We've compiled top highlights from recent research, policy, and practice resources across the world for our latest IACFP International News summary. Our topics for July and August, 2024 include IACFP updates; recent research, policy, and practice; and upcoming conferences.
1. IACFP Updates
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IACFP 2024 Distinguished Scholar is Professor Mark Halsey
Professor Mark Halsey from Flinders University in Australia will deliver the IACFP 2024 Distinguished Scholar Lecture at the upcoming ICPA annual conference in Singapore. The theme of the conference is “Enabling Desistance: Beyond Recidivism”. Professor Halsey has done significant research on desistance, including the causes and consequences of intergenerational incarceration, and his lecture promises to be enlightening and thought provoking for conference attendees. We are excited to learn more about the strength-based desistance approach described in his most recent work. - IACFP 2024 Student Research Award
Last month IACFP announced one of the winners of the 2024 Student Research Award! This $2500 grant to support continuing education in criminal justice and psychology disciplines has been decided by the IACFP board after carefully considering the merits of all submitted research proposals.
Cooper Sparks is a third-year doctoral student in Southern Illinois University's Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. Her research interests include justice-involved persons with mental illness, justice-involved women, and correctional mental health treatment. After completing her graduate work, Cooper hopes to continue both her research and clinical work to provide effective services and further our understanding of justice-involved populations. We're excited to recognize Cooper’s research and wish her great success in her career ahead!
2. Research
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Criminological Highlights
Criminological Highlights is published several times each year by the University of Toronto Criminology Department. Each issue looks at eight compelling criminological questions, offering both summaries and conclusions based on reviews of new research. The periodical scans approximately 120 journals to identify interesting criminological studies, and IACFP members may find this a welcome support for keeping up with recent thoughts and discussion within the field. The most recent issue of Criminological Highlights (Volume 21, No. 4 – June 2024) addresses the following questions:
- How do police networks affect police misconduct?
- Do Black Americans want to reduce police funding?
- How can the design of a prison affect prisoner self-harm, violent tendencies, and overall well-being?
- Do “liberal” bail laws contribute to crime?
- Are very short prison sentences a good substitute for longer periods of probation?
- How do long prison sentences have especially punitive impacts on Black prisoners?
- Why do Black women achieve higher levels of educational attainment than Black men?
- How does a nearby homicide affect young women’s lives?
The response to question #3 regarding prison design and how it can affect prisoner self-harm, violent tendencies, and overall well-being may be particularly interesting to readers of the IACFP Bulletin:
“…the rate of occurrences of prisoner self-harm, prisoner-on-prisoner violence and violence toward prison staff – was negatively correlated with the amount of vegetated landcover within the prison walls even when other factors were controlled statistically. Greenspace ‘exercises a significant and dampening effect on both self-harm and violence…supporting the notion that greenspace is important for well-being in the prison system of England & Wales’ (p. 310).”
The presence of greenspace in prisons is not a luxury; it’s a critical component and may be a matter of life and death.
- Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics-SPACE II – 2023
2023 SPACE II Report, written by Marcelo F. Aebi and Lorena Molnar on behalf of the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) of the Council of Europe, was updated on 15 June 2024. The report can be accessed here. It provides data on non-custodial sanctions and measures in 41 out of 51 probation agencies in the Council of Europe’s 46 Member States. It also provides information on the individuals under supervision as well as about the staff employed by probation agencies. Researchers should find this helpful in comparing data from different agencies and terms of supervision that are provided before and after custodial sanctions. The notes to each of the tables provide context and additional information."
3. Practice
- Justice Trends Magazine, Edition #12
Justice Trends Magazine, Edition #12, is available. This edition covers several topics, including leading transformation, modernising correctional services, change complexity, and the crucial role of partnerships. It is an excellent collection of interviews of heads of service from around the world as well as of experts who are informing future practice through their research and experience, articles, and current projects. - BC Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: The UNITE Project – Disrupting Stigma for Better Care
The BC Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services provides a wealth of resources that readers may find helpful. One of those is the UNITE Project, which explores the journey of individuals and their families as they experience both the societal stigma and personal shame of mental illness. The videos that have been produced – such as the “Stories of Stigma” and “Family Partner” series – are creative, informative, and impactful. The resources for understanding and facilitating dialogue will be helpful to communities and organizations that seek to learn, understand, and improve the healthcare we provide to individuals. This may be applicable not only within the community but also within secure settings. More information can be found here.
4. Conferences
- ICPA 2024 Annual Conference, September 1-6, 2024
Make plans now to attend the ICPA Annual Conference in Singapore, and to participate in the special 20th Anniversary events for the Yellow Ribbon Project. More information can be found here.
- American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) 55th Annual Meeting, October 24-27, 2024
The AAPL 55th Annual Meeting is the largest annual gathering for Forensic Psychiatrists, offering practitioners the opportunity to network and learn about advances in the field. The 2024 theme for the 55th Annual Meeting is “Forensic Treatment, Ethics, and Administration,” and will be taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
More information on the AAPL annual meeting can be found here.
- American Society of Criminology (ASC) Annual Meeting, November 13-16, 2024
This year’s annual meeting of the ASC will be held in San Francisco, CA, and features the theme “Criminological Research and Education Matters: People, Policy, and Practice in Tumultuous Times.” Hear from some of the foremost scholars and practitioners in the field as they deliver new ideas and research. Early-bird registration rates are available until October 1st!
More information on the ASC annual meeting can be found here.
- Confederation of European Probation Workshop on Mental Health in Probation, November 26-27, 2024
This two-day event in Barcelona, Spain, includes a welcome reception for attendees followed by a rigorous day of presentations that include the Council of Europe’s whitepaper on mental health in prison and probation systems, discussions of gender-responsive approaches in criminal justice settings, and more.
Click here to register.
