Menu Close

Patrick G. Watson

(he/him)
Assistant Professor, Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies, University of Toronto

I am the principal investigator of three SSHRC-funded projects studying policing and police oversight. I am currently writing a book based on the first of these projects, a study of eight criminal trials in Canada and the United States where police officers were tried for on-duty shooting incidents and where video evidence played a key role in the trial. My current studies are of special investigations units decisions of officer "reasonablenss" for cases that do not proceed to trial. I am the first Canadian scholar to be the successful principal applicant of the SSHRC/DFG/ESRC/ARN Open Research Area grant (2022 competition).

Experience

  • –present
    Adjunct Professor of Criminology, Wilfrid Laurier University

Education

  • 2010 
    University of Manchester, UK, PhD Sociology