Meet the Psychology, Law & Justice Lab Team
Learn more about our research team members!
Principal Investigator
Dr. Caroline Erentzen, LL.B., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University. My research interests focus on the intersection of psychology and law and the way that social identities influence propensity for violence and victimization. Prior to pursing an academic career path in psychology, I obtained a law degree and practiced as a lawyer at the Ontario bar from 2007 to 2019. More specifically, I am interested in the following areas of research:
- Wrongful convictions, false accusations, unreliable witness evidence
- Moral psychology and outgroup prejudice
- Stranger sexual harassment
- Intersectionality and social identity
Graduate students
Sarah Martin, BA (Hons)
Sarah is working on her Master’s degree at TMU under the supervision of Dr. Erentzen. Her research interests include the psychosocial consequences of false accusations of child sexual abuse, stigma toward those accused of child sexual abuse, wrongful convictions, and the effect of emotional demeanour on the perceived credibility of innocence claims. Prior to attending TMU, Sarah completed her Honours BA in Psychology at York University, with her thesis focused on the role of ‘ideal victim’ stereotypes on perceptions of sexual assault. Personal interests include the history of psychology, the history of crime, Indigenous culture, and the study of religion.
Joey Vong, BA (Hons)
Joey is a Master’s student in the Psychology Department at TMU, working under the supervision of Dr. Erentzen. Their research interests include queer, racialized identities and how they may be subjected to gatekeeping by other member of those groups. Joey completed an Honours BA at TMU and received CGS-M scholarship support for their studies.
Thesis Students
Kanika Lekhi
Danielle Castelhano
Danielle is a fourth-year undergraduate psychology student at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her academic focus centers on the intersection of psychology and social justice, particularly with interests in prejudice, discrimination, gender, and sexuality. Danielle is completing her undergraduate thesis in the PLJ Lab, where she investigates how online media consumption shapes attitudes toward gender roles and perceptions of acceptable social behavior, particularly in the context of toxic masculinity. Danielle is passionate about fostering research that drives meaningful social and institutional change and plans to pursue graduate studies to further her impact in this field.
Research Assistants
Ann-Marie Paris
Ann-Marie joined the lab as a research assistant in 2024. She is an undergraduate student at TMU, working on projects related to stranger sexual harassment. Her interests include working out, watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts about crime and psychology, and spending time with my family and loved ones. Her career interests include working in forensic psychology, specifically with vulnerable populations in prisons and/or in general populations.
Sana Mohammad
Sana is a fourth year undergraduate student at TMU, majoring in Psychology and minoring in French, with the hopes of becoming a successful clinical psychologist. Her hobbies include photography, painting and crocheting. She also has a passion for travel and cannot wait to travel the world someday.
Yusuf Ghauri
Yusuf is a research assistant at the PLJ Lab where he is currently working on a project examining persons exonerated of childhood sexual abuse crimes, as well as a project looking at Reddit posts of false allegations of childhood abuse. Yusuf’s research interests are in the areas of intersectionality, cognition, and mental health. He hopes to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology and work with forensic populations. In his free time, Yusuf enjoys staying active and reading.
Alumni and Former Students
Megan Zambri
Megan completed her honours thesis with the PLJ Lab in 2023-24, exploring the moral foundations of attitudes toward transgender persons. She hopes one day to be a counsellor to children and families and to teach them healthy coping mechanisms. She is also interested in psychology and law, forensic psychology, and developmental psychological principles. She loves learning new things every day and is excited to see what the future has in store.
Bianca Cusimano
Bianca completed her Honours thesis with the PLJ Lab in 2023-24, investigating how observers perceive online stranger sexual harassment. Bianca graduated from the Psychology Department in 2024 and is pursuing a teaching degree at OISE.
Nabeeha Mahmoud
Nabeeha completed her honours thesis with the PLJ Lab in 2023-24, examining religious bias toward Muslim defendants in Canadian juries and ways to effectively screen jurors for potential bias. She is interested in social psychology, specifically the intersection of psychology and law, and hopes to become a social psychologist. She enjoys reading, listening to Taylor Swift, and watching sitcoms in her spare time.
Juliana Cocuzzo
Juliana joined the PLJ Lab in 2024 as an independent project student, assisting on a project exploring jailhouse informant evidence. Some of her research interests include wrongful convictions, unreliable witnesses, and the perceived credibility of the Not Criminally Responsible plea. She is currently exploring careers in both psychology and law.
Tatiana Kilislian
Tatiana joined the PLJ Lab in 2024 as an independent project student, assisting on a project exploring false accusations of child abuse as a factor leading to wrongful convictions. Her research interests include solitary confinement and the adverse effects it has on the mental and physical well-being of prisoners. She hopes to pursue graduate school in the field of Clinical Psychology.
Ayse Makarnaci
Ayse joined the lab as a research assistant between 2022-2024. She began as a volunteer RA and moved into an independent research project in 2023. She was awarded a competitive Undergraduate Research Opportunity funding to work full-time on a project investigating stranger sexual harassment and oversaw several research projects. She continued with the lab in 2023-24, overseeing projects related to sexual harassment, ambivalent sexism, and system justification beliefs. She is also completing an honours thesis with Dr. Goodwill, investigating the utility of risk assessment tools wiht an incel population. She has moved on to graduate studies in forensic clinical psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.
Ashley Maharaj
Ashley joined the PLJ lab as a research assistant between 2022-2024. She assisted with a large project exploring exonerations from false accusations of child sexual abuse. She completed her honours thesis in the ASPIRE lab at TMU with Dr. Persram. Her main research interests include the social-cognitive development of children. In her psychology and law class, she was most interested in learning about the accuracy of eyewitnesses and children’s testimony. She is the Executive Vice-President of the Psychology Students Association (PSA) and a BIPOC mentor in the Tri-Mentoring program. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, watching Modern Family, and biking.
Geovana da Silva Kasprowicz
Geovana is a 4th-year undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology. She is an international student from Brazil and her research interests include social psychology, gender, sexual behaviour, personality, and relationships. Her current thesis project is about body image, gender norms, and sexual satisfaction in bisexual women. She is assisting the PLJ lab with research exploring identity-based stranger sexual harassment.