Dr. Jennifer Silcox (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in Childhood and Youth Studies. She is a criminologist and interdisciplinary scholar who explores the marginalization of youth and the legal system, the criminalization (and victimization) of girls, and the intersections of age, race, and gender, among other identities, particularly in media portrayals of youth crime and violence. Her current research includes a SSHRC-funded study on caregiver and educator perspectives on substance use education in Ontario, as well as other projects on youth mental health, sexuality, gender identity, inclusion, and human dignity. She has ongoing research partnerships with Southwest Public Health, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, and London Health Sciences Centre.
In the community, she has worked with non-profit organizations, carrying out public outreach with women in prison and women and girls involved in the sex trade. She has also worked with young people in conflict with the law as part of their rehabilitation and diversion. On campus, she has helped with education on sexual harassment and violence, workshops on transgender inclusivity in the classroom, and restorative justice panels assisting student victims of sexual hazing.
Academic Appointments and Affiliations
Associate Professor, Department of Childhood and Youth Studies (CYS)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Sociology, Western University
Cross Appointment, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, Western University
Affiliate Scientist, Lawson Health Research Institute
Education
- Ph.D. Sociology, Western University
- M.A. Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Western University
- B.Soc.Sc. Criminology & Women’s Studies, University of Ottawa
Teaching
Dr. Silcox is an experienced instructor and has taught courses spanning the fields of criminology, legal studies, socio-legal studies, sociology, and sexuality and gender studies. She has been a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award at King’s University College. As a professor, Dr. Silcox truly values the time she spends engaging with students in the classroom. She hopes to inspire and empower students to take what they’ve learned in the classroom to make our communities better.
In the Department of Childhood and Youth Studies, she has taught:
- CYS 2211: Children, Youth, and Crime
- CYS 2231: Childhood, Poverty Policy and Law
- CYS 2212: Childhood, Youth, and the Law
- CYS 2255: Youth, Crime, and Legislation
- CYS 3323/SOC3323: Street Youth
- CYS 4403: Senior Paper Course
- CYS 4415: Critical Gender Studies of Childhood and Youth
Research
Dr. Silcox has a strong interest in how discourse around youth crime influences youth criminal legal policy and legislation. Her research combines legal studies, sociology and criminology, centring on age, gender, and race as she analyzes how media portrayals both reflect existing and influence development of future social inequalities and prejudice, as well as how youth negatively experience the legal system due to systemic barriers based on age, class, gender, and racial/ethnic identities and statuses. Her work has appeared in policy, criminological and sociological outlets and addresses how youth (particularly girls and racialized young people) face disparities, inequalities, and injustices navigating Canada’s youth court system and how violent youth (both Canadian and American) are portrayed in national news. She has appeared on CBC News, CBC’s Canada Tonight, The National, and CTV Atlantic, among other outlets to share her expertise on marginality, social inequality, crime, and youth (particularly girlhood) violence.
Selected Publications
Silcox, J., Adams, T., & Isom, D.A. (2026) Canadian Media Depictions of Boys and Crime: The Abstract Criminal and the Dangerous ‘Other’. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 26(1), 101-118.
Silcox, J., Rosen, L. & Bruno, T. (2025). School-based research with youth: When protection leads to disconnection. In. S. Frankel and S. Kay Flowers (eds.). The Ethics of Unlocking Research with Children: Creativity, Agency and Change. UK: Emerald.
Kieffer, S., Silcox, J., Wammes, M., Rice, L., Lavender, S., Freier, A., & Osuch, E. (2025). Young adult perspectives on dignity in mental healthcare. Nursing Ethics, 32(8), 2579-2590.
Cook, A., Hunt, R., Silcox, J., R. Canas, E. & MacDougal, A.G. (2025). Defining Youth-Centred Practice in Mental Health Care. BMJ Psychiatry, 25(1), 578.
Andersen, T., Silcox, J., & Isom, D.A. (2023). Exploring U.S. News Media Portrayals of Girls’ Violence in the 1980s and 1990s: The Emergence of a Moral Panic. In K. Boyle & S. Berridge (eds.). Routledge Companion to Gender, Media, and Violence (2nd ed., pp. 95-104). New York: Routledge.
Silcox, J. (2023). Institutionalized ‘Bad Girls’: Adolescent Female Folk Devils in Canadian Newspapers between 1991 and 2012. Feminist Media Studies, 24(2), 207-223.
Silcox, J. (2022). Youth Crime & Depictions of Youth Crime in Canada: Are News Depictions Purely Moral Panic? Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 59(1), 96-114.
Andersen, T., Silcox, J., & Isom, D.A. (2021). Constructing Bad Girls: Representations of Violent Girls in the Canadian and U.S. News Media. Deviant Behavior, 42(3), 353-365.
Silcox, J. (2019). Are Canadian Girls Becoming More Violent? An Examination of Integrated Criminal Court Survey Statistics. Criminal Justice and Policy Review, 30(3), 477-502.