{"id":{"repo_id":"uoit","oai_identifier":"oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/2084"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uoit/oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/2084","repository":{"repo_id":"uoit","name":"Ontario Institute of Technology","base_url":"https://ontariotechu.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Canadian women and no-crime wrongful convictions: an investigation into whether (and why) women are more frequently wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children","abstract":"Research on no-crime wrongful convictions and female exonerees is scarce, but what research exists suggests that women are wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children more often than in wrong-person crime cases. The goal of this dissertation was to begin exploring (1) whether this American trend expands to cases in the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Conviction (CRWC), and (2) why women, particularly mothers, may be more likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime against a child when no crime occurred. Study 1 used an archival approach to examine exoneree and victim demographics, contributing factors, and types of crimes in these wrongful convictions through the lens of exoneree gender. Despite men contributing to a larger percentage of all exonerees, Canadian women seemed to be more represented in the no-crime than wrong-person crime cases, and their supposed victims were more often children (compared to adults), and especially their own children. Some of the details of these cases (e.g., exoneree race, contributing factors) differed somewhat from the American profile. Studies 2 and 3 took an experimental approach using various emergency scenarios and caregiver-child relationships (and caregiver gender in Study 3), inspired by real Canadian no-crime exoneration cases, to examine their impact on perceptions of suspiciousness. Study 2 found that the relationship to the child did not impact suspiciousness, but that the type of scenario did, with more sudden emergency type scenarios (e.g., housefires, seizures) viewed as more suspicious than scenarios where it was known that the child was sick. Study 3 found that caregiver gender did not have an impact on suspiciousness. There was no evidence that male and female caregivers were perceived differently in the exact same emergency scenarios. However, much like Study 2, the emergency scenario still appeared to have impact, with the sick child scenarios viewed as less suspicious than the sudden emergency scenarios. These findings will be discussed in relation to the preestablished American exoneration trends and the impact that various factors may have on leading to an increase in vulnerability of being wrongfully convicted when a child dies naturally or from an accident.","abstract_html":"Research on no-crime wrongful convictions and female exonerees is scarce, but what research exists suggests that women are wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children more often than in wrong-person crime cases. The goal of this dissertation was to begin exploring (1) whether this American trend expands to cases in the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Conviction (CRWC), and (2) why women, particularly mothers, may be more likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime against a child when no crime occurred. Study 1 used an archival approach to examine exoneree and victim demographics, contributing factors, and types of crimes in these wrongful convictions through the lens of exoneree gender. Despite men contributing to a larger percentage of all exonerees, Canadian women seemed to be more represented in the no-crime than wrong-person crime cases, and their supposed victims were more often children (compared to adults), and especially their own children. Some of the details of these cases (e.g., exoneree race, contributing factors) differed somewhat from the American profile. Studies 2 and 3 took an experimental approach using various emergency scenarios and caregiver-child relationships (and caregiver gender in Study 3), inspired by real Canadian no-crime exoneration cases, to examine their impact on perceptions of suspiciousness. Study 2 found that the relationship to the child did not impact suspiciousness, but that the type of scenario did, with more sudden emergency type scenarios (e.g., housefires, seizures) viewed as more suspicious than scenarios where it was known that the child was sick. Study 3 found that caregiver gender did not have an impact on suspiciousness. There was no evidence that male and female caregivers were perceived differently in the exact same emergency scenarios. However, much like Study 2, the emergency scenario still appeared to have impact, with the sick child scenarios viewed as less suspicious than the sudden emergency scenarios. These findings will be discussed in relation to the preestablished American exoneration trends and the impact that various factors may have on leading to an increase in vulnerability of being wrongfully convicted when a child dies naturally or from an accident.