Dr. Joseph Tindale is a social gerontologist and professor in the Family Relations and Applied Nutrition (FRAN) department at the University of Guelph and Interim Chair in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology (2010-2012) while retaining his research and graduate student advising...
Myrna Dawson
A Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, I joined the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Guelph in 2003. My undergraduate degree is in Sociology and Law & Society from York University and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology are from the University of Toronto. Formerly a news reporter, I spent a good portion of my ‘first career’ writing about issues relating to violence, criminal justice and the law – an interest that has carried over into my ‘second career’ in which I conduct research that examines social and legal responses to violence.
Three of my current research projects examine:
- The implementation of specialized courts and how they are transforming the way legal and victim service professionals 'do justice' in Canada;
- How three decades of legal and social change in Canadian society may be contributing to changing patterns in violent victimization, particularly for women; and
- The growth of domestic violence resources/initiatives in Canada and its effect on patterns and trends in intimate partner violence.
With funding from the Canadian Foundation of Innovation, I have established the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence which supports the above projects and other initiatives in various stages of development.
Johnson, H and M. Dawson. (2011). Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perspectives. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Dawson, M., V. Pottie Bunge, & T. Balde. (2009). “National trends in intimate partner homicides: Explaining the decline, Canada, 1976-2001.” Violence Against Women 15(3): 276-306.
Dawson, M. (2007). Canadian criminal law and physical violence against women: Challenges and Changes. Bangladesh Journal of Law (November): 241-258.
Dinovitzer, R. & M. Dawson. (2007) “The persistence of family-based justice in the sentencing of domestic violence.” The British Journal of Criminology, 47(4): 655-670.
Dawson, M. (2006). Intimacy, violence and the law: Exploring stereotypes about victim-defendant relationship and violent crime. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 96(4): 1417-1450.
Dawson, M. & S. Welsh. (2005) “Predicting the Quantity of Law: Single Versus Multiple Remedies in Sexual Harassment Cases.” The Sociological Quarterly 46: 699-718.
Dawson, M. (2004). “Intimate femicide followed by suicide: Examining the role of premeditation.” Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 35(1): 76-90.
Dawson, M. (2004) “Rethinking the boundaries of intimacy at the end of the century: The role of victim-defendant relationship in criminal justice decision-making over time.” Law & Society Review 38(1): 105-138.
Dawson, M. (2003) “The cost of ‘lost’ intimacy: The effect of relationship state on criminal justice decision-making.” The British Journal of Criminology 43(4): 689-709.
Welsh, S., M. Dawson, & A. Nierobis. (2002) “Legal Factors, Extra-Legal Factors or Changes in the Law? Using Criminal Justice Research to Understand the Resolution of Sexual Harassment Complaints over Time.” Social Problems 46(4).
Dawson, M. & R. Dinovitzer. (2001). Victim Cooperation and the Prosecution of Domestic Violence in a Specialized Court. Justice Quarterly 18(3): 593-622.










