Media
NL Newsday, August 2, 2019Radio/Podcast
URL: https://soundcloud.com/user-512608364/samantha-mcaleese-aug-2-2019
Samantha McAleese is a Carleton University PHD candidate in Sociology. Her research focuses on the collateral damage of criminal punishment in Canada. She tells NL Newsday why the federal government's "cannabis amnesty bill" (C-93) isn't really what it is being reported or represented to be.
Will a minority government bring a renewed approach to cannabis amnesty?
Stigmatized former convicts reluctant to go public for forum on pardon changes
Requests for pardons drop in wake of changes
CBC News, November 21, 2013Print
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/requests-for-pardons-drop-in-wake-of-changes-1.2434526
Peak Pardons
VICE News CanadaPrint
URL: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/8xm3pa/canada-is-pardoning-more-drug-convicts
Canada’s cannabis advocates turn to pardons as the new front in the struggle for equitable drug policy
The Georgia Straight, October 31, 2018Print
Experts and advocates skeptical pot conviction pardons will benefit northerners
CBC News North, August 14, 2019Print
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cannabis-record-suspensions-1.5245344
Here's why Canada needs more automatic pardons for crimes
Ottawa Citizen, September 25, 2017Print
Liberals, we're still waiting for "Real Change" on pardons
Ottawa Citizen, April 7, 2018Print
Canada's new lacklustre law for cannabis amnesty
The ConversationPrint
URL: https://theconversation.com/canadas-new-lacklustre-law-for-cannabis-amnesty-119220
Canada's record suspension system is punitive and must be fixed
Ottawa Citizen, March 4, 2019Print
'Incredibly low': Only 118 pardons granted for pot possession in first 4 months
CBC News, December 1, 2019Online
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cannabis-pot-pardons-record-suspension-1.5376974?cmp=rss
Citizen group focused on stopping ByWard Market surveillance cameras
CBC News - Ottawa, October 14, 2019Online
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-byward-market-cameras-1.5315779
Harper was tough on crime, Trudeau promised a new approach — did he deliver?
Global News, October 6, 2019Online
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/5887695/criminal-justice-policy/
Suspension, not expungement: Rationalizing misguided policy decisions around cannabis amnesty in Canada
by Samantha McAleese
Published by Canadian Public Administration
November 18, 2019
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians continue to carry the burden of convictions for minor possession of cannabis obtained prior to legalization. Despite support for an automatic expungement process to eliminate the collateral consequences of punishment, the Trudeau government opted for a less favourable policy instrument – record suspensions. Drawing from parliamentary debate and committee hearings, the author summarizes the discussion and debate on Bill C‐93 and analyzes this misguided decision using Miljan’s work on policy instrument choice and rationality. The emphasis on bureaucratic rationality specifically resulted in a maintenance of the status quo when it comes to criminal justice policy and a uninspiring approach to cannabis amnesty in Canada.
URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/capa.12345
Job search, suspended: Changes to Canada’s pardon program and the impact on finding employment
by Samantha McAleese
Published by Wilfred Laurier University Press
This is a chapter in an edited collection on reintegration and employment.
"This book offers suggestions for criminal record policy amendments and new reintegration practices that would assist individuals in the search for employment. Using the evidence and research findings of practitioners and scholars in social work, criminology and law, psychology, and other related fields, the contributors concentrate on strategies that will reduce the stigma of having been in prison; foster supportive relationships between social and legal agencies and prisons and parole systems; and encourage individually tailored resources and training following release of individuals."
Doing public criminology with the criminal justice voluntary sector: Methodological reflections and considerations
by Samantha McAleese
Published by The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
Criminological literature outlines various roles for public criminologists and reflects on both the form and purpose of public criminology. This article reviews this literature and considers institutional and political activist ethnography as methods through which criminologists can address critique, and better combine social justice research and advocacy work. Such methodological considerations demonstrate that, for some, ‘doing’ public criminology means actively engaging in advocacy work alongside research participants and other activists. Examples and reflections from the author's own work with the criminal justice voluntary sector (CJVS) in Canada demonstrate that a public criminology informed by institutional and political activist ethnography is especially important if we want to: (i) better understand the role of the sector in supporting people with criminal records; and (ii) strengthen the relationship between academics, policymakers, advocates, practitioners, and people with lived experience of criminalisation and punishment.
URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hojo.12331
Biography
Samantha McAleese recently completed a Ph.D. in Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa and is now an Assistant Professor of Critical Criminology in the Department of Sociology at Brock University in St. Catharines/Niagara Region. Her dissertation was awarded a Senate Medal, and she received an Outstanding Graduate Student award from the Canadian Sociological Association. Samantha's research focuses on the challenges faced by people with criminal records in the community. She works with non-profit organizations and advocacy groups on issues of criminal justice policy and practice in Canada. Her most recent work speaks to concerns about cannabis legalization and Canada’s strategy for handling convictions for minor possession of marijuana.
McAleese has a decade of front-line experience working to support people with criminal records in the community, informing her research and advocacy work. She is an expert on Canada’s record suspension (pardon) system and the collateral consequences of punishment faced by people with criminal records across the country.