Directors Message

Director’s welcome:

Welcome to the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice!

The ICCJ is one of the most exciting and rigorous academic environments in which to study criminalization and punishment in Canada. Home to a fantastic group of scholars and educators, our faculty is dedicated to documenting and exposing the many limits of the ideology and institutions of criminal justice. Our research and teaching activities encompass surveillance and policing activities, processes of criminalization and penalization, as well as diverse and conflicting perspectives on justice. In their journey at the Institute, students are introduced to a variety of social subjects and debates, informed by a multitude of theoretical and methodological traditions. Our students develop an understanding of how the criminal law reasons and works, but also how criminalization and penalization are used concretely in various contexts. They get to know what criminologists say about psychopaths and criminals, but also the limits of such criminological knowledge. Our students also develop critical perspectives on coercive and intrusive practices of rehabilitation, often problematically presented as alternatives to punishment. We think it is important that our students experience how difficult it is to think without concepts such as guilt, crime, and punishment when troubling and harmful incidents take place and give life to quests for justice. Please browse through our website for information on our program offerings, our faculty and their exciting research profiles, and our knowledgeable staff. We are here to answer any questions that you might have.