Papers by Mary Ann Campbell, PhD.
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2022
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2021
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2017
Substantial research has demonstrated the value of using risk assessment tools for the prediction... more Substantial research has demonstrated the value of using risk assessment tools for the prediction and management of violence risk, including for intimate partner violence (IPV) (Mills, Kroner, and Morgan 2011). Such tools have been advocated for use by police officers (Hilton, Grant, and Rice 2010), but little is known about police officers' perceptions of using these tools to inform their decision-making. Using a sample of 159 Canadian police officers (73% male, M age = 41.8 years, SD = 8.9), the current study examined police officer's experiences with IPV risk tools, their attitudes about using such tools, and identified predictors of these attitudes using an online survey. Most of this sample had previously used an IPV risk tool, which was most commonly the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (64.1%). Most police officers rated use of risk tools as at least somewhat to extremely helpful (73.5%), and 67.4% indicated that they would use a risk tool with sufficient training on it. Regression analyses indicated that police officers' perceived IPV risk tool usefulness was significantly predicted by older respondent age and greater perceived need for guidance in responding to IPV calls. In conclusion, most police officers view IPV risk screening as valuable for informing their responses to such calls for service and are likely to embrace such decision-aids with sufficient training on their potential impact for enhancing safety.
Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 2017
Encyclopedia of Adolescence, 2016
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2011
DESCRIPTION This report represents a prospective evaluation of cases referred to the Nova Scotia ... more DESCRIPTION This report represents a prospective evaluation of cases referred to the Nova Scotia Mental Health Court between 2012 and 2014, with criminogenic, recidivism, and mental health recovery outcomes compared to a matched comparison group of referred but not admitted cases managed through the traditional criminal justice and correctional system. Results identified comparable outcomes between these two groups, but the Mental Health Court context was better able to attend to the responsivity needs of their clients within their case management plans than observed in the traditional criminal justice system. Information about characteristics of referred clients and those admitted and non-admitted tot he program were assessed as well. It was concluded that, in Canada, mental health courts provide a reasonable alternative to managing the risk, responsivity, criminogenic, and mental health recovery needs of individuals in conflict with the law.
Mental Health Courts (MHCs) are specialty courts created to deal with the unique needs of mentall... more Mental Health Courts (MHCs) are specialty courts created to deal with the unique needs of mentally ill offenders through programming based on the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence (Burns, Hiday & Ray, 2013); however, research on MHCs in Canadian contexts is needed. The current study explored differences between admitted (n=26) and non-admitted (n=54) referrals to an Atlantic Canadian MHC to gain insight into the factors underlying admission decision-making. Specifically, profile differences in formally assessed recidivism risk and criminogenic needs (LS/CMI), self-reported symptoms of psychological distress (SCL-90-R), and offence severity were investigated at the time of admission consideration and screening. Although admitted and non-admitted cases reported similar levels of psychological distress (SCL-90-R), there were criminogenic profile differences between these two groups. Specifically, non-admitted cases had a higher mean LS/CMI risk score than those admitted to MHC, a...
To evaluate the impact of the Saint John Mental Health Court (MHC) on: 1. Mental health functioni... more To evaluate the impact of the Saint John Mental Health Court (MHC) on: 1. Mental health functioning (i.e., degree of change in mental health functioning, utilization of emergency and mental health services) 2. Psychosocial functioning (i.e., employment, education, housing stability, and the quality of intimate and family relationships) 3. Criminogenic needs (i.e., antisocial attitudes, antisocial/lacking peer associations, substance use, antisocial personality pattern, poor use of leisure/recreation time, family/marital problems, and criminal history), overall recidivism risk) 4. Contact with the criminal justice system (i.e., days in jail, re-offending behaviour)
Attachment deficits are clinically described as a feature of psychopathy (Cleckley, 1974), but on... more Attachment deficits are clinically described as a feature of psychopathy (Cleckley, 1974), but only a few studies have formally assessed this feature (e.g., Flight & Forth, 2007). The current study assessed this feature in male and female community (n = 111) and incarcerated adolescents (n = 71). Psychopathy was assessed by the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI; Andershed et al., 2002) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) measured attachment. In community adolescents, higher psychopathic traits were associated with reduced trust and communication and greater alienation with both mothers and fathers. Only YPI affective and behavioural dimensions were correlated with IPPA peer attachment. For offenders, only the YPI behavioural dimension was correlated with mother attachment. Deficits in father-youth communication, and in peer-youth trust and communication, were tied to the YPI interpersonal dimension. Thus, psychopathic traits are a...
Recent research has found that while the majority of individuals can detect deception at only the... more Recent research has found that while the majority of individuals can detect deception at only the level of chance (e.g., Vrij, 2008), there are some who perform much better (O’Sullivan & Ekman, 2004). It is possible that neuropsychological individual differences contributes to the improved ability of these deception detection “wizards.” As such, the neuropsychological individual differences in deception detection were examined in a university student population (N = 220) for both a mock crime and interpersonal deception task. Results indicated that proficient lie detectors possessed two executive function abilities that differed from non-proficient lie detectors as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version. Individuals who were better able to detect deception tended to be slightly less inhibited and more emotionally open than those who performed poorly at deception detection. These findings were compared to a performance based measure of executive...
