A proud Francophone from Montreal, Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert is doctoral student in law at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on criminal law and gender-based violence. She examines the ability of criminal law to address this type of violence, as well as the potential of community-based responses outside the criminal justice system.
After studying political science and sociology at McGill University, Jeanne completed her degree in law at the same university, where she received the gold medal for highest academic standing. She completed her Quebec Bar stage as a Fellow at the Law Commission of Canada and served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada in the chambers of the Honorable Malcolm Rowe.
Over the years, her academic interests and community involvement have been guided by the same concern: to better understand and limit the injustices in the criminal legal system. Jeanne has been involved in various community projects working with unhoused people, victims of racial profiling, and formerly incarcerated men. Her publications, which address similar themes, have appeared in the McGill Law Journal and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.
The Public Beyond the State: Theorizing Public Responses to Gender-Based Violence
Victims of gender-based violence (GBV), including domestic and sexual violence, face major challenges in the Canadian criminal justice system. Their participation is limited, actors in the system may be insensitive, and accountability for perpetrators of violence is not guaranteed. The rates of GBV in Canada are also concerning: one in three women report having been sexually assaulted since the age of fifteen, and one in five women report having been a victim of domestic violence as adults. These findings raise questions about the ability of criminal law to prevent and respond to GBV.
This question divides feminist jurists. Some argue that criminal law is essential for condemning GBV. According to them, the state, acting on behalf of members of the public, is well positioned to protect the interests of vulnerable women. Others argue that criminal law is steeped in systemic racial injustices and tends to perpetuate wrongdoings rather than reduce them. They prioritize participatory processes — such as restorative justice — that are better aligned with the needs of victims and communities. Without forsaking public concerns regarding GBV, these feminists envisage collective responses outside the criminal justice system.
My research focuses on these themes, namely the relationship between criminal law, the concept of “public” and GBV. My aim is to answer the following question: Is it possible to envisage public responses to GBV outside the criminal justice system?
My project will have practical and academic benefits. On a practical level, GBV cases are often excluded from court-administered restorative justice programs, which may go against the best interests of victims who would prefer more flexible procedures. In this sense, my research will provide a stronger theoretical framework for the movement that advocates community-based responses to GBV. At the academic level, my research will contribute to the field of criminal law theory as well as to the field of feminist law theory.
