Michelle Bertrand

Title: Professor, Graduate Studies Chair
Phone: 204.988.7503
Office: 3C48
Building: Centennial Hall
Email: m.bertrand@uwinnipeg.ca

Degrees:

MA Queen's University

PhD Queen's University

Biography:

Dr. Michelle Bertrand completed her M.A. and Ph.D. at Queen’s University in the Social-Personality Psychology program. Her research interests are in the general area of Psychology and Law, with specific interests in Canadian juries and eyewitness memory. She also has a general interest in how these, and other social science-related factors, relate to wrongful convictions.

In her jury-related work, Dr. Bertrand looks at issues related to jury representativeness and comprehension of judicial charges. She is the primary investigator on an interdisciplinary SSHRC Insight Grant (2019 – 2025) studying jury representativeness within Canada, including: (1) the selection and composition of Canadian juries (2) how the Canadian public conceive of and understand jury representativeness, and (3) differences in jury selection procedures across Canada.

Dr. Bertrand is also a co-investigator on an interdisciplinary SSHRC Insight Grant (2018 – 2023) investigating how well jury-eligible Canadians understand criminal charges and instructions that judges give to juries, as well as methods to improve understanding. This work is ongoing.

Her eyewitness memory interests are in eyewitness identification procedures, police lineup biases, police adherence to best-practice recommendations for lineups, and the impact of policy on lineup procedures. She received a University of Winnipeg Major Research Grant (2021) to study whether lineup procedures adhere to best-practice guidelines.

Courses:

Teaching & Supervision (past and current):

Graduate

• Seminar in Research Design
• Preventing Wrongful Convictions

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice Research Methods
• Forensic Psychology
• Preventing Wrongful Convictions

Supervision

• In addition to course-related teaching, Dr. Bertrand also supervises Criminal Justice Honours and M.A. student theses.

Research Interests:

Dr. Bertrand’s research interests are in the general area of Psychology and Law, with specific interests in Canadian juries and eyewitness memory.

In her jury-related work, Dr. Bertrand looks at issues related to jury representativeness and comprehension of judicial charges. She is a co-investigator on an interdisciplinary SSHRC Insight Grant (2018 – 2023) investigating how well jury-eligible Canadians understand criminal charges and instructions that judges give to juries, as well as methods to improve juror understanding.

Dr. Bertrand is also the primary investigator on an interdisciplinary SSHRC Insight Grant (2019 – 2024) studying jury representativeness. Within this area, she studies how the public conceive of and understand representativeness both generally and as it pertains to persons with disabilities, and how such perceptions compare to existing case law and legislation.

Her current research interests in eyewitness memory focus mainly on biases in police lineups, but also include methodological issues in lineup construction and administration as well as policy issues regarding lineups.

Publications:

Selected Recent Publications:

*Please email Dr. Bertrand if you would like a copy of any publications that do not have links*

Jochelson, R., Trask, B., Bertrand, M. I., Ireland, D., & Nair, K. (2024). Virtually similar? Considering the potential for virtual jury trials in Canada during and after the pandemic. Manitoba Law Journal, 46 (3), 28 pp.

Medeiros, D., & Bertrand, M. I. (2023). A Rush to Justice: The Institution of Presumptive Ceilings in R v Jordan and Their Potential Implications for Wrongful Convictions, The Manitoba Law Journal: Criminal Law Edition, 46 (4), 80 – 122.

Bertrand, M. I., Ireland, D., & Jochelson, R. (2021). Jury Selection is Not Random Selection: A Methodological Critique of R. v. Kokopenace and a Recommended Solution. The Criminal Law Quarterly, 69, 463 – 512.

Bertrand, M. I., Jochelson, R., Ireland, D., Kerr-Donahue, K., Christianson, I. A., & Walker, K. (2020). “We have centuries of work undone by a few bone-heads”: A review of jury history and a present snapshot of crown and defence counsel perspectives on Bill C-75’s elimination of peremptory challenges and representativeness issues. Manitoba Law Journal, 43, 111 – 158.

Jochelson, R., Bertrand, M. I., Ireland, D., Desroches, A. D., & Kerr-Donohue, K. (2020). Propensities for guilt and the Canadian criminal jury: Jury eligible participant studies across three charging scenarios and three fact patterns. The Criminal Law Quarterly, 68, 107 – 135.

Bertrand, M. I., Lindsay, R.C.L., Mansour, J. K., Beaudry, J. L., Kalmet, N., & Melsom, E. I. (2018). Examining How Lineup Practices of Canadian and U.S. Police Officers Adhere to Their National Best Practice Recommendations. Manitoba Law Journal: Second Special Volume on Current Issues in Criminal Law, 41, 1 – 47. 

Bertrand, M. I., & Jochelson, R. (2018). Mock-jurors’ understanding of Canadian judicial instructions (is not very good). The Criminal Law Quarterly, 68, 136 – 160.

Lindsay, R.C.L., Bertrand, M. I., & Smith, A. M. (2017). The importance of knowing how a person became a suspect in a lineup: Multiple eyewitness identification procedures increase the risk of wrongful conviction. Manitoba Law Journal: Special Volume on Current Issues in Criminal Law, 40, 53 – 83.

Mansour, J. K., Beaudry, J. L., Kalmet, N., Bertrand, M. I., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (2017). Evaluating lineup fairness: Variations across methods and measures. Law and Human Behavior, 41, 103 – 115. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000203

Bertrand, M. I., Jochelson, R., & Menzie, L. (2017). The jury representativeness guarantee in Canada: The curious case of disability and justice-making. The Journal of Ethics in Mental Health Special Issue. Legal Responses to Mental Health/Mental Disability: Courts, Special Courts and Inter-disciplinary Tribunals, 10, 1 – 23.

Jochelson, R., Bertrand, M. I., Lindsay, R. C. L., Smith, A. M., Ventola, M., & Kalmet, N. (2014). Revisiting representativeness in the Manitoban Criminal Jury. Manitoba Law Journal: Underneath the Golden Boy, 37, 365 – 398.