Trudeau scholar targets substance abuse and crime
Michelle Lawrence, 778.229.4125 (cell); michelle_lawrence@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323; marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca
A lawyer who returned to academia to study how substance-induced psychotic disorders impact criminal responsibility is Simon Fraser University’s latest Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation scholar.
Michelle Lawrence, an SFU criminology PhD student, is one of 15 recipients of the prestigious scholarship, Canada’s most coveted social sciences and humanities doctoral prize, valued at $180,000.
Trudeau scholars carry out research into critical issues such as labour, mental health, conflict resolution and the environment. The scholarships subsidize tuition fees and help to cover living and travel expenses.
Lawrence will focus her doctoral research on the treatment of individuals in law and clinical practice who are found to have committed crimes while in a state of substance-induced psychosis.
“My research will examine the particular challenges which the courts and clinicians face in circumstances of co-occurring mental disorder and substance abuse,” explains Lawrence, who will also assess alleged Charter violations arising in cases of voluntary or self-induced intoxication.
Lawrence's interests in criminal law and justice policy emerged in the course of her work with preeminent Vancouver lawyer, Leonard T. Doust, Q.C.
While in practice, Lawrence assisted on a number of significant criminal cases, including the investigation of an alleged wrongful conviction of a local man for historical sex crimes.
Lawrence was called to the bar of British Columbia in 1999, after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (Scholars Elective) from the University of Western Ontario in 1994 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 1998.
She joined the law firm of McCarthy Tétrault LLP in 1998 as an articled student and was admitted to the firm’s partnership in 2008.
Lawrence took a leave of absence from legal practice in 2001 to complete a Master of Law at the University of Cambridge. The next year, she was awarded an LL.M. and named a Pegasus Scholar.
Lawrence returned to graduate studies and earned a Master’s degree at SFU in 2009. She was drawn to graduate work in criminology out of a desire to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to her study of legal phenomena.
She hopes to apply the research methodologies of the social sciences to issues traditionally within the purview of lawyers and legal researchers.
Lawrence is the fifth SFU doctoral student to receive the coveted award since it was created in 2002 to honour the late prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
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