Dr. Alyssa Leblond

Current Interests

Sociology of punishment; bail supervision program; penal voluntary sector; transcarceration; conditioning

Current and Future Research

My current research examines a Bail Supervision Program (BSP) delivered by a non-governmental organization in Ontario, Canada. I conducted interviews, ethnographic observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal the BSP plays an important support role for accused and the court; supporting release from custody, offering guidance in navigating the criminal legal process, and being a resource and information hub. Despite this, the findings also demonstrate the BSP is not well positioned in a supervisory role and the conditions it imposes, including weekly reporting and mandated treatment, create a cycle of criminalization. I conclude that in practice, the BSP provides the courts with a means—prior to conviction— to assess accused persons’ ability to self-govern, and this information is shared with the court to be considered in determining the case outcome.

My five-year research plan includes a quantitative study using court observation methods to explore the role of BSPs in net widening. This involves an empirical assessment of how often BSPs supervise accused who should have been released without supervision versus how often BSPs supervise accused who would otherwise be detained as they are intended to. Specifically, this project has two primary objectives: (1) Understand who is referred to BSP, who is accepted by BSP as eligible for supervision and why, and who is ultimately released by the court with BSP. (2) Empirically assess how often BSP net widens.