Research

Areas of expertise

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

Ongoing projects

  • Evaluation of the Saint John Mental Health Court: Predictors of Client Success and Failures. This project is part of a multi-study analysis of this mental health court. This particular project is an archival analysis of all cases referred to the court since its inception in 2000 and is funded by the Greater Saint John Community Foundation and MindCare New Brunswick
  • Evaluation of the Metadone Maintenance Treatment Program offered at Ridgewood Addiction Services, Horizon Health Network.
  • Validation and refinement of the ODARA for the prediction of intimate partner violence. This study will identify whether additional item content adds incremental validity to the ODARA and will examine its validity with both male and female perpetrators of IPV, as well as multiple outcomes (i.e., re-occurence of IPV incidents, time to subsequent IPV incident , escalation of IPV over time, and severity of injury).
  • Comparison of Criterion Based Content Analysis, Reality Monitoring, and Scientific Content Analysis for the discrimination of false allegeations of sexual assault from legitimate complaints. This data will then be used to develop a single comprehensive credibility assessment tool for this purpose that combines the most useful elements of each technique.
  • A study examining individual differences in lie detection ability that relate to emotional intelligence and executive functions of the detector.
  • A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of general recidivism risk tools.

Thesis topics

Can't decide on a thesis topic? Past students have researched a wide range of subjects, including:

  • Assessing the Relation of Attachment and Psychopathic Traits in a Sample of Adolescents: Is it Mediated by Delinquency?
  • Gender Influences and Methodological Considerations in Adolescent Risk-Need Assessment: A Meta-analysis
  • Is Prison "Personality" Associated with Post-Release Criminal Behaviour?
  • Prediction of Psychiatric Rehospitalization: A Meta-analysis
  • Reducing Prison Misconducts: What Works!
  • The Effects of Incarceration on Recidivism: A Longitudinal Examination of Program Participation and Institutional Adjustment in Federally Sentenced Adult Male Offenders.
  • Public Perception of Mental Health Courts:  Understanding the Influence of Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Attitudes.
  • Representing the Client Perspective of a Mental Health Court Program.
  • The RCMP Security Service to CSIS: The Road to Civilianization.
  • Police Interrogations: Does the Duration of Exposure to a Suspect Affect the Ability to Accurately Judge Credibility?