Research

Student Projects

Reentry & Recidivism

Meaghan Brown

  • Adapting a dialectical behavioral therapy skills group within a jail setting: Evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of implementing an adapted Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills group within a jail setting. Combines quantitative indicators of participation and retention with qualitative interviews analyzed using thematic analysis to examine participant and facilitator experiences, barriers to implementation, and recommendations for improving correctional mental health programming. Findings will provide practical guidance for adapting evidence-based interventions in underserved justice settings and supporting successful implementation in collaboration with community partners.

Lindsay Stall 

  • Engagement trajectories in a jail-based dialectical behavior therapy group: Explores how incarcerated individuals engage with a jail-based DBT skills group by identifying distinct patterns of attendance, participation, homework completion, and skills practice over time. Examines whether these engagement trajectories are associated with improvements in psychological functioning and coping, with implications for designing more flexible and effective correctional treatment programs.

Ivy Chen 

  • Expanding on the factor structure and construct validity of the short-term assessment of risk and treatability (START): This thesis evaluates whether the START captures meaningful dimensions of strengths and vulnerabilities among individuals incarcerated in a county jail. Findings will help determine its utility for informing reentry planning, identifying treatment needs, and improving risk assessment for justice-involved populations.

Kendall Smith 

  • What Works in Correctional Programming? A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis: This project involves a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of various types of programs for system involved populations on post-release outcomes. The primary goal of the project is to better understand what types of interventions are most effective for reducing recidivism and improving post-release outcomes and address important questions regarding remedies to the ‘revolving door’, the cycle in which many system-involved individuals return to jail or prison, in the United States. 

explorations of crime & behavior

Kendall Smith 

  • Considering Context in the Measurement of Externalizing: This project aims to understand more about how contextual information may alter how we conceptualize the externalizing construct, which represents a liability toward disruptive, impulsive and disinhibited behaviors. Specifically, we are interested in understanding if context such as community drivers of inequity and sociodemographic variables may be biasing the extent to which current behavioral indicators of externalizing (e.g., substance use, aggression, etc.) are a true reflection of the construct. 

Alora McCarthy & Ivy Chen 

  • Exploring the factor structure of crime categories: Explores the classification of crime through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to better understand validity and generalizability of popular classifications (e.g., NIBRS; violent vs. non-violent).

Psychopathy 

Kendall Smith

  • Evaluating Measurement Invariance of the PCL-SV Across Diverse Contexts:  This project examines measurement invariance of the Psychopathy Checklist–Screening Version (PCL-SV; Hart et al., 1995) in a system-involved adult sample, evaluating whether invariance can be established across broader demographic and environmental contexts.

Psychological settings

Kendall Smith

  • The use of paraprofessional service delivery in psychological helping settings: Comparative effectiveness and considerations:  This narrative review evaluated prior literature to assess for comparative effectiveness of paraprofessionals (individuals with lower levels of training, e.g., graduate students, undergraduates, peers) and professionals (e.g., licensed psychologists, etc.) in the delivery of psychological services across varied levels of paraprofessional training and treatment contexts. 

 

Previous student projects

REENTRY AND RECIDIVSM

Alora McCarthy

  • The effects of a jail-adapted dialectical behavior therapy intervention on reducing interpersonal violence in an incarcerated population: Utilizing a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in a county jail, this study explores the effect of a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills group on interpersonal violence while in custody and up to one-year post-release from custody.
  • Legal and extra-legal correlates of cash bail imposition and effects of jail detention on recidivism: Explores the relative contributions of legal, quasi-legal, and extra-legal factors in predicting bail determination, as well as the impact of bail decisions on recidivism. 

Morgan Shayler  

  • RCT evaluation of in-custody and/or reentry services on pre-release prosocial motivation and 1-year rearrest and clinical outcomes: Examines one-year post-release outcomes from a randomized controlled trial evaluating jail-based reentry services grounded in the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model. Compares recidivism rates and changes in dynamic strengths and vulnerabilities across treatment conditions to better understand the effectiveness of in-custody and post-release interventions for improving community reintegration. 

Mia Martinelli  

  • Undergraduate Honors Thesis: explores the application of the Big Four risk/needs factors to a sexual offending sample. The proposed project aims to identify the prevalence of general criminogenic risk factors among those charged with a sex crime in a county jail. 

Kara Weihman &  Bailey Hall  

  • Investigating the relationship between risk perception and criminal offending: A correlational analyses of self reported offending and risk perception questionnaire scores.  

Bailey Wendt 

  • The Roles of Mental Health and Substance Use in the Adverse Childhood Experiences-Recidivism Relationship for Adults Incarcerated in a County Jail: This thesis explored the relationship between childhood adversity and adult reoffending behavior (general and violent), as well as whether mental health and/or substance use exacerbated or buffered the ACEs-recidivism link. Data demonstrated no relationship between ACEs and adult general or violent recidivism, as well as no impact of mental health or substance use on the relationship between those constructs. However, a significant relationship was found between mental health (specifically thought disturbances) and violent recidivism. 

Christopher Serra

  • Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Examines whether a 6-week in-custody Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills group improves coping skills among jail participants and whether individual differences in impulse control and emotional problems influence treatment outcomes. 

 

COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND LIFE LIASON (CALL) PROJECTS

Alora McCarthy  

  • Process evaluation of a civilian-based crisis response model: Equity and access (Manuscript under review): Evaluated equitable implementation of the CALL program, a civilian-based 911 diversion program in St. Petersburg, 91ÉçÇø

 

EXPLORATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 

Alora McCarthy

  • Gun violence and the COVID-19 pandemic (Manuscript in preparation): Explores the ways in which gun violence has changed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Alora McCarthy & Presley Camp

  • Trauma incarcerated: Investigating the link between adverse childhood experiences and adult criminal offending behavior (Poster presentation): Explored the relationship between adverse childhood events (ACEs) with later adult criminal behavior. 

 

PSYCHOPATHY

Bailey Hall  

  • Perceived Defendant Psychopathy and Mock-Juror Decision-Making: Investigated the relationship between defendant psychopathic traits (criterion effects) on mock-juror decision making in a capital (death penalty) case. We found that psychopathy trait descriptions, particularly interpersonal-affective traits, were significantly related to mock juror ratings of treatment amenability and future dangerousness  but were not related to sentencing. The same pattern was observed for perceived psychopathy. Sentencing decision was predicted by mock juror gender and judgements of defendant treatment amenability and future dangerousness. To read the full thesis, click
  • Psychopathy, Emotion, and Mock-Juror Decision-Making: This dissertation investigates the mechanisms by which defendant psychopathy influences juror decision-making.  


Alora McCarthy

  • Psychopathy facets and crime: Explored relationships between psychopathy facets, as measured by the PCL-R, with narrow categories of crimes (e.g., burglary; assault). To read the article, click