The University of Sydney
Justice Collaboration
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6th Edition, November 2024
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Welcome to the sixth edition of our newsletter!
The University of Sydney's Justice Collaboration aims to improve justice outcomes and to ultimately prevent crime.
The University of Sydney has numerous strengths in this area and has a track record of work across disciplines, faculties and research centres directly and indirectly relevant to justice systems and people in conflict with the law.
In this edition we highlight work that reflects our growing focus after our recent rebrand. Read about our recent student visit to the Corrective Services NSW Training Academy, the Centre for Disability Research and Policy, the effectiveness of EQUIPS and more.
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The University of Sydney’s central campus sits on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and has campuses as well as teaching and research facilities situated on the ancestral lands of the Wangal, Deerubbin, Tharawal, Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, Gamilaroi, Bundjulong, Wiljali and Gereng Gureng peoples. We pay our respects to elders, past, present, and emerging who have cared and continue to care for Country.
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The efficacy of ‘modular dosage’ in prison-based psychological interventions to reduce recidivism
Matilda Centre Research Fellow Dr Marlee Bower, alongside Collaboration member Associate Professor Emma Barrett, recently published a study evaluating EQUIPS - a modular suite of programs designed to reduce adult offenders’ risk of reoffending. This is the first evaluation of EQUIPS, which is one of the main offender rehabilitation strategies delivered by Corrective Services NSW.
Analysing the dose-response relationship in 4345 participants, Dr Bower found that completing one EQUIPS program was associated with a 24% decrease in the likelihood of reoffending in the 12 months post-release, compared to those who did not complete an EQUIPS program. However, the study found that only half of EQUIPS participants complete a program with the benefit of one compared to no programs only observed when analyses were restricted to the 56% of participants who completed all treatment sessions. The results also show there was no significant difference in odds of serious offending in the 12-months post-release between those who completed two vs. one EQUIPS programs.
Dr Bower’s findings challenge the assumption that increased dosage inherently improves individual rehabilitation outcomes. Instead, tailoring treatment intensity and content to individual needs and emphasising responsivity, might yield more meaningful reductions in recidivism.
The full study can be accessed through the Journal of Criminal Justice here.
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Student Visit to the Corrective Services NSW Training Academy
Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) is the government agency that provides Community Corrections services and manages prisons which currently detain almost 13,000 adults in NSW. CSNSW kindly agreed to host USYD students and staff at their Brush Farm Training Academy last month.
During this visit, students learned about CSNSW, the many roles they play in different parts of the criminal justice system, and potential career opportunities. Many roles within CSNSW might be attractive to social work, psychology, criminology, law, allied health and other USYD students upon graduation. The visit to the Academy provided insights into various aspects of CSNSW operations through presentations from senior staff and a tour of relevant facilities and observation of relevant simulations.
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Research Centre Highlight: Centre for Disability Research and Policy
The Centre collaborates with a large number of local and international organisations, agencies, governments and service providers to enhance the wellbeing of people with disability especially Indigenous peoples with disabilities. They actively partner with, and employ, people with lived experiences of disability in order to do that. They have evaluated parts of the NDIS for the NDIA, served as expert advisors to the Disability Royal Commission and regularly undertake commissioned research. They have also created resources for practitioners on the use of telepractice and the National Guidelines for Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention.
You can sign up for their newsletter here.
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Heart-Led Planning
Professor John Gilroy, Dr Kim Bulkeley and Dr Genevieve Johnsson of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP) launched a website last year to educate the disability workforce about a more relational process to inform planning. The training focuses on how to work with people with disability.
The project builds off of a four-year study ways to improve the NDIS planning process for people with disability living in regional, rural, and remote regions of West NSW and Central Australia. The study found that, while the NDIS is improving the lives and wellbeing of people living with a disability in regional and remote regions the NDIS planning process is traumatic and scary.
CDRP co-designed a series of training modules with people with disability, local Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, allied health workers, the NDIA, and disability service providers. The training modules incorporate the Head, Heart, Hand holistic principles that captures the importance of THINKING, HEART, and DOING.
More information can be found on the project website here.
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Research Student Spotlight: Rene Jones
Rene Jones recently completed her master’s degree. Her thesis evaluated a pilot study of a program she helped develop alongside other USYD researchers. The program is designed to encourage the development of life skills necessary for young people’s successful reintegration into society post-release.
The researchers developed a targeted, culturally aware program (the School-Link Advantage (SLA) treatment program) that combines Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) and Social Cognitive Remediation Therapy (SCRT).
Participants voluntarily attended the 20 treatment sessions conducted over 10 weeks, each session running for approximately 60 to 90 minutes. Each treatment session included CRT and SCRT activities, tailored to the participants’ needs. Activities included debates and challenges, such as assessing the best mobile phone deal from various options with different features and costs
Jones’ analysis of the pilot program found encouraging positive outcomes. Improvements were found in young people’s cognitive domains, working memory, emotional control and planning and organising.
Jones’ thesis can be accessed via the Sydney eScholarship repository here.
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| Brain and Mind Centre Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Seminar Series
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The Brain and Mind Centre recently hosted a webinar with Professor Lauren Brookman-Frazee of the University of California, San Diego. In the webinar Professor Brookman-Frazee discussed her research on interventions for autism and common childhood mental health problems in community mental health services.
In a large, observational study, Dr. Brookman-Frazee and her colleagues examined system, organization, and provider level factors that influenced sustained delivery of interventions through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. In a subsequent study, Dr. Brookman-Frazee and her colleagues are developing pragmatic measures for assessing community therapist delivery strategies common in evidence-based interventions for common children’s mental health targets (Trauma, Behaviors, Anxiety, Depression).
The webinar can be viewed here.
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