Kevin Walby

University of Winnipeg · Department of Criminal Justice

Drawing on the results of interviews and access to information requests, we explore conservation officer work in two urban regions in one Canadian province (Ontario). Specifically, we examine the work of the federal‐level National Capital Commission (NCC) in Ottawa and the provincial‐level Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Applying...

Although the existing penal tourism literature examines displays at penal heritage sites, little research has explored the work of tour guides within them. Drawing from interviews and observations, this article assesses the styles of tour guides working at penal history museums in Canada. We situate carceral guides' styles along a continuum encompa...

This article provides an account of the nuclear test series carried out at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). We examine how practices of security produce publics and make particular forms of embodiment possible. This account focuses on three key moments to shift the debate on national security projects from audience to public by bringing intra-action and...

As activists strategize, build resistance, and foster solidarity, they also call for better dialogue between researchers and movements and for research that can aid their causes. In this volume, contributors examine how research can produce knowledge for social transformation by using political activist ethnography, a unique social research strateg...

Emotional labour (EL) is the practice of managing expressions in a given work setting. Using the concept of EL, we aim to understand how youth care workers supporting marginalized youth manage work-related stress and the emotions experienced by young people. The youth supported by these workers experience the effects of secondary prisonization (i.e...

Context: Leading up to the March 2020 global COVID-19 lockdown, an important movement was building power across so-called Canada. What began as a continuation of the decades-long, localized struggle for self-determination in Wet’suwet’en territory quickly became a focal point for nationwide Indigenous resistance, refusal, and solidarity. Analysis:...

In June 2018, the 44th Group of Seven (G7) Summit was held in La Malbaie in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Drawing from geographic and sociological literature on protest and social movement policing and applying the concept of scale, we examine techniques of summit security deployed for the event. Analysing the results of access to information req...

Smoking a potent concentration of salvia divinorum (hereafter salvia) has the capacity to dissolve one’s ego and sense of self. Due to the catatonic state a strong dose of salvia produces, the substance has been considered alarming by claims-makers including politicians, media officials, police, and citizen groups. This paper examines news media ac...

Escape rooms are a popular new form of leisure and amusement globally, including in North American cities. Based on a thematic and discourse analysis of online content, we examine ten carceral-themed escape room operations in the United States and Canada. Drawing on theories of cultural power and neoliberalism, we analyze the messages conveyed by s...

Drawing from 63 reports from journalists and non-governmental agencies spanning 25 countries, we qualitatively examine regressive trends that erode freedom of information laws. We elaborate on elements associated with FOI policy transfer successes and failures using Dolowitz and Marsh’s framework for policy transfer. We also identify factors limiti...

This paper examines the state of Canada’s federal access to information (ATI) regime. Drawing from literature on government transparency, we conceptualize Bill C-58 and the problems it proposes to address as a form of policy discordance. We assess the recent digitization of ATI in Canada by analyzing data on request abandonment, record exemptions,...

There is little scholarship on museums and heritage sites that memorialize courts, judges, and law. Engaging with literatures on penal history and law and culture, we explore representations of law and power in court museums across Canada. Based on observations and interviews, we examine the meanings of the artifacts curated at court museum sites....

Thousands of prisoners and prison staff have been infected by COVID-19 across Canada. Deteriorating conditions of confinement have become commonplace, with segregation-like measures imposed in the name of preventing COVID-19 transmission. While prisoners, their loved ones, advocates, and researchers have discussed trends regarding infection, public...

This paper draws from the literature on security networks and policy transfer to examine the privatization of social control in the downtown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We show how a consortium of public and private entities transferred a security policy from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, leading to the creation of the Downtown Communit...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed large segments of the global population to the experience of restricted freedoms. In Canada, COVID-19-related measures led to a decrease of mobility within the country, prohibiting access to public and private spaces for prolonged periods of time. This study addresses the effects of the pandemic and related restric...

Web scraping, defined as the automated extraction of information online, is an increasingly important means of producing data in the social sciences. We contribute to emerging social science literature on computational methods by elaborating on web scraping as a means of automated access to information. We begin by situating the practice of web scr...

Background: Newspaper op-eds are an underexplored mode of communication that frame social, cultural, and political issues. Analysis: This article uses an unsupervised machine-learning approach called structural topic modelling to map changes in the content of a corpus of Canadian newspaper op-eds on freedom of information (FOI) law spanning a 20-ye...

There are dozens of public police museums located across Canada that memorialize the country’s history of law enforcement and criminalization. Drawing from fieldwork at these sites, we explore the representational devices used to curate police museum displays. Invoking Stuart Hall’s work on representation and Othering, we examine how gun displays a...

Although literature on police use of social media is expanding, almost all previous research has focused on police services. Existing literature has not examined the social media communications of multi-jurisdictional police unions and other associations. Unions represent police members during collective bargaining. Multi-jurisdictional police asso...

