Myrna Dawson

A Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, Dawson joined the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Guelph in 2003. Her undergraduate degree is in Sociology and Law & Society from York University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology are from the University of Toronto. Formerly a news reporter, Dawson spent a good portion of her ‘first career’ writing about issues relating to violence, criminal justice and the law – an interest that has carried over into her ‘second career’ in which she conducts research that examines social and legal responses to violence. In 2011, Dawson took up a Visiting Scholar Fellowship at the Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne, and, in 2012, she was awarded a TC Beirne School of Law Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, University of Queensland, during which she continued to develop her research on intimacy, violence and the law in the international context. Dawson is an Academic Research Associate, Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children, and a co-investigator and member of the executive in the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System’s Response to Intimate Partner Violence. Funded by the Canadian Foundation of Innovation, she has established the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence at the University of Guelph (go to: www.violenceresearch.ca).

 

Research Area(s): 
My broad research interests are trends in and characteristics of lethal and non-lethal violence with a particular focus on intimate partner violence as well as social and legal responses to violent victimization.
Current Project(s): 

Three of my current research projects examine:  

  1. The implementation of specialized courts and how they are transforming the way legal and victim service professionals 'do justice' in Canada;
  2. How three decades of legal and social change in Canadian society may be contributing to changing patterns in violent victimization, particularly for women; and
  3. The growth of domestic violence resources/initiatives in Canada and its effect on patterns and trends in intimate partner violence.

The Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence  supports the above projects and numerous other research initiatives in various stages of development (see www.violenceresearch.ca).

Selected Publications: 

Tam,D., M. Dawson, M. Jackson, S. Kwok, and W.E. Thurston. (2013). Comparing the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China. Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Work & Development [In press].

Jaffe, P., M. Dawson, and M. Campbell. (2013). Canadian perspectives on preventing domestic homicides: Developing a national collaborative approach to domestic homicide review committees. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy 55(1): [In press].

Dawson, M. (2012). Intimacy, homicide and punishment: Examining court outcomes over three decades. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 45(3): 400-422.

Kiepal, L., P. Carrington and M. Dawson. (2012). Missing persons and social exclusion. Canadian Journal of Sociology 27(2): 137-168.

Johnson, H. and M. Dawson. (2011). Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perpsectives. 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.

Email: 
mdawson@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 
56028
Office Number: 
641
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Guelph

Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1
Canada

Tel:519-824-4120 x56525
Fax:519-837-9561