For a couple of years now, Tina Maschi, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), has been interviewing older adults incarcerated in the New Jersey Department of Corrections’ criminal justice system to study the link between trauma, delinquency and its effect on one’s life course.
“There is a dearth of information about the impact of trauma on older adults in the criminal justice system and older adult offenders in general,” said Maschi, whose project was partly funded by a GSS and Fordham Faculty research grant. “If prison is bad, it’s especially bad for older offenders.”
Maschi’s work has paid off: she has been named one of six Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars in the nation by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Gerontological Society of America. The honor carries with it a $100,000 research support grant over two years to further her study.
The Hartford Faculty Scholars Program is designed to address the lack of adequately trained social workers to meet the needs of the burgeoning aging population. In addition to continuing her research, Maschi will be paired with a social work research mentor, and will participate in development institutes and workshops.
“It’s quite an honor and I’m pleased to accept it,” said Maschi. “It will help build on the researching those offenders who really have it bad, many of whom have been institutionalized most of their lives.”
Maschi’s research was profiled in INSIDE FORDHAM in 2008.
J.S.