Background: This article examines political cartoon depictions of access to information and freedom of information appearing in Canadian newspapers published between 2005 and 2019. Analysis: It focuses on three dimensions of these cartoons. First, many of these cartoons mirror the categories of political cartoons devised by Ray Morris. Second, seve...

This article examines a novel approach to visual methods that artist Ben Davis has developed based on sociologist Kevin Walby’s research into decommissioned industrial sites, which is referred to here as tracing. Disrupting the over-reliance on photographic representation in visual methods in the social sciences, the authors integrate audio recordi...

This paper explores a case study of the struggle over the cultural meanings of charity and imprisonment related to United Way’s 2019 Rockin’ The Big House fundraising concert in partnership with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the City of Kingston at Kingston Penitentiary. Contributing to literature at the intersection of penality, prison...

Computational methods are increasingly popular in criminal justice research. As more criminal justice data becomes available in 'big' and other digital formats, new means of embracing the computational turn are needed. In this article, we propose a framework for data collection and case sampling using computational methods, allowing researchers to...

This paper investigates the partnership between Correctional Service Canada, the City of Kingston, and United Way, which has transformed the decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary into a site central to the growth of local tourism, film and charitable industries in Kingston, Ontario. In particular, we examine the political and social implications of...

Computational methods are increasingly popular in criminal justice research. As more criminal justice data becomes available in big data and other digital formats, new means of embracing the computational turn are needed. In this article, we propose a framework for data collection and case sampling using computational methods, allowing researchers...

Police Funding, Dark Money, and the Greedy Institution is about a pervasive but little-studied phenomenon: private funding of public police which entails private entities sending resources to police through unconventional or hidden channels, sometimes for suspect reasons. The book argues police acquisition of this "dark money" befits the notion of...

Little sociological research has examined the work of circus aerialists. Drawing from interviews with 31 circus aerialists in Canada, we explore what aerialists say about their bodies. Circus aerialism is an intense form of physical work, and aerialists endure intense pain during training and performance. Engaging with sociologies of the body and i...

Little research examines the communication work that public police do following police shootings. Based on an analysis of 85 press releases, press conferences, and media interviews after police shootings in Canada spanning 2010–2020, we analyse narrative techniques used in police communications. Contributing to literature on police image management...

This paper investigates how virtual exhibitions curated by the Canadian War Museum (CWM) and the Canadian Centre for the Great War (CCGW) communicate ideas about nationalism and multiculturalism in Canada. Drawing from critical literature on participatory museum spaces, multiculturalism, and hegemony, we examine how virtual war exhibitions, which a...

Purpose This paper aims to examine the online communications, symbolism and imagery of 35 community crime prevention and crime watch groups across Canada to explore how these groups organize themselves and assess the resulting community actions. Design/methodology/approach Contributing to digital criminology, gathering data from open access platfo...

Edgework refers to the experience of adventure and transcendence achieved through perseverance in risky situations. We draw from interviews with 26 tree-planters in Canada to show how tree-planting, a type of edgework, reveals elements of the edgework paradox. The paradox is that edgework provides escape from the late-modern urban world through con...

In early 2019, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) intervened at the Gidimt’en Access Checkpoint in northern British Columbia (BC) and arrested 14 land defenders, garnering global media attention. To explore the ways that settler common sense ( Rifkin 2013 ) is assembled and perpetuated in Canada, this paper examines how Wet’suwet’en mobilizat...

Museums are increasingly placed front-and-centre in police headquarters. Based on interviews, field notes, and observations, we examine the significance of placing museums in the foyers of new police headquarters for public culture and police legitimacy. Drawing from critical heritage, cultural and policing studies literature, we argue the trend re...

K. Walby. 2021. Review of Mitchell, R., & Huey, L. (eds.). 2019. Evidence Based Policing: An Introduction. Bristol: Policy Press. Pgs. 272. Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 60/2: 275-278.

Public police now use online and social media spaces as forums for communication. Drawing from discourse and semiotic analysis, and contributing to literature on police image management, we analyze police Instagram communications from five Canadian cities. Focusing on public police services’ Instagram posts, which are more indebted to visual commun...

The political communications of police unions in the digital age deserve more attention from criminologists. This article examines the communications of two Canadian police associations in Toronto and Winnipeg. Using multimodal discourse analysis, we describe how police unions tactically engage with multiple forms of media to disseminate strategic...

This paper examines the claims made by Canadian media, government agencies, and citizen groups about the social and individual risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Engaging with the sociology of risk, we analyze media framing and claims-making in the Western provinces of Canada during the first three months of the pandemic. Analyzing 257 articles from C...

Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology

This paper is a response to an article on public police special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams written by Jenkins and colleagues (2020). Jenkins and colleagues are responding to a study showing that tactical units and members are being used more in Canadian policing. For Jenkins and colleagues, not only are SWAT teams being used properly, but dra...

