Enhancing wellbeing and resilience within prisons: A psycho-educational approach for the missing middle. Many prisoners experience mental illness and psychological distress, which has been found to relate to repeat offending. Moreover, prison officers also experience high levels of anxiety and distress. This project aims to identify the mental health needs and factors that lead to psychological distress among prisoners and prison officers. Brief intervention programs intend to be developed to ad ....Enhancing wellbeing and resilience within prisons: A psycho-educational approach for the missing middle. Many prisoners experience mental illness and psychological distress, which has been found to relate to repeat offending. Moreover, prison officers also experience high levels of anxiety and distress. This project aims to identify the mental health needs and factors that lead to psychological distress among prisoners and prison officers. Brief intervention programs intend to be developed to address the needs of the ‘missing middle’ (those with elevated levels of distress who are not receiving services). The programs aim to be evaluated to determine whether they are preventing mental health deterioration among participants and whether the results reduce repeat incarceration for prisoners and increase job satisfaction and performance for officers.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100945
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$334,000.00
Summary
Improved interviewing framework in sexual assault cases. This project aims to provide a better interview framework to be used by police in the investigation and possible prosecution of sexual assault allegations. The current interview framework used around the world was not specifically designed for adult sexual assault complainants and has been intensely criticised. This project will design a revised interview framework that meets the complex investigative and evidential requirements for these ....Improved interviewing framework in sexual assault cases. This project aims to provide a better interview framework to be used by police in the investigation and possible prosecution of sexual assault allegations. The current interview framework used around the world was not specifically designed for adult sexual assault complainants and has been intensely criticised. This project will design a revised interview framework that meets the complex investigative and evidential requirements for these interviews. This is expected to increase just outcomes and victim satisfaction with the criminal justice response.Read moreRead less
Who should join the suspect in a police photo array? The traditional police line-up often produces inaccurate decisions, with witnesses failing to pick the culprit or picking an innocent suspect. Surprisingly, despite all the scientific advances with respect to the collection of eyewitness evidence, there is absolutely no objective basis for selecting the ‘fillers’ to accompany the suspect in the line-up. Guidelines merely suggest the fillers should not be too similar or too dissimilar to the su ....Who should join the suspect in a police photo array? The traditional police line-up often produces inaccurate decisions, with witnesses failing to pick the culprit or picking an innocent suspect. Surprisingly, despite all the scientific advances with respect to the collection of eyewitness evidence, there is absolutely no objective basis for selecting the ‘fillers’ to accompany the suspect in the line-up. Guidelines merely suggest the fillers should not be too similar or too dissimilar to the suspect. However, the fillers are likely to have a crucial influence on decision accuracy. This project aims to remedy this striking deficiency by developing and testing a flexible and universally applicable methodology for photo array composition that will optimise judgmental discriminability and curtail bias.Read moreRead less
A model of sex offender registration, monitoring, and risk management. This research will investigate the ways in which sexual offenders are managed in the community and identify the most effective means of preventing further offending, thereby promoting community safety.
