Lab Director
Who is Shelley Brown?
Dr. Shelley Brown is a professor of forensic psychology and Director of the Gender and Crime Lab within the Department of Psychology, Carleton University. She is also an associate graduate faculty member with the Centre of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She has been an inaugural member of the Forensic Psychology Research Centre (FPRC) since 2008 and currently serves as co-Director. Shelley also chaired the Psychology Department’s research ethics board from 2012 to 2014 as well as the University wide research ethics board from 2015 to 2017. Shelley is currently a board member with the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology (IACFP).
Dr. Brown obtained her Ph.D. in 2002 from Queens University in forensic psychology. Shelley’s dissertation examined the dynamic re-assessment of risk and need factors among men on parole. Following a 10-year research career with the Correctional Service of Canada, she joined Carleton University in 2006.
Dr. Brown’s program of research aims to improve rehabilitative services including assessment, custodial, and probation practices for justice impacted people with a special focus on girls and women in conflict with the law. Shelley studies complex trauma, violence, strengths, risk assessment and desistance among justice-impacted girls and women, and more recently, among under-represented genders and sexual minorities. She collaborates with researchers and practitioners at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto Canada, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, Canada, Orbis Partners, Ottawa, Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General, the Department of Sociology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University (Pakistan), and the Centre for Effective Public Policy(United States).
Dr. Brown has published various journal articles, reports, book chapters, and books about criminal conduct and works specific to justice-impacted girls and women. A recent publication includes the edited volume: The Wiley handbook on what works with girls and women in conflict with the law: A critical review of theory, practice, and policy (Brown & Gelsthorpe, 2022). Her research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Public Safety, the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General, and Correctional Service of Canada.
Dr. Brown teaches courses in criminal behaviour and gender and crime and supervises an active team of undergraduate and graduate students engaged in gender responsive corrections-based research. She has received awards for teaching, research achievement, and student mentoring.