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hamilton, Karli M."],"institution":"University of Ontario Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Forensic Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Clow, Kimberley"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-04-01","date_published":"2026-04-01","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:35:20Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10155/2084","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Clow, Kimberley"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hamilton, Karli M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-04-28T16:05:26Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026-04-01"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Forensic Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Ontario Institute of Technology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10155/2084"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Research on no-crime wrongful convictions and female exonerees is scarce, but what research exists suggests that women are wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children more often than in wrong-person crime cases. The goal of this dissertation was to begin exploring (1) whether this American trend expands to cases in the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Conviction (CRWC), and (2) why women, particularly mothers, may be more likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime against a child when no crime occurred. Study 1 used an archival approach to examine exoneree and victim demographics, contributing factors, and types of crimes in these wrongful convictions through the lens of exoneree gender. Despite men contributing to a larger percentage of all exonerees, Canadian women seemed to be more represented in the no-crime than wrong-person crime cases, and their supposed victims were more often children (compared to adults), and especially their own children. Some of the details of these cases (e.g., exoneree race, contributing factors) differed somewhat from the American profile. Studies 2 and 3 took an experimental approach using various emergency scenarios and caregiver-child relationships (and caregiver gender in Study 3), inspired by real Canadian no-crime exoneration cases, to examine their impact on perceptions of suspiciousness. Study 2 found that the relationship to the child did not impact suspiciousness, but that the type of scenario did, with more sudden emergency type scenarios (e.g., housefires, seizures) viewed as more suspicious than scenarios where it was known that the child was sick. Study 3 found that caregiver gender did not have an impact on suspiciousness. There was no evidence that male and female caregivers were perceived differently in the exact same emergency scenarios. However, much like Study 2, the emergency scenario still appeared to have impact, with the sick child scenarios viewed as less suspicious than the sudden emergency scenarios. These findings will be discussed in relation to the preestablished American exoneration trends and the impact that various factors may have on leading to an increase in vulnerability of being wrongfully convicted when a child dies naturally or from an accident."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Canadian women and no-crime wrongful convictions: an investigation into whether (and why) women are more frequently wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Clow, Kimberley"],"dc:creator":["Hamilton, Karli M."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-04-28T16:05:26Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026-04-01"],"dc:description.abstract":["Research on no-crime wrongful convictions and female exonerees is scarce, but what research exists suggests that women are wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children more often than in wrong-person crime cases. The goal of this dissertation was to begin exploring (1) whether this American trend expands to cases in the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Conviction (CRWC), and (2) why women, particularly mothers, may be more likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime against a child when no crime occurred. Study 1 used an archival approach to examine exoneree and victim demographics, contributing factors, and types of crimes in these wrongful convictions through the lens of exoneree gender. Despite men contributing to a larger percentage of all exonerees, Canadian women seemed to be more represented in the no-crime than wrong-person crime cases, and their supposed victims were more often children (compared to adults), and especially their own children. Some of the details of these cases (e.g., exoneree race, contributing factors) differed somewhat from the American profile. Studies 2 and 3 took an experimental approach using various emergency scenarios and caregiver-child relationships (and caregiver gender in Study 3), inspired by real Canadian no-crime exoneration cases, to examine their impact on perceptions of suspiciousness. Study 2 found that the relationship to the child did not impact suspiciousness, but that the type of scenario did, with more sudden emergency type scenarios (e.g., housefires, seizures) viewed as more suspicious than scenarios where it was known that the child was sick. Study 3 found that caregiver gender did not have an impact on suspiciousness. There was no evidence that male and female caregivers were perceived differently in the exact same emergency scenarios. However, much like Study 2, the emergency scenario still appeared to have impact, with the sick child scenarios viewed as less suspicious than the sudden emergency scenarios. These findings will be discussed in relation to the preestablished American exoneration trends and the impact that various factors may have on leading to an increase in vulnerability of being wrongfully convicted when a child dies naturally or from an accident."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10155/2084"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:title":["Canadian women and no-crime wrongful convictions: an investigation into whether (and why) women are more frequently wrongfully convicted in no-crime cases against children"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Forensic Psychology"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Ontario Institute of Technology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:35:20Z"}