About this research stream

A correctional system is effective when human service is a top priority. Human service includes rehabilitation (programming that targets the reasons people stay involved in crime), reintegration (preparing and assisting people to successfully transition to the community after prison), and management (making well-informed decisions about which people pose risk to others and how to address that risk). 

The behavioural sciences are a critical source for the evidence-based approaches that define best practice within corrections. Our team draws on these empirical traditions to design, evaluate and support human service within contemporary corrections.

Relevant projects 

  • Developing and evaluating new and existing rehabilitation programs 
  • Evaluating interventions to reduce firesetting recidivism
  • Evaluation of the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR) 
  • Developing a comprehensive best-practice training for community corrections staff
  • Developing training for correctional staff to recognise criminal thinking
  • Psychological change through youth justice group conferencing 
  • Factors related to desistance from offending among court-involved youth
  • Cognitive and emotional changes that support desistance from crime during community supervision 
  • Therapist perspectives on building therapeutic alliance, including with clients with a history of criminal behaviour

Relevant publications

Stone, A.G., Lloyd, C.D., Spivak, B.L., Papalia, N.L., & Serin, R.C. (2023). Trajectories of change in acute dynamic risk ratings and associated risk for recidivism in paroled New Zealanders: A joint latent class modelling approach. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-022-09566-5

Coulter, D.J. & Lloyd, C.D. (2023). Using a reassessment framework to determine critical case management needs: DRAOR improves on LS/RNR’s predictive discrimination of short-term recidivism, Psychology, Crime & Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2023.2166506

Ogloff, J.R.P., Rose, A., Meyer, D., Benson, S., Shepherd, S.M., Pfeifer, J., Louise, S., Trounson, J., Skues, J., & Daffern, M. (2023). The impact of a short-term mental health intervention delivered in an Australian prison: A multi-cultural comparison. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 22(1), 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2022.2041772

Klepfisz, G., Lloyd, C.D., Day, A., & Daffern, M. (2022). Increasing client motivation ratings across violence rehabilitation are promising predictors of reduced post-custody recidivism. Psychology, Crime & Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2022.2108422

Morrison, F.P., Fullam, R., Thomson, K., Meyer, D., & Daffern, M. (2022). Results from a non-randomized pilot study evaluating the impact of a novel group treatment program targeting aggressive script rehearsal and emotion regulation in a sample of incarcerated males. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X221086581

Albrecht, B., Spivak, B., Daffern, M., & McEwan, T.E. (2022). The temporal relationship between mental health service use and stalking perpetration. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 56(12), 1642-1652. https://doi.org/10.1177/00048674211072449

Tyler, N., Gannon, T.A., & Olver, M. (2021). Does treatment for sexual offending work? Current Psychiatry Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01259-3

Batastini, A. B., Miller, O. K., Horton, J., & Morgan, R. D. (2023). Mental health services in restricted housing: Do we know what’s going on behind the steel doors? Psychological Services, 20(3), 576–584. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000606

Papalia, N., Spivak, B., Daffern, M., & Ogloff, J. R. P. (2020). Are psychological treatments for adults with histories of violent offending associated with change in dynamic risk factors? A meta-analysis of intermediate treatment outcomes. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 47(12), 1585–1608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820956377

Papalia, N., Spivak, B., Daffern, M., & Ogloff, J. R. P. (2019). A meta‐analytic review of the efficacy of psychological treatments for violent offenders in correctional and forensic mental health settings. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 26(2), Article e12282. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12282

Tyler, N., Gannon, T.A., Lockerbie, L., & Ó Ciardha, C. (2018). The evaluation of a specialist firesetting intervention for mentally disordered offenders: The FIP-MO. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 25(3), 388-400. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2172

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