How feedback can impair recognition judgments and undermine border security, criminal investigations, educational testing, and medical screening. If a customs officer learns that they have missed an explosive device while screening luggage, will this affect their judgment? In many scenarios, a person receives feedback about their recognition memory performance and has to try again without having another chance to study the material. Almost no research has examined the effects of feedback on reco ....How feedback can impair recognition judgments and undermine border security, criminal investigations, educational testing, and medical screening. If a customs officer learns that they have missed an explosive device while screening luggage, will this affect their judgment? In many scenarios, a person receives feedback about their recognition memory performance and has to try again without having another chance to study the material. Almost no research has examined the effects of feedback on recognition in the absence of opportunity for further study. This is problematic because many vitally important recognition decisions lack such opportunity. Using various scenarios (face recognition, security screening, multiple-choice testing, and medical screening) this project will demonstrate that feedback affects recognition performance differently depending on the nature of the recognition decision.Read moreRead less
A formal signal detection model of eyewitness identification. The project aims to aid in producing better procedures for the collection and assessment of eyewitness identification evidence. In a police line-up, a witness is asked to identify a perpetrator from a group of similar individuals. Applied research has focused on conditions that optimise witness performance but many of the conclusions from this research have been challenged on the basis that they use inappropriate measures of performan ....A formal signal detection model of eyewitness identification. The project aims to aid in producing better procedures for the collection and assessment of eyewitness identification evidence. In a police line-up, a witness is asked to identify a perpetrator from a group of similar individuals. Applied research has focused on conditions that optimise witness performance but many of the conclusions from this research have been challenged on the basis that they use inappropriate measures of performance. Recent work has highlighted the usefulness of analyses based on the theory of signal detection. However, the line-up task does not fit easily within standard signal detection paradigms as it combines two tasks; detection and identification. The project aims to understand how these components work in order to measure witness performance.Read moreRead less
Information sampling in superior face identifiers. This project aims to develop a theoretical understanding of perceptual processing that gives rise to the skill of face identification. The project intends to use innovative eye-tracking methods in order to pinpoint the visual information used by superior face identifiers, and capture qualitative differences in their visual processing. Expected outcomes include data-driven training and recruitment methods that can improve performance of professio ....Information sampling in superior face identifiers. This project aims to develop a theoretical understanding of perceptual processing that gives rise to the skill of face identification. The project intends to use innovative eye-tracking methods in order to pinpoint the visual information used by superior face identifiers, and capture qualitative differences in their visual processing. Expected outcomes include data-driven training and recruitment methods that can improve performance of professional face identification experts. Intended benefits include improved efficiency and reliability in identity verification processes, legal guidelines for interpreting identification evidence in court and training interventions for people with acquired and developmental impairments in face processing ability.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100933
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,996.00
Summary
Advancing cross-cultural approaches to violence risk assessment. This project aims to evaluate the usefulness of violence risk instruments for Australian Indigenous and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse individuals who have contact with the justice system. Violence risk assessment is undertaken to estimate an individual’s risk for future violence. Instruments are widely used in Australian medico-legal and correctional settings to inform sentencing, treatment planning and offender management ....Advancing cross-cultural approaches to violence risk assessment. This project aims to evaluate the usefulness of violence risk instruments for Australian Indigenous and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse individuals who have contact with the justice system. Violence risk assessment is undertaken to estimate an individual’s risk for future violence. Instruments are widely used in Australian medico-legal and correctional settings to inform sentencing, treatment planning and offender management strategies. However their predictive validity and utility for Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds is unclear. An analysis of both existing assessment and new qualitative data is expected to produce findings that can contribute to improved violence risk assessment and the enhanced prevention and management of violence.Read moreRead less
Improving the identification of juvenile firesetters at high risk of recidivism. Young firesetters are not only responsible for some fifth of all fires, they also are at risk of becoming adult arsonists. Australian fire services provide educational programs for young firesetters but about a third may continue to light fires. This project will allow clarification of variables most associated with ongoing firesetting behaviour (recidivism), better prediction of high risk juveniles, understanding ....Improving the identification of juvenile firesetters at high risk of recidivism. Young firesetters are not only responsible for some fifth of all fires, they also are at risk of becoming adult arsonists. Australian fire services provide educational programs for young firesetters but about a third may continue to light fires. This project will allow clarification of variables most associated with ongoing firesetting behaviour (recidivism), better prediction of high risk juveniles, understanding of the predictive value of a screening tool, valid assessment of recidivism rates and an increased understanding of mental health agency involvement with firesetter families. These outcomes will help improve programs involving juvenile firesetters, thereby reducing arson and the high cost of uncontrolled fire.Read moreRead less
Towards optimal face identification systems. This project aims to improve face identification accuracy at a system level. Reliable face identification is critical in security, police and judicial processes. The project will inform policy in the recruitment, training and workflow design underpinning the secure issuance of Australian passports. Expected outcomes of the project will include social and economic gains such as improved efficiency and reliability of key government services. The knowled ....Towards optimal face identification systems. This project aims to improve face identification accuracy at a system level. Reliable face identification is critical in security, police and judicial processes. The project will inform policy in the recruitment, training and workflow design underpinning the secure issuance of Australian passports. Expected outcomes of the project will include social and economic gains such as improved efficiency and reliability of key government services. The knowledge gained as a result of the project in perceptual and cognitive processes will strengthen legal systems and national security by minimising the risk of identification errors in critical roles.Read moreRead less