Shannon Vettor
PhD

Background

Restorative justice is a philosophy that encourages meaningful communication between victims and offenders; it promotes offender accountability, while creating safer and healthier communities. Shannon Vettor, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, largely bases her teaching and research on this collaborative approach aimed at reducing victimization in Canada and other parts of the world. Understanding the characteristics and behaviours that lead to violent and sexual offending can help the criminal justice system provide better support and rehabilitation to prevent reoffending and further potential victimization.

Fascinated by human beings’ darker behaviours such as violent offending and abnormal psychology, Dr. Vettor earned her Honours Bachelor of Science with a Double Major in Psychology, and Crime and Deviance from the University of Toronto. An opportunity to learn from one of the world’s leading psychology experts spurred her move to England to complete her Master of Science in Psychology and Investigation at the University of Liverpool. She received her Doctorate in Forensic Psychology from the University of Birmingham. Her doctoral research examined ways to analyze the criminal behaviours of sexual offenders, rapists and sexual murderers. She joined Ontario Tech University in 2013 and continues to focus on offender profiling to determine whether a perpetrated crime can uncover specific characteristics or behaviours that could assist law enforcement investigations in soliciting a suspect or suspect prioritization. During her doctoral studies, she also worked with the group Circles of Support and Accountability to help reintegrate sex offenders who had completed time served in prison to reintegrate and become contributing members of society. Her research aimed to understand what might lead them to reoffend, and how hold them accountable for dangerous behaviours.

A global advocate for the prevention of child maltreatment, Dr. Vettor previously collaborated with the World Health Organization to develop training and information materials for individuals who work in the area of child and family psychology to help reduce physical and sexual abuse of children. European institutions have adopted these materials as part of their education programs. At Ontario Tech University, she brings her real-world experience to the classroom, challenging students' critical-thinking skills, and encouraging opposite viewpoint discussion and debate.