University of Manitoba - Faculty of Arts - Sociology - Russell Smandych
Russell Smandych

Russell Smandych

Bio

Dr. Russell Smandych was a faculty member of the Department of Sociology and Criminology for 35 years from 1986 to 2021, when he formally retired and was honoured for his career contributions with the distinction of being appointed as Professor Emeritus. In addition to making significant and sustained contributions to research, teaching, and university and professional service throughout his pre-retirement career, Dr. Smandych continues to be actively involved in carrying out research in the field of global criminology and criminal justice with a particular focus on the role of the media in reporting on conflict and peacebuilding in Nigeria and other African countries, as well as his career long research in the field of British colonial history. He also continues to make ongoing contributions to professional service, especially through his work undertaking manuscript reviews for international peer-review journals and book publishers, and the many letters of support he writes for younger scholars who are now involved in advancing their teaching and research careers in criminology and sociology.

Education:

PhD University of Toronto, 1989
MA Simon Fraser University, 1981
BA University of Saskatchewan, 1977

Teaching

Undergraduate: Criminology (SOC 2510); Criminal Justice & Corrections (SOC 2610); Youth, Crime & Society (SOC 3830); Global Criminology & Criminal Justice (SOC 3880); Advanced Seminar in Criminology (SOC 4490)

Graduate: Seminar in Theoretical Criminology (SOC 7280); Selected Topics: Seminar in Global Criminology & Criminal Justice (SOC 7450)

Thesis Supervision

Recent Honours Students:

Paola Arabit - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Potentiality of Restorative justice in Canada? A Comparative Study Between Norwegian and Canadian Criminal Justice Systems” (2019)

Akayla Fiwchuk - Criminology Honours Thesis on “How Did They Get Away with It? US and UK Impunity for International Crimes Committed During the Iraq War” (2019)

Andrew Warkentin - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Youth Administration of Justice Charges under the Youth Criminal Justice Act: Unmet Needs, Forced Recidivism, and Incarceration” (2019)

Danielle Friesen - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Youth in Trouble: Contradictions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act” (2017)

Chantel Nygaard - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Sex Cells: Understanding the HIV/AIDS Pandemic Amongst Female Sex Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa” (2017)

Bernard Zulu - Criminology Honours Thesis on "New Directions to Effectively Address the Problem of Hyperincarceration of Indigenous Populations of the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand" (2016)

Brandy Falkevitch - Criminology Honours Thesis on "Black Widows of the Islamic State: Women's Involvement in Contemporary Terrorism" (2015)

Taurai Chimwanda - Criminology Honours Thesis on "A Comparative Study of Youth Justice Systems and Immigrant Youth Crime and Prevention" (2015)

Ololade Adeyemi - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Political Corruption in Post-colonial Nigeria: An Analysis of Causes and Proposed Solutions” (2014)

Mateja Carevic - Criminology Honours Thesis on “Constructing ‘Deviant’ Immigrant Youth: Media Framing and Policing in Canada, U.K. and Australia” (2014)

Oluwatosin Modupe Daodu - Sociology Honours Thesis on “Aboriginal Youth Gangs in Manitoba: Prevention and Evaluation” (2013)

Recent Masters Students:

Romulo Estevan Schembida De Oliveira - MA thesis on “Police and Market: The Creation of the Pacifying Police Units in Rio de Janeiro” (2018)

Worlanyo Dovoh - MA thesis on “The International Criminal Court and Africa: A Critical Analysis of Competing Views of the Success of the Court in Protecting Human Rights in African Countries” (2018)

Cynthia Dela Agotse - MA thesis on “Juvenile Justice in Africa: An Assessment of Adherence to International law on Preserving the Rights of Child Offenders” (2018)

Mateja Carevic - MA thesis on “Deconstructing Transitional Justice in Croatia: Understanding Peace-building Developments in the Context of Conflicting Discourses and Competing Truths” (2017)

Joseph Asomah - MA thesis on "The Rise of Global Private Policing in Africa: Real Need or Imperialist Project?" (2015)

Shahrokh Rezania - MA thesis on "Refugee Fathers in a New Country: The Challenges of Cultural Adjustment and Raising Children in Winnipeg, Canada" (2015)

Research

Current Research Interests:
Canadian and comparative youth justice issues and reform; cross-jurisdictional youth justice policy transfer; topics in global criminology and criminal justice; law and Indigenous peoples; Canadian and comparative common-law legal history.

Recently Completed and Current Research Projects:
The benefits of systematic cross-jurisdictional research on youth justice system reform; Canadian youth justice reform and outcomes of the implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act; settler colonialism and the legal subjugation of Indigenous peoples in nineteenth century Australia and western Canada; collaborative research on topics related to the changing landscape of crime and (in)security in Nigeria in the wake of Boko Haram; ongoing biographical research on the life and career of Sir James Stephen, Jr., legal counsel and Permanent Under-Secretary in the British Colonial Office from 1813 to 1847.

Publications

Recent books:

Nettelbeck, Amanda, Russell Smandych, Louis A. Knafla and Robert Foster.
2016 Fragile Settlements: Aboriginal Peoples, Law and Resistance in Southwest Australia and Prairie Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

Winterdyk, John and Russell Smandych, eds.
2016 Youth at Risk and Youth Justice: A Canadian Overview. 2nd Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Recent book chapters, journal articles, and reviews:

Smandych, Russell and Raymond R. Corrado.
2018 “‘Too Bad, So Sad’: Observations on Key Outstanding Policy Challenges of Twenty Years of Youth Justice Reform in Canada, 1995-2015.” Manitoba Law Journal 41 (3): 191-240.

Smandych, Russell.
2017 “Review of Dale Gibson, Law, Life and Government at Red River, Volume 1, Settlement and Governance, 1812-1872 (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015).” American Journal of Legal History 57 (3): 387-389.

Smandych, Russell.
2016 “From ‘Misguided Children’ to ‘Criminal Youth’: Exploring Historical and Contemporary Trends in Canadian Youth Justice.” Pp. 4-29 in J. Winterdyk and R. Smandych (Eds.) Youth at Risk and Youth Justice: A Canadian Overview. 2nd Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Smandych, Russell, Murray Dyck, Corey La Berge and Jodi Koffman.
2016 "Youth Justice in Manitoba: Developments and Issues under the YCJA."  Pp. 86-124 in M. Alain, S. Reid and R. Corrado (Eds.) Implementing and Working with the Youth Criminal Justice Act across Canada.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Smandych, Russell.
2013 “Colonialism, Settler Colonialism, and Law: Settler Revolutions and the Dispossession of Indigenous Peoples through Law in the Long Nineteenth Century.” Settler Colonial Studies 3 (1): 79-98.

Smandych, Russell
2010 “Mapping Imperial Legal Connections: Toward a Comparative Historical Sociology of Colonial Law.” Adelaide Law Review 31: 187-228.

Smandych, Russell and Rodney Kueneman
2010 “The Canadian-Alberta Tar Sands: A Case Study of State-Corporate Environmental Crime.” Pp. 87-109 in Global Environmental Harm: Criminological Perspectives. Edited by R. White. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

Nettelbeck, Amanda and Russell Smandych
2010 “Policing Indigenous Peoples on Two Colonial Frontiers: Australia’s Mounted Police and Canada’s North West Mounted Police.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 43 (2): 356-375.

Hutchinson, Terry, Gosia Parada and Russell Smandych
2009 “Show me a bad kid and I’ll show you a lousy parent’: Making Parents Responsible for Youth Crime in Australian and Canadian Contexts.” Australasian Canadian Studies 26 (2): 49-86.

last updated: May 2019