Research

Areas of expertise within the CCJS-PR

  • Evaluation of criminal justice-related programs
  • Strategies for safe and humane prison environments
  • Best practices for forensic assessment and rehabilitation
  • Credibility assessment and lie detection strategies
  • Political science and criminal justice issues
  • Theoretical criminologogical views "from below"
  • Historical criminal justice perspectives
  • Police psychology
  • Addictions/gambling
  • Violence

Examples of ongoing projects

  • Assessing the predictive validity of risk assessment instruments for use with justice-involved youth in the Maritime region of Canada
  • Examination of the role of resiliency as a potential mediator of recidivism risk in adolescent offenders
  • Evaluation of bullying prevention initiatives for youth
  • Understanding the impact of youth diversion from the criminal justice system on recidivism outcomes and criminogenic needs
  • Exploration of police responses to intimate partner violence calls, and the impact of utilizing a structured risk assessment instrument (i.e., ODARA) to facilitate response decision-making.
  • Developing best practices for the integration of the Risk, Need, Responsivity (RNR) model of offender assessment and rehabilitation strategies with case plans aimed at mental health recovery amongst justice-involved individuals with mental health disorders.
  • Assessment of "buy-in" for use of evidence-based practices in crime prevention and reduction, and barriers to this uptake.

Funding

Funding for our projects have come from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the University of New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Inovation Fund, and specific research contracts with various government, policing and community agencies.

Sources and references