news

Criminology / Forensics - Social Sciences - 20.12.2022

Sex offenders: 70% drop in recidivism rate
Study led by Professor Patrick Lussier shows significant decline in recidivism of sex crimes in Canada over 80 years Encouraging news: between 1940 and 2019, the recidivism rate of sex offenders in this country has dropped by nearly 70%, according to a study published in the journal Criminology and Public Policy .

Psychology - Criminology / Forensics - 07.02.2022

Do emotions impact decisions on punishment in the context of crime?
Anger is a key emotion in understanding public opinion towards crime and punishment: it is frequently mobilized in public discourse and is elicited by specific incidents. But what role do emotions play in questions of punishment for crime? In a new article published in Psychology, Crime & Law , a research team from McGill University, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and the University of Ottawa, were able to quantify for

Criminology / Forensics - 17.01.2022

Spyware investigations involving University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reveal targets in El Salvador, Poland: Reports
A joint investigation by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab and Access Now reveals that dozens of journalists and activists in El Salvador had their cellphones allegedly hacked by Israeli firm NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. John Scott-Railton The investigation, which identified 35 individuals whose phones were successfully infected with the sophisticated spyware normally used to target criminals, was reported on by the Associated Press , Reuters , the Guardian and other media outlets.

Criminology / Forensics - 07.12.2021

Bogged down by data, police services need process rethink: study
Fighting and preventing crimes may not be the only activity in a typical day in the life of a police officer in Canada; it's also filing paperwork, tons of paperwork. Western professor Laura Huey and researchers at the department of sociology examined how police services' managerial and data collection practices - intended to provide transparency and accountability - often lead to inefficiencies, including increased paperwork, higher staffing costs and poor-quality crime statistics.

Criminology / Forensics - History / Archeology - 06.10.2021

New approach to skeletal age-estimation can help identify juvenile remains
New research by SFU archaeologists could help forensic teams in their work to estimate the age of the remains of children discovered during archaeological work or in criminal investigative cases. Their study is published in the journal Forensic Science International . While age is typically determined by dental records or other methods, such as measuring the long bones in the upper or lower limbs, those methods may not always be possible, especially in the case of young children.