Abigail Salole

Abigail Salole is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University.  She specializes in how non-profit organizations participate in youth criminal justice processes and how they can support new possibilities for contending with crime, conflict and other social problems.

Before joining Toronto Metropolitan University, Abigail held teaching, research, and administrative roles in Ontario’s postsecondary system, where she led community-engaged scholarship and knowledge mobilization initiatives. She earned a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from the University of Toronto and completed her Ph.D. in Criminology at Queensland University of Technology in Australia. 

Abigail has extensive experience in evaluation, research, and analysis across crime and justice policy areas, including school inclusion/exclusion for racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ youth. Her work reflects a strong commitment to community-engaged research and collaborative knowledge production with young people and partner organizations. Abigail's scholarship explores transformative approaches to justice, institutional change, coalition building, and policy implementation and has been published in criminology and social policy journals.

Abigail leads the Relational Justice in Practice (external link)  project in collaboration with Peacebuilders Canada with support from SSHRC.  This project examines how relationships between practitioners and young people are formed, maintained, and experienced within diversion programs. 

Abigail is also an active member of the International Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Research Network (CRIMVOL), a multidisciplinary network that brings together academics, practitioners, and policymakers to advance understanding of the criminal justice voluntary sector.