While criminology focuses on understanding the origins of crime, both at the individual and social level, justice studies go beyond and focus on how the law comes to be applied to individuals and groups on the bases of social characteristics. The general field of justice studies, then, tries to understand how some people gain advantage through the justice system and how some suffer substantial disadvantage, not necessarily on the basis of their criminality but on the basis of social categories and social definitions.

Researchers in this area are:

• Carolyn Brooks
• Hongming Cheng
• Colleen Dell
• John Hansen
• Julie Kaye
• Scott Thompson

Health research is fundamental to many recent local, national and international initiatives, and our department focus will continue to place our faculty at the forefront of Health and Health Care Research. Many research areas combine to form different streams of Health, for example Health and Illness, Qualitative Research, Primary Health Care, Health and Health Care, Theory, Policy Analysis/Public Policy. Colleen Dell is the Research Chair in Substance Abuse.

Researchers in this area include:

• Colleen Dell
• Harley Dickinson
• Sarah Knudson
• Jennifer Poudrier
• Elizabeth Quinlan
• Laura Wright

Citizenship, Immigration, Race & Ethnicity, Transnationalism

Internationally recognized for research in the areas of Globalization, Immigration, Transnationalism, Integration and Race/Ethnic Relations, the department boasts a critical mass of faculty actively engaged in teaching and research in the area of Migration Studies. The Department has academic agreements with Xi'an Jiaotong University in China for graduate and undergraduate joint degree programs, and professional ties with key scholars in many regions of the world, particularly Africa, India, and China. Faculty in the department have received numerous awards and grants for their research and engagement studies. Most recently, Dr. Patience Elabor-Idemudia received a commendation and plaque from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Nigeria, Africa.

Researchers in this area include:

• Monica Hwang
• Kara Somerville
• Terry Wotherspoon
• Laura Wright
• Li Zong