Through Her Eyes

In 2004 a few members of the Center for Human Development (CHD) identified the need for a forum to discuss the issues of female juvenile offenders in Western Massachusetts. The spark was ignited after these individuals attended a showing of the film "Girlhood” in Boston, Massachusetts. The film showed girls sharing their experiences about their successes and failures and their view of the juvenile justice system function and dysfunction. It made a deep impact, and the CHD staff set out to create a local forum that would effect change and create a way to inform the community, service providers and administrators about the issues facing these young women. They committed themselves to creating an opportunity that would provide best practice strategies to service providers and enhance services for girls through education and information sharing. Most importantly they decided that they would show all this through the eyes and voices of the girls themselves, leading them to create an annual conference titled "Through Her Eyes: the experience of girls and the juvenile justice system".