Sonya McLaren

Assistant Professor, Research Stream

Institute of Forensic Sciences

E-mail:

sonya.mclaren@utoronto.ca
Room:

NSB 3002
Mailing Address:

3359 Mississauga Road, Forensic Science
NSB 2003
Mississauga ON L9T2K6
Canada

Dr. Sonya McLaren joined UTM’s Institute of Forensic Sciences after working as a Program Effectiveness Analyst with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and completing her PhD in Psychology with a Concentration in Quantitative Methodology at Carleton University. Her research predominantly focuses on justice-impacted person change, with a specific focus on implications for decision-making and policy. Her research interests also include rehabilitation, risk assessment, program evaluation, mental health, and extreme violence in correctional contexts. Dr. McLaren’s doctoral work was a multi-wave, prospective pilot implementation of a relatively new measure of justice-impacted change with a sample of individuals under the care of the Canadian federal correctional government, contributing to evidence-based practices in the correctional system. Her professional interests include combining academic research with policy and practice, improving justice-impacted person rehabilitation strategies.

Dr. McLaren has a cross-appointment in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and is currently accepting graduate students.

Publications

Larsen, R. R., Ades, E., Shroff, Y., McLaren, S. A., Griffiths, S., Jalava, J., & DeMatteo, D (2025). The use of psychopathy assessments in Canadian case law: A Quantitative and qualitative survey of court records from 1980-2023. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000472

Lankford, A., Allely, C. S., & McLaren, S. A. (2024). The gamification of mass violence: Social factors, video game influence, and attack presentation in the Christchurch Mass Shooting and its copycats. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2024.2413184

McLaren, S. A., & Rieger, D. (2024). Examining optimal weights for the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument in North Dakota. Criminal Justice and Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241291015

McLaren, S. A., Serin, R. C., Lloyd, C. D., & Dunham, M. D. (2024). An initial validation of a new measure of client change in a correctional sample. Psychology, Crime & Law, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2024.2400110

McLaren, S.A., Brasio-McLaughlin, T., & Gossye, E (2023). An international exploration into the world of mental health in community corrections. Advancing Corrections Journal.

Keywords of research interests: Offender change, with a specific focus on implications for decision-making and policy; rehabilitation, risk assessment, program evaluation, mental health, and extreme violence in correctional contexts.