Nicole Myers
Associate Professor
Criminologist
Sociology
Queen's University
PhD (Toronto), MA (Toronto), BA (Guelph)
- Bail and pre-trial detention
- Community supervision and conditions of release
- Criminal court processing and the administration of justice
- Plea bargaining and sentencing
- Punishment and social control
- Risk management and surveillance
- Criminal justice policy
My work focuses on the pre-trial detention and bail process, community supervision and conditions of release, court culture and organizational risk avoidance, the criminalization of non-criminal behaviour, the administration of justice and criminal law policy. I am interested in plea bargaining and sentencing; how being processed through the system is experienced as punishment; risk management, surveillance and social control through conditions of release; the impacts of lengthy court processing, the use of incarceration for administration of justice offences; accused people’s understanding of the criminal court process; and the provision of publicly funded legal services.
Together with a group of criminologists and community stakeholders, led by Dr. Sandra Bucerius at the University of Alberta we were awarded a 7-year SSHRC Partnership Grant (2022) to explore the intersections of marginalization and discrimination in the criminal justice system. I co-lead the Court Node of research in the Partnership. I am currently working with Dr. Marianne Quiroutte and Dr. Chloé Leclerc at the Université de Montréal, on a survey of defence counsel in Ontario and Quebec that explores how counsel work with and represent marginalized clients. During the Partnership we will conduct interconnected research projects including an observational study of plea courts and a quasi-ethnographic and interview-based study of accused’s experiences in the criminal court process exploring how they make decisions about the processing and resolution of their case. I recently completed separate studies with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (2023) on a follow-up to our 2014 semi-national bail study and with Legal Aid Ontario (2023) exploring racial disparities in bail outcomes.
Using a mixed methodological approach, I have conducted more than 400 days of bail court observation, reviewed over 500 completed criminal case files and conducted in-depth interviews with criminal justice professionals, people who have experiences with pre-trial detention and release in the community subject to conditions and people who have acted as a surety for someone. I have published numerous peer-reviewed academic papers about bail in Canada and presented my research at national and international conferences. I have appeared before the Senate of Canada Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Ontario Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Justice Policy. My work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Zora, 2020, R. v. Myers, 2019, R. v. Penunsi, 2019 and R. v. Antic 2017.
I welcome graduate students interested in doing research about bail and pre-trial detention, criminal court processing including plea bargaining and sentencing, community supervision and conditioning, as well as those interested more broadly in the administration of justice, criminal law policy and punishment.
On Leave May 2023 - July 2024
Myers, N.M. (2023). Principled Guidance and Radical Change: Lessons Learned from Youth Bail Practices and the YCJA. The Criminal Law Quarterly: Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
Deshman, A., Myers, N.M., Berger, L. (March 2023). Bail and Pre-Trial Detention in Canada. Report prepared for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (196 pages).
Myers, N.M., Wortley, S., Murdocca, C., and Owusu-Bempah, A. (January 2023). Race, Risk, and Pre-Trial Release: An Examination of Racial Identity and Bail Decisions in Ontario. Report prepared for Legal Aid Ontario, Anti-Racism Action Program (ARAP) (239 pages).
Myers, N. (2021). The More Things Change the More they Stay the Same: The Obdurate Nature of Pandemic Bail Practices. The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 46(4), 11- 36.
Myers, Nicole M. & Ireland, David (2021). Unpacking Manitoba Bail Practices: Systemic Discrimination, Conditions of Release and the Potential to Reduce the Remand Population. The Criminal Law Quarterly, 69(1), 26-62.
Myers, N.M. (2019). “Jailers in the Community”: Responsibilizing Private Citizens as Third-Party Police. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 61(1), 66-85.
Myers, N.M. (2017). Eroding the Presumption of Innocence: Pre-Trial Detention and the Use of Conditional Release on Bail. British Journal of Criminology, 57(3), 664-683.
Myers, N.M. (2015). Who Said Anything about Justice? Bail Culture and the Culture of Adjournment. Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 30(1), 127-146.
Deshman, A. & Myers, N. (July 2014). Set Up to Fail: Bail and the Revolving Door of Pre-Trial Detention. Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Education Trust. Final Report (117 pages).
Myers, N.M. & Dhillon, S. (2013). The Criminal Offence of Entering Any Shoppers Drug Mart in Ontario: Criminalizing Ordinary Behaviour with Youth Bail Conditions. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 55(2), 187-214.
Sprott, J. & Myers, N.M. (2011). ‘Set up to Fail’: The Unintended Consequences of Multiple Bail Conditions. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 53(4), 404-423.
Myers N.M. (2009). Shifting Risk: Bail and the Use of Sureties. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 21(1), 127-147.
Webster C.M., Doob, A.N. & Myers N.M. (2009). The Parable of Ms. Baker: Understanding Pretrial Detention in Canada. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 21(1), 79-102.