The Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba is home to several leading criminologists in Canada.

Elizabeth Comack has been teaching and researching in Criminology and the Sociology of Law for over three decades. She is the editor of Locating Law, one of the foremost texts in the Sociology of Law, and co-editor of Criminalizing Women: Gender and (In)justice in Neoliberal Times, a book that is widely used in feminist criminology courses. Prof. Comack’s most recent book is Racialized Policing: Aboriginal People's Encounters with the Police (Fernwood 2012). For the past five years her research program has focused on justice, safety, and security in Winnipeg’s inner-city communities, which has involved conducting studies on violence in the street sex trade, racialized policing practices, and street gangs. In 2010 Prof. Comack was the recipient of a University of Manitoba Outstanding Teacher Award.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Sociology of Law (SOC 3700); Women, Crime & Social Justice (SOC 3790)

Frank Cormier (B.Sc., B.A., M.A.) has taught Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba and in communities across northern Manitoba since 1995. He also worked for six years as an independent justice consultant, completing projects for numerous government and NGO clients. Most recently he was a senior associate at a private-sector research and consulting firm, designing and managing research and evaluation projects for clients including Justice Canada, the Winnipeg Police Service, Saskatchewan Justice, the Correctional Service of Canada, and Indian and Northern Affairs. Our Criminology/Sociology Research Practicum Coordinator, Frank has extensive knowledge and experience in conducting evaluation research. He remains actively involved in current issues, research priorities, and emerging applied research methods in criminology and is presently writing a textbook for use in Criminal Justice and Corrections courses.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Criminology (SOC 2510); Criminal Justice & Corrections (SOC 2610); Practicum in Criminological/Sociological Research (SOC 3100)

Rick Linden is the editor of Criminology: A Canadian Perspective. Now going into its seventh edition, it is the most widely used criminology text in Canadian colleges and universities. Prof. Linden’s research program centers on policing and crime prevention. Since 2003, he has served as chair and co-chair of the Manitoba Auto Theft Task Force.  The major initiative of the Task Force has been the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS), a comprehensive program that includes intensive supervision of high-risk offenders, a mandatory immobilizer program for the most at-risk vehicles, and a broad range of community intervention strategies.  Since the implementation of the Strategy in 2005, auto theft rates in Winnipeg have dropped by over 75 percent.  WATTS was recently one of three programs to be awarded the 2010 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)/Motorola Webber Seavey Award for Quality in Law Enforcement.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Criminology (SOC 2510); Criminal Justice & Corrections (SOC 2610); Policing & Crime Prevention (SOC 3400)

Russell Smandych is recognized nationally and internationally for his research in the fields of Canadian youth justice system reform, law and Indigenous peoples, and Canadian and comparative common-law legal history. Among his many publications, he is the editor of Youth at Risk: Current Issues and Perspectives. Prof. Smandych was the 2010 recipient of the Faculty of Arts Award in Internationalization, given to a faculty member who promotes an increase in student’s awareness of international culture, perspective, and issues.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Criminology (SOC 2510); Criminal Justice & Corrections (SOC 2610); Youth, Crime & Society (SOC 3830); Global Criminology & Criminal Justice (SOC 3880)

Dale Spencer is the newest addition to the criminology cluster in the Department of Sociology. Prior to joining the Department he was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta. He is interested in social and political theory and is committed to qualitative methods. His research primarily focuses on violence, victimization and youth studies. He has published in such leading journals as Punishment and Society, Body and Society, and Journal of Youth Studies. He is co-editor of Emotions Matter: A Relational Approach to Emotions (University of Toronto Press, 2012) and Fighting Scholars: Habitus in Ethnographies of Martial Arts and Combat Sports (Anthem, forthcoming). He is author of Ultimate Fighting and Embodiment: Violence, gender and mixed martial arts (Routledge, 2011) and co-author of Reimagining Intervention in Young Lives: Work, social assistance and marginalization (University of British Columbia Press, 2012).  One of his current research projects focuses on violence, victimization and masculinities amongst homeless young males between the age of 18 and 24.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Criminology (SOC 2510); Criminal Justice & Corrections (SOC 2610); Selected Topics in Criminology: Victims and the Criminal Justice System (SOC 3740)

Jane Ursel is the Director of RESOLVE, a research network that coordinates and supports research aimed at ending interpersonal violence. She is the lead editor of What’s Law Got To Do With It? The Law, Specialized Courts, and Domestic Violence in Canada. For the past two decades Prof. Ursel has been the spearheading the Family Violence Court tracking project, which has collected data on all cases processed by this court since its inception. In 2002 Dr. Ursel was conferred with the Order of Manitoba in recognition of her contributions to the prevention of family violence and interpersonal violence in the province.

Criminology Courses regularly taught: Institutional Responses to Violence (SOC 3750)

Andrew Woolford  has an established reputation for his work in the areas of conflict resolution, genocide and war crimes, reparations, and Aboriginal peoples and the law.  The author of three books—The Politics of Restorative Justice; Informal Reckonings: Conflict Resolutions in Mediation, Restorative Justice, and Reparations (with R.S. Ratner); and Between Justice and Certainty: Treaty-Making in British Columbia—he is presently preparing a manuscript (with Bryan Hogeveen) titled Cold Cities: Care and Control in Edmonton and Winnipeg in which the effects of neoliberalism on inner city social service users are explored. He is also working on a comparison of residential/boarding schools in Canada and the U.S. through the lens of genocide studies (“This Benevolent Experiment”: Indigenous Boarding Schools, Genocide, and Redress in North America), as well as edited volumes on Colonial Genocide and Indigenous North America (with Alex Hinton and Jeff Benvenuto) and the Idea of a Human Rights Museum (With Adam Muller and Karen Busby). Prof. Woolford was the recipient of the 2009 Rh Award (Social Sciences). The Rh Awards are given to UM academics who are in the early stages of their careers and who display exceptional innovation, leadership, and promise in their respective fields.