Shopping under Suspicion in Canada
- Date: Wednesday 14 May 2025, 12:00 – 1:00
- Location: Charles Thackrah Building
- Cost: Free
Professor Shaun Gabbidon (Penn State Harrisburg) will examine Canadian experiences of being criminally profiled in retail stores.
Join the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies for a lecture by Professor Shaun Gabbidon that explores how Canadians experience racial profiling in retail stores, focusing on the prevalence, racial differences, and reporting of such incidents.
Abstract
This lecture is devoted to an examination of Canadian experiences being criminally profiled in retail stores. Using one’s race or ethnicity as the primary method to identify potential shoplifters is referred to as Consumer Racial Profiling (CRP). Relying on a national sample of 850 Canadians, the research investigated three aspects of CRP. First, the research sought to determine the level and nature of CRP victimization among Canadians. Second, the research also investigated whether the likelihood of CRP victimization varied by race/ethnicity. Finally, the research explored whether CRP victims reported their encounter to an employee in authority following their victimization. The implications of the results along with future research directions are also discussed.
About the Speaker:
Shaun L. Gabbidon, PhD. is a Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at Penn State Harrisburg. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University Park campus. Professor Gabbidon is one of fewer than ten scholars to be named a Fellow of both the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). In 2024, he was the recipient of the Faculty Scholar Medal for the Social Sciences, which is the highest award for scholarship at Penn State University. Dr Gabbidon is currently a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at The University of Birmingham (UK).