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Kanika Samuels-Wortley

Dr Kanika Samuels-Wortley

Assistant Professor

Department: Criminology

Email: ksamuelswortley@torontomu.ca

Education: BA (University of Toronto), MA (Ontario Tech University), PhD (University of Waterloo)

Discipline: Criminology

Areas of Expertise:

  • Algorithmic Bias

  • Police Community Engagement

  • Police Legitimacy

  • Predictive AI Technologies within the Criminal Justice Processes

  • Program Evaluations in Criminal Justice Agencies

  • Race, Racism & the Criminal Justice System

  • Youth Diversion

  • Youth Engagement in Crime

  • Youth Victimization

Dr. Kanika Samuels-Wortley's research explores the intersection of race, racism, and the criminal justice system. Her scholarship employs a mixed-methods critical race approach to better understand how racial bias and discrimination impact Black and Indigenous peoples' experience and perceptions of law enforcement in Canada. Dr. Samuels-Wortley's work aims to acknowledge and identify how Canada's colonial structures and history of enslavement continue to negatively affect Indigenous and Black communities through contemporary criminal justice practices. Her current research agenda explores the use of predictive policing technologies within Canadian law enforcement agencies and the role they may play in exacerbating racial inequities.

Course Code Course
CRM 101 Understanding Crime 

Related Content

  • Samuels-Wortley, K. (2025) The “unusual' suspect – Race, Class, and Crime: A critical discourse case study of Nova Scotia’s mass casualty event. Canadian Journal of Law and Society (forthcoming).
  • Samuels-Wortley, K. (2024) Community Policing, Police Militarization, and Canada’s Colonial Project. In Sebastián Sclofsky and Analicia Mejia Mesinas (Eds.) In Police and State Crime in the Americas: Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives (pp. 99-122), New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Samuels-Wortley, K. (2024). Racialization and Crime. In N. Boyd (Ed.) Understanding Crime in Canada: An Introduction to Criminology, Third Edition. Emond Publishing.
  • Perry, B., and Samuels-Wortley, K (2021). We’re not where we should be: Enhancing law enforcement responses to hate crime (external link) . Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Vol. 63 (2), pg. 68-98. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2020-0057.
  • Samuels-Wortley, K. (2019). Violence against Black youth in the great white north: Exploring the prevalence of victimization among Black women from a Canadian context. In A. Kalunta-Crumpton (Ed.) pp. 229-248, Violence Against Women of African Descent: Global Perspectives. New York: Lexington/Rowman & Littlefield.

Dr. Samuels-Wortley has served on the Learning Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Correctional Service Canada and is currently a research member with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

For the latest updates, please visit the faculty page linked below.

Faculty Page  (opens in new window) 

Selected Media & Activities

Watch Dr. Kanika Samuels-Wortley on a panel hosted by the Max Bell School of Public Policy, discussing police accountability, policy innovation, and building trust with Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities.

Watch Dr. Kanika Samuels-Wortley in a conference titled "Exploring the lived experiences of those who ' fit the description ' - The impact of racial profiling on Black youth in Toronto." 

Host Neil Boyd speaks with Scot Wortley and Kanika Samuels-Wortley, authors of Race, Crime, and Justice in Canada: Issues and Strategies. Together, they explore how systemic factors, public perceptions, and media narratives influence racialization and crime in Canada.