Sociology of Crime & Law

UVic sociologists study a range of issues related to the sociology of crime and law.

Sean Hier

Sean Hier's research focuses on moral panics, social problems, media framing, serial murder events (aka serial killers), and contemporary surveillance practices. 

Garry Gray

Garry Gray was formerly a Research Fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard Law School, where he conducted research on the social organization of unethical behaviour inside a variety of institutions of public trust. His research interests include criminology, institutional corruption, regulation and compliance, behavioural ethics, organizational culture, and health and safety. 

Tamara Humphrey

Dr. Humphrey’s scholarly interests focus on a range of issues concerning crime, with a broad focus on the causes and consequences of violence. She primarily uses a life course perspective to analyze how the intersection of various social statuses including race, class and gender impact trajectories of offending and interactions with the criminal justice system.

Aaron Devor

Aaron Devor, PhD, initiated and holds the inaugural position as the world’s only Chair in Transgender Studies. His research focuses on transgender, non-binary, and Two-spirit people. He has worked extensively on policy and training with national, provincial, and local police and corrections concerning transgender offenders, as well as teaching university courses in federal prisons.

Midori Ogasawara

Dr. Ogasawara’s research focuses on social consequences of surveillance, identification, personal data, biometrics and other information communication technologies, which have been increasingly used for crime investigation, prevention, and national security intelligence, including facial recognition systems and drones. She also explores colonial roots of surveillance technologies from global perspectives and examines how surveillance has assisted systemic violence and state crimes. In her current project, Midori analyzes how the recent development of surveillance technologies under the War on Terror has affected rule of law in democracy, and what kinds of legal frameworks can limit ever-expanding surveillance technologies.