New Canada Research Chair Awarded to George Pavlich

U of A socio-legal researcher George Pavlich has been awarded the Canada Research Chair in Social Theory, Culture and Law. Pavlich will reanalyze the historical and conceptual foundations of the Canadian criminal justice system, and explore more inclusive ways of dealing with socially harmful behaviour by re-evaluating a long-standing attachment to concepts of crime and punishment.

22 March 2013

Three Canada Research Chairs at the University of Alberta will explore innovative ways to change Canadians' experience with the justice system, ensure access to culturally appropriate health care, and engineer nanotechnology with applications from electronics to medicine.

The CRC appointments announced today by the federal government include one newly awarded chair and two renewed chairs for the U of A, worth a total of $2.4 million.

"Our government is committed to attracting and retaining the world's best and brightest researchers, supporting innovation, creating jobs and strengthening our economy," said Gary Goodyear, minister of state for science and technology, at the national announcement in London, Ont. "By investing in programs such as the Canada Research Chairs, we are fostering cutting-edge research and the generation of new innovations for the marketplace, for the benefit of Canadians."

Re-evaluating crime and punishment in Canada

The announcement included a Tier 1 appointment of U of A socio-legal researcher George Pavlich as Canada Research Chair in Social Theory, Culture and Law. Pavlich will reanalyze the historical and conceptual foundations of the Canadian criminal justice system, and explore more inclusive ways of dealing with socially harmful behaviour by re-evaluating a long-standing attachment to concepts of crime and punishment.

Pavlich will study the notion of criminal accusation and how it captures people in the criminal justice system-a significant number of whom, he says, could be governed in other ways. His research will focus on the historical role that accusations have played in identifying criminals, and how criminalized persons become targets for different punishments. He will explore the prospect of less exclusionary ways of dealing with much criminal behaviour, reserving incarceration for all but the most serious of instances.

"When policies, as a matter of course, evoke criminals and prisons in response to harmful social behaviour, they don't entertain other possible approaches," he said. "Through this research program, I wish to explore more inclusive ways of governing people that don't necessarily refer to notions of crime and punishment."

He says current concepts and policies associated with crime and punishment have a long historical pedigree, and by exploring other ideas, he hopes to yield different, more socially advantageous results.

"One resounding promise of our criminal justice thinking was to reduce crime significantly, if not eliminate it-and certainly to rationalize punishment," he said. "I want to reinvigorate this unfulfilled promise."

Pavlich is pleased by the awarding of the Canada Research Chair and more broadly sees it as recognizing the value of social science research in tackling key issues facing us today, and the quality of social science research conducted at the U of A.

"With a number of leading researchers in the area located at the U of A, I look forward to extending debate on important issues of criminal justice," he said. "With its strength in social, legal and cultural research, together with other CRCs working in related areas, the University of Alberta offers an exceptional environment to pursue the ideas of my proposed research program."