’s experiences of being strip searched in prison [Oral presentation]. Colloquium Series on Critical Perspectives on Criminal Justice, Wilfrid Laurier University, Kitchener, ON.