The article "Collateral Consequences, Disadvantage, and Criminal Defence Work" by Marianne Quirouette, Meritxell Abellan-Almenara and Cecília Batista is now published with the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Refer to the link to access our paper.

In February, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented at the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA 2025, Oshawa). He shared findings from our longitudinal study with young people experiencing housing precarity (n=85) across four Canadian cities (Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax). The article - co-written with professors Marianne Quirouette and Tyler Frederick - examines the bidirectional relationship between homelessness and criminal legal involvement, highlighting how overlapping systems of socio-legal control can produce forms of pervasive penality.

In January, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented in the second conference of the International Journal on Homelessness, held from January 20-23, 2025, at Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile. The conference brought together various researchers, practitioners, and individuals with lived experience to discuss the multiple issues related to homelessness in an international context. Nicolas presented findings from our longitudinal study with young people experiencing housing precarity (n=85) across four Canadian cities (Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax). The article - co-written with professors Marianne Quirouette and Tyler Frederick - examines the interactions between young people experiencing housing instability and the different actors of the criminal justice system, highlighting various pathways to criminalization as well as the persistent consequences on their trajectories and ability to transition away from homelessness.

The article "l’influence des arrêts Antic, Myers et Zora sur la mise en liberté provisoire : défense des personnes marginalisées et pratiques à géométrie variable" by Marianne Quirouette, Marilyn Coupienne and Cecília Batista is now published with the Revue de droit de l'Université de Sherbrooke. Refer to the link to access our paper.

Andrada Maria Dinescu joins the lab! Andrada is a criminology undergraduate student at the Université de Montréal (w/ specialization in data analysis). She is vice-president of the student association at Université de Montréal’s School of Criminology. Andrada is particularly interested in the judicialization of marginalized groups, the prison system and access to justice. She is currently working on two SIPLab projects focusing on criminal defence lawyers' practices, experiences and perspectives.

This November, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented a WIP paper, co-authored with Marianne Quirouette and Tyler Frederick, that examines the bidirectional relationship between housing precarity and interactions with the criminal justice system. 

Camille Robin was awarded the academic merit scholarship for master's students members of the Public Law Research Centre of the Université de Montréal.

This scholarship aims to recognize the quality and relevance of students' research and academic merit.

This June, Camille Robin, Meritxell Abellan-Almenara, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin, and Cecília Batista attended a summer academy hosted by the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. They had the opportunity to connect with professors and students involved in the project 'The Intersecting Institutions of Criminal Justice and Injustice'. You can learn more about it by visiting the 'Research' section of our website.

Leading the court node for this project, Marianne Quirouette and Nicole Myers presented preliminary results from the national survey they are currently conducting on the practice of criminal defence lawyers representing marginalized individuals in Canada. They also explored theory, methods, research ethics, and conducted a group activity discussing the pros and cons of various types of data when studying inequality in courts. The other professors, representing the other nodes of this project, presented on topics related to police, prisons, and re-entry.

A big thank you to Sandra Bucerius, the principal investigator for this partnership, and to the Centre for Criminological Research at UofA for hosting this event.

This June, Meritxell Abellan-Almenara presented a paper she drafted with Marianne Quirouette and Cecília Batista that is under review about collateral consequences of a criminal conviction and criminal defence lawyers' duty to provide effective legal assistance.

Refer to the link to access the preprint.

This June, Cecília Batista presented a paper she is currently drafting with Marianne Quirouette about the practice of criminal defence lawyers representing marginalized individuals in non-urban Canada.

This June, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented a paper he drafted with Marianne Quirouette, Cecília Batista, and Katharina Maier about drug treatment courts in Canada, which is currently in the revise and resubmit stage.

Refer to the link to access the preprint.

Meritxell Abellan-Almenara was awarded the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

The Vanier CGS program aims to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by supporting students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health.

Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin was awarded the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship to support his PhD research.

SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships support high-calibre students engaged in doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities. This support allows scholars to fully focus on their doctoral studies, to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields, and to contribute to the Canadian research ecosystem during and beyond the tenure of their awards.

Cecília Batista and Meritxell Abellan-Almenara were awarded the academic merit scholarship by the Université de Montréal (ESP).

This scholarship aims to recognize graduate students' research and academic merit.

Meritxell Abellan-Almenara was awarded the community engagement scholarship by the Arts and Sciences Faculty of the Université de Montréal.

This scholarship aims to recognize students significant volunteer work to help the community.

In January 2024, Cecília Batista presented at the webinar promoted by the Observatoire des profilages titled "Rendre visible les processus discriminatoires : Le cas des femmes noires, des autochtones et des travailleureuses du sexe".

She discussed preliminary results from her master's thesis and delved into the practices of criminal defence lawyers representing indigenous clients in Ontario. Her research draws from the lab's project "Criminal defence lawyers and the representation of marginalized clients in Ontario and Québec".

In January 2024, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented at an event promoted by the Société de Criminologie du Québec.

He was part of a round table titled 'Solutions to Judicialization: Reflections and Practices.' Nicolas presented the results from his master's thesis, which drew from the lab's project 'Criminal Defence Lawyers and the Representation of Marginalized Clients in Ontario and Québec.'

Cecília Batista was awarded the academic merit scholarship for master's students members of the Public Law Research Centre of the Université de Montréal.

This scholarship aims to recognize the quality and relevance of students' research and academic merit.

Camille Robin joins the lab!

She is a master's student in Criminology at the Université de Montréal. Her master's thesis will focus on the work of defense lawyers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research will draw from the large-scale lab project "Criminal defence lawyers and the representation of marginalized clients in Ontario and Québec".

Biennially, the Criminologie journal hosts two prestigious awards - the best student-authored paper and the best researcher-authored paper.

Marianne Quirouette, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin and Karl Beaulieu have been honored with the esteemed Denis-Szabo Award for their exceptional contribution to the journal Criminologie for their researcher-authored paper titled: Gestion punitive de l’itinérance durant la pandémie : défis et stratègies des intervenant·e·s de premiére ligne à Montréal.

Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin was awarded the academic merit scholarship Édouard Montpetit through the ESP Merit Scholarships competition.

This scholarship aims to recognize the quality of the students in the Social Sciences sector of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In September 2023, Nicolas Spallanzani-Sarrasin presented at the European Society of Criminology (ESC) conference in Florence, Italy.

His first presentation was titled: “Justice for Marginalized Accused: Managerial and Therapeutic Practices in Criminal”. A paper is currently being written by him, alongside Marianne Quirouette and Cecília Batista.

His second presentation was titled: “Consideration of Homelessness in Canadian Criminal Courts”. This presentation is linked to Nicolas' master's dissertation.

Both of them draw from the extensive body of work within the overarching Lab project, "Criminal defence lawyers and the representation of marginalized clients in Ontario and Québec".