The current study assessed the risk of recidivism amongst 124 mentally ill offenders who had comp... more The current study assessed the risk of recidivism amongst 124 mentally ill offenders who had completed a mental health court program. Recidivism risk was estimated by the Level of Service/Risk-Need-Responsivity (LS/RNR) instrument (Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2008). General recidivism was assessed from the time of discharge from mental health court to the end of the follow-up period (i.e., 1 to 8 years). Overall, the sample had a low rate of recidivism. Receiver operating characteristic analyses indicated that the LS/RNR total score produced a large effect size (AUCs > .70) for predicting general recidivism amongst male and female clients with non-psychotic disorders (e.g., depression), while it was less successful in predicting recidivism for clients with psychotic disorders. Individual criminogenic needs were predictive of recidivism to varying degrees, and some needs were differentially more strongly predictive for males (e.g., education/employment) versus females (e.g., family...
The current paper will provide a descriptive profile of one of Canada’s oldest Mental Health Cour... more The current paper will provide a descriptive profile of one of Canada’s oldest Mental Health Courts. Located in New Brunswick, Canada, the Saint John MHC (SJMHC) adopted an innovative approach to managing mentally ill offenders using a multidisciplinary team that balances the goals of public safety with reduced criminalization of individuals with mentally illness. The current review will include SJMHC data gathered between 2000 and 2008. In total, 124 cases (M age = 36 years) were accepted during this period, 70% of which were male and 30% female. Clients spent an average of 225 days in the program. Ninety-seven percent had been involved with mental health services at some point prior to their MHC referral. The diagnostic profile of the sample included a variety of mental health problems, with the most prevalent being psychotic-related disorders (44%). The number of charges accumulated by individual participants prior to admission ranged from 0-18, with the majority (89%) having no ...
In November 2011, Inspector Rick Shaw, Officer in Charge of the Youth, Aboriginal Policing and Cr... more In November 2011, Inspector Rick Shaw, Officer in Charge of the Youth, Aboriginal Policing and Crime Prevention for J Division of the RCMP approached the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies at the University of New Brunswick-Saint John to evaluate a scheduled 4-day training event titled “Youth Diversion: Drug and Alcohol Misuse, Addictions and Mental Health – Tips, Tactics and Tools for the Front Line”. This training was held in Moncton, New Brunswick on December 5-8, 2011. The goal of the training was to provide professionals and community stakeholders involved in youth diversion in the province of New Brunswick with relevant knowledge, skills, and strategies that will inform their practice when working with youth involved in diversion. The goal of the evaluation was to assess participants’ perception of the benefits of the training and to identify future training needs. Under the supervision of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies Director, Mary Ann Campbell, Ph.D., Doctoral st...
One application of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR; Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2006) model is in ... more One application of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR; Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2006) model is in the area of crime prevention (Campbell & Goggin, 2011), particularly among youth who are at-risk for delinquent behavior. The current paper is a longitudinal study that followed a cohort of 137 Grade 7 youth (M age = 12.46, SD = .56; 58% female) for one-year. Youth completed the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT; Rahdert, 1991), which assesses several domains of functioning including RNR-relevant content (e.g., substance use, family relationships, leisure-recreational activities). At baseline, 42.3% youth were identified as medium to high risk for delinquency based on scores for the POSIT aggressive-delinquency scale. Relative to youth classified as low risk on this scale, med-high risk youth had significantly higher (i.e, more at-risk) mean scores on the POSIT subscales of substance use, physical health, mental health, family relationships, peer relationships, e...
In the past decade, Mental Health Courts (MHC) have been gaining popularity across Canada. Advoca... more In the past decade, Mental Health Courts (MHC) have been gaining popularity across Canada. Advocates of MHC claim that it is cost effective way of reducing the rate of recidivism among mentally ill offenders. However, very little data is available on the effect of Mental Health Court (MHC) involvement on criminogenic risk-need factors. Thus, the objective of this paper was to determine the degree of change that occurs in criminogenic risk-need factors as a function of MHC involvement. The current sample contained 101 mentally ill offenders (71 male, 30 female) who were accepted into the Saint John, New Brunswick, Mental Health Court between 2000 and the end of 2008. Their mental health and public safety records were reviewed to code the Level of Service/Risk, Need, Responsivity instrument (LS/RNR; Andrews, Bonta & Wormith, 2008). Using a repeated measures design, we found that the overall criminogenic risk-need level decreased from pre to post-MHC involvement for both male and femal...
The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is a school-based primary prevention program t... more The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is a school-based primary prevention program that seeks to reduce substance use and negative life outcomes in youth. Here we report on two studies that were conducted to evaluate the impact of the “DARE experience” among youth located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
"The following sections of this document provide summaries of the most commonly used IPV ris... more "The following sections of this document provide summaries of the most commonly used IPV risk screening instruments designed for use by front-line professionals, including the B-SAFER, the ODARA, and the Dangerous Assessment. These instruments can be used by frontline professionals to estimate a victim or perpetrator’s risk of future IPV, and inform decision-making and planning with regard to reducing this risk."
Uploads
Papers by Mary Ann Campbell, PhD.