Drawing from fieldwork at military museums across Manitoba, Canada, we explore the objects and narratives used to curate museum displays featuring what Bousquet (2018) calls “military perception.” Using Bousquet’s categories of military perception to organize our analysis, we examine how these museums position scopes, sonars, camouflage, and other...

We analyze the 2015 horror film Human Centipede III: Final Sequence (HC3), written and directed by Dutch filmmaker Tom Six. Engaging with literature on torture porn and body horror, we argue that this film reflects and refracts ideas about crime and punishment including a critical view on mass incarceration in America while critiquing a culture of...

In this report, we take stock of English-language scholarly publications appearing during the past two decades in which scholars and researchers used FOI requests to generate data for their studies on prison and jail systems. We review these studies looking at trends in frequency over time, where they come from, what other data sources they used al...

The presence of discarded metals in the back alleys of cities is a ubiquitous feature of contemporary urban life. To many, this metal is waste to be forgotten. To some, it is the basis of scrounging to survive. Based on a qualitative content analysis of news reports, we reflect on media framing of scrap metal collection in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canad...

Hochschild (1983) introduced the idea of emotional labour to examine how emotions are performed and managed in work settings. Recent writings have extended Hochschild’s works on emotional labour by focusing on the body and collective emotions. Contributing to this literature, we draw on interviews conducted with circus aerialists from several Canad...

To evaluate the performance of FOI regimes, associations of journalists and other groups undertake FOI audits. These audits assess the depth of disclosure, the use of exemptions, among other indicators of the health of FOI laws. Drawing on a thematic analysis of FOI audits, we examine how these audits are conducted and what the audits reveal about...

en The duty to assist is a core principle in Freedom of Information (FOI) law in Canada and elsewhere. FOI coordinators working in each Canadian government agency are responsible for implementing this duty, though they face challenges in doing so. Examining Information Commissioner rulings, we elaborate on the dimensions of duty to assist as articu...

Walby, K., and S. Kohm. ‘Metal at Urban Margins: Regulating Scrap Metal Collecting in Winnipeg, Canada’ Canadian Journal of Urban Research

Public police in countries around the world have faced criticism over a lack of diversity in their membership. This has led to various police recruitment efforts aimed at boosting the diversity of officers. In this paper, we examine public police attempts to recruit new and diverse police members in the social media age. Drawing from feminist crimi...

Kohm, S. and K. Walby. 2020. ‘Crunch Time: Temporalities of Scrap Metal Collection’. In Allon, F. R. Barcan and K. Eddison-Cogan (eds). Temporalities of Waste: Out of Sight, Out of Time. London: Routledge. Pp. 222-239.

Purpose Police services, police associations and police foundations now engage in philanthropy and these efforts are communicated using social media. This paper examines social media framing of the philanthropic and charitable work of police in Canada. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from discourse and semiotic analyses, the authors examined t...

New forms of private influence are emerging in public policing across Canada. This includes private sponsorship of public police and donations to police foundations. This chapter explores key concepts in criminology and criminal justice studies and gauges their applicability to private sponsorship and donations in public policing. We compare defini...

This collection offers a comprehensive review of the origins, scale and breadth of the privatisation and marketisation revolution across the criminal justice system. Leading academics and researchers assess the consequences of market-driven criminal justice in a wide range of contexts, from prison and probation to policing, migrant detention, rehab...

Introducing the idea of subterranean affinity, this article explores how methodological use of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests can contribute to the field of cultural studies. Contributing to literatures on transparency and secrecy, we consider six ways that FOI requests can contribute to and extend the field of cultural studies. These six in...

There are several military museums located across the prairie provinces of Canada that memorialise the country’s involvement in war. Drawing from fieldwork, we explore the representational devices used to curate military museum displays. Focusing on curatorial strategies and the arrangement of weapon objects at the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum (...

In this report, we review all English-language scholarly publications from the last two decades that draw on FOI requests to generate data for their studies on policing. We pay particular attention to trends in frequency over time, geography, what other data sources are used to complement data produced through FOI, and what novel contributions FOI...

This ninth issue of The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research (IJR) will explore how the digital world is reshaping crime and crime control as well as the broader field of interdisciplinary justice studies.

Drawing from interviews, fieldnotes, and visual data, we examine representations of policewomen and gender communicated in Canadian police museums. We examine four trends from our dataset. First, we found silences regarding the history of women in policing in Canada. Second, there was a fetish-like emphasis on women’s police uniforms. Third, when i...

Recent controversies over police use of force in the United States of America have placed a spotlight on police in Western nations. Concerns that police conduct is racist and procedurally unjust have generated public sentiments that accountability must be externally imposed on police. One such accountability mechanism is body-worn cameras (BWCs). O...