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David MacAlister

Associate Professor
School of Criminology
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

BIOGRAPHY

David MacAlister came to Simon Fraser University as a full-time faculty member in 2002. He is currently an Associate Professor in Criminology and he was the Director of the School of Criminology from 2016 until 2022. In the past, he has served as the School’s Associate Director for Policy and Planning.

MacAlister has a background in law and criminology, holding law degrees from the University of British Columbia (J.D.) and Queen’s University (LL.M.), and criminology degrees from SFU (B.A. and M.A.). He has served as a member of Senate at SFU, and a member of the Research Ethics Board. He was the President of the Western Society of Criminology in 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, and he is currently its Immediate past president. He has served on the Board for WSC since 2014, he is currently the Secretary-Treasurer of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Criminal Law; criminal procedure and evidence; civil liberties and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; sentencing; policing and police powers; criminal justice accountability; wrongful conviction; legal responses to terrorism; philosophy of law; legal aspects of youth justice.

EDUCATION

  • BA (SFU)
  • J.D. (UBC)
  • MA (SFU)
  • LL.M. (Queen's)

NOTE FOR POTENTIAL GRADUATE STUDENTS:

Willing to accept new graduate students who share research interests in similar areas.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Canadian Criminal Justice Today
  • Introduction to Criminal and Civil Law
  • Police Involved Deaths: The Need for Reform
  • David MacAlister and Kayla Barkase. (2019) “Mandatory Minimum Sentencing for Drug Offences in Canada” Criminal Law Quarterly 66(1) pp. 174-207
  • Andrew Reid and David MacAlister. (2018) “Extending a Geographic Perspective to the Study of Jurisdictional Consistency in Sentencing Outcomes” British Journal of Criminology 58(5) pp. 1147-1170.
  • Ted Palys and David MacAlister. (2016) “Protecting Research Confidentiality via the Wigmore Criteria: Some Implications of Parent and Bruckert v The Queen and Luka Rocco Magnotta” Canadian Journal of Law and Society 31(3) pp. 473-493.
  • Kayla Barkase and David MacAlister. (2014-15) “Impossibility in the Law of Criminal Attempt: A Comparison of Canada, Australia and New Zealand” Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 14(2) pp. 153-194.
  • David MacAlister. (2011) “The Law Governing Racial Profiling: Implications of Alternative Definitions of the Situation” Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 53(1) pp. 95-103.
  • Farzana Kara and David MacAlister. (2010) “Responding to Academic Dishonesty in Universities: A Restorative Justice Approach” Contemporary Justice Review Vol. 13(4) pp. 443-453.

SELECTED GRANTS

  • Dean's Research Grant for Chairs and Directors (one for each of six years)
  • SFU Teaching and Learning Development Grant “Developing a Best Practice Review and Guidelines to Prevent Student Academic Misconduct”
  • SSHRC Small Grant “Drones with Cameras” 

Recently taught courses

  • CRIM 330 Criminal Procedure and Evidence
  • CRIM 331 Advanced Criminal Law
  • CRIM 335 Human Rights & Civil Liberties
  • CRIM 338 Philosophy of Law
  • CRIM 344 Sentencing: Theory, Law and Practice
  • CRIM 830 Crime, Law and Policy

Courses

Future courses may be subject to change.

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