Alexa Dodge

Dr. Alexa Dodge

Assistant Professor

Email: alexa.dodge@smu.ca

Personal Profile

• PhD, Legal Studies, Carleton University
• MA, Legal Studies, Carleton University
• BA (Honours), Contemporary Studies, University of King’s College

Dr. Dodge is a critical criminologist and socio-legal scholar with research and teaching interests in the areas of digital criminology, technology-facilitated violence, sexual violence, feminist criminology, criminal law, and restorative justice. Dr. Dodge has worked on research projects on the following topics:

• Criminal law responses to nonconsensual intimate image distribution
• Policing sexual violence online and in the community
• Young people’s perspectives on technology-facilitated violence and safety
• Digital evidence in cases of sexual violence
• Informal and restorative responses to technology-facilitated violence and bullying
• Supports for victims of technology-facilitated sexual violence
• Restorative justice in cases involving multiple legal proceedings

Current Research Projects

Principal Investigator (with Mendes, Dietzel, Kehler, & Dunn), Technology-Facilitated Gender Based Violence among Young People: Synthesizing the Research to Promote Digital Safety in Canada. Funder: SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant.

Co-Investigator (with Mendes, Dietzel, Kehler, & Dunn), Combating Technology Facilitated Sexual Violence: Supporting Young People in Schools, Social Relationships, and on Social Media. Funder: SSHRC Insight Grant.

Associate Researcher (with Blais [PI] & Dunn), Identifying the Prevalence and Impact of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence with a Focus on Access to Services. Funder: Research Nova Scotia. 

Associate with the Restorative Research, Innovation, & Education Lab (Schulich School of Law), Restorative Approaches to Multiple Proceedings Project. Funder: Justice Partnership and Innovation Program.

PUBLICATIONS

Refereed Journal Articles

2023    Dodge. Looking Beyond the Law to Respond to Technology-Facilitated Violence and Bullying: Lessons Learned from Nova Scotia’s CyberScan Unit. Crime, Media, Culture. Online First.

2022    Dodge and Lockhart. “Young People Just Resolve it in Their Own Group”: Young People’s Perspectives on Responses to Nonconsensual Intimate Image Distribution. Youth Justice. 22(3): 304-319.

2021    Dodge. “Try Not to be Embarrassed”: A Sex Positive Analysis of Nonconsensual Pornography Case Law. Feminist Legal Studies. 29(1): 23-41. 

2021    Dodge. Trading Nudes like Hockey Cards: Exploring the Diversity of “Revenge Porn” Cases Responded to in Law. Social & Legal Studies, 30(3): 448-468.

2021    Spencer, Ricciardelli, and Dodge. “Society Wants to See a True Victim”: Police Interpretations of Victims of Sexual Violence. Feminist Criminology, 16(2): 216-235. 

2019    Dodge. Nudes Are Forever: Legal Interpretations of Digital Technology’s Impact on “Revenge Porn”. Canadian Journal of Law & Society, 34(1): 121-143.  

 2019    Dodge, Spencer, Ricciardelli, and Ballucci. “This Isn’t Your Father’s Police Force”: Digital Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 52(4): 499-515.

2018    Dodge. The Digital Witness: The Role of Digital Evidence in Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. Feminist Theory, 19(3): 303-321.

2018    Dodge and Spencer. Online Sexual Violence, Child Pornography or Something Else Entirely?: Police Responses to Non-Consensual Intimate Image Sharing Among Youth. Social & Legal Studies, 27(5): 636-657.

2018   Spencer, Dodge, Ricciardelli, and Ballucci. “I Think It’s Re-Victimizing Victims Almost Every Time”: Police Perceptions of Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. Critical Criminology, 26(2): 189 209.

2016    Dodge. Digitizing Rape Culture: Online Sexual Violence and the Power of the Digital Photograph. Crime, Media, Culture, 12(1): 65-82.

Book Chapters & Book Reviews

2021    Dodge. Restorative Responses to the Rhizomatic Harm of Nonconsensual Pornography. In: Powell et al. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology.   Palgrave.

2021    Spencer, Dodge, and Ricciardelli. Emotional Labour, Police, and the Investigation of Sex Crimes Perpetrated Against Children: Posttraumatic Stress and the Toll of Dirty Work. In: Ricciardelli et al. (eds) Handbook of Posttraumatic Stress. Routledge.

2015   Dodge. Book Review: David Gurnham’s Crime, Desire and Law’s Unconscious. Social & Legal Studies, 24(2): 324-328.

Reports

2021    Dodge. Deleting Digital Harm: A Review of Nova Scotia’s CyberScan Unit. Halifax: Dalhousie University. Report.

2016    Spencer, Ricciardelli, Dodge, Grace, and Ballucci. Police Responses to Online and Offline Sexual Violence and Harassment in Canada: Challenges, Needs, and Experiences. Ottawa: Government of Ontario. Report.

Course Listing (2022-3)

• Qualitative Research Methods
• Digital Criminology