Top News Stories

Criminology field practice gives students valuable work experience

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The School of Criminology’s field practice program enables students to integrate valuable work experience with academic learning. The program, taken either part-time or full-time, places a student with a criminology or criminal justice sector organization.We interviewed Field Practice Coordinator Helene Love, lecturer in the School of Criminology, to learn more about what students should expect from the field practice program. 

3M national teaching fellowship honours SFU lecturer Sheri Fabian

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University lecturer Sheri Fabian offers three gifts to her students and colleagues: opportunity, personal growth and an understanding of both the privilege and obligations that accompany teaching and learning. These exceptional contributions earned her a 2019 3M National Teaching Fellowship and an invitation to join its prestigious cohort devoted to the art of teaching. The fellowship is awarded by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Criminal justice system impact on adolescents and young adults

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Assistant Professor Zachary Rowan studies the role of deviant peer influence and how interaction with the criminal justice system influences youth. Based on data from the Crossroads Study, his research finds that youth’s friendship networks become criminalized or more criminalized as a result of formal processing within the juvenile justice system. This supports prior criminological research that shows criminal justice contact amplifies youth’s deviant behavior through changes in peer networks. 

Researcher works to improve risk assessment scales for Canada’s Indigenous people

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Professionals at all levels of the criminal justice system make decisions that impact offenders. Assistant Professor Maaike Helmus develops tools, called offender risk assessment scales, to ensure these decisions meet empirically guided principles. This ensures more accurate, transparent and fair decisions for offenders. She also delivers risk assessment training internationally to ensure proper use of these scales.

Research shows contact with police amplifies deviant behaviour in youth

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Does receiving the label of deviant increase a youth’s antisocial behaviour? Criminologist Stephanie Wiley’s research on middle and high school age adolescents confirms that youth who interact with the criminal justice system are more likely to continue with deviant behaviour.