Doctoral Dissertations (FSSH)

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Police perception of danger
(2024-08-01) Ouellet, Michael; Frederick, Tyler
Previous research has highlighted the relationship between danger, stress, and the well-being of police officers. Still, gaps remain in understanding officers' perceptions of danger. This study addresses these gaps by exploring the concept of subjective danger perception, a cognitive and emotional response to potential physical or psychological harm. The study identifies that environmental cues influence danger perception and exist on a spectrum shaped by social and personal factors. Firstly, this research modernizes the understanding of subejctive danger perception in policing, which was previously limited and outdated. Secondly, it expands the focus beyond physical injury to include the emotional aspects of danger, identifying stress, anxiety, worry, and fear as key components. Thirdly, it adopts a multi-level approach, exploring situational factors and structural, cultural, and institutional influences on danger perception. Additionally, this study addresses the need for a comprehensive theory in policing by advocating for the social-ecological model. Thus, this research provides a richer, more nuanced understanding of how police officers perceive danger and the impact of police culture. Considering the improvement of the safety and well-being of police officers and their communities, this research used a mixed-method approach to explore police officers in Quebec and Ontario. ANOVA and Spearman’s Rho correlation were used to determine group differences in age/length of service, micro-systems, and situational factors. Furthermore, a thematic analysis will provide rich insights into the different aspects that impact police officers' perception of danger. The study's results determined that the key factors that impacted police officers' perception of danger relate to the individual factors of age and length of service (experience and knowledge). Additionally, more proximal factors (micro-systems) to the individual in the social-ecological model had a bigger impact on police officer's perception of danger than the more distal (exo and macro systems) factors. In brief, this research revealed that further research needs to be conducted on the perception of danger, which could help develop better policies for using force and increase officers' physical and mental well-being.
The acquisition and implementation of risk technologies by Canadian police services
(2024-05-01) Hill, Dallas; O'Connor, Christopher
Most Canadian police services have rapidly acquired and implemented a range of technological advancements in recent years. This rapid adoption of technologies has left a significant gap in our empirical and theoretical understanding of how police make decisions about which technologies to acquire. While existing research has focused on technology’s impact at the organizational level (e.g., post-implementation evaluations), the macro-level contexts that shape technological acquisition by the police is undertheorized and underexamined. The current study examines the acquisition and implementation of risk technologies (i.e., all technologies operationally used by police services to collect data in mass volumes for the purpose of immediate or future risk assessment) by Canadian municipal/regional police services through a tri-phased methodological approach, including: 1) a national survey, 2) semi-structured interviews with police personnel implicated in technological decision-making, and 3) a content analysis of 71 police services’ formal strategic plans. Findings revealed a stark disconnect between formal and informal technology acquisition processes within services, alongside a lengthy list of economic, institutional, and societal influences on said decision-making. Second, results highlight a shifting role of police in the era of evidence-based policing (EBP) and rapid technological advancement towards that of knowledge workers who fulfill ever-evolving demands for information and consumers of private sector technologies. Results are then used to substantiate a call for accountability through collaborative decision-making, formal strategic planning, and external research partnerships.
Communicating police-involved deaths: a mixed-methods exploration of Canadian police agencies’ Twitter strategies and perceptions of police
(2024-05-01) Ferrara, Cristina; Emeno, Karla
Despite increasing demands for police transparency and accountability regarding police-involved deaths (PIDs), minimal research to date has explored how police agencies utilize social media to communicate these events and little research has explored how the public perceives police statements that address publicized videos capturing an excessive use of force incident (EUOFI). This dissertation addresses this gap using a mixed-methods approach. The first study employs qualitative content analysis to examine how Canadian police agencies communicated PIDs via Twitter during a three-year period (January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022). Of the 177 PIDs that occurred during this time, only slightly more than half were acknowledged via Twitter by the involved police agencies (n = 100). Analysis of these tweets revealed that they were often very brief, provided minimal information, and utilized a neutral tone. Further analysis suggested that many agencies used techniques to possibly obscure the event, with few clearly communicating that a death had occurred and the role that police played. Of the few tweets that employed empathy, most were identified as being defensive in tone. When comparing these communications with agencies’ tweets following a line-of-duty death (LODD) during the same three-year period, a disparity in frequency and emotional tone were observed, with agencies tweeting eight times more often about LODDs than they did for PIDs. The second study empirically analyzed the impact of different types of police communication on public perceptions after viewing a video capturing an EUOFI. Participants were randomly assigned to view a police tweet presenting excuses, justifications, or reconciliation attempts. Results indicate that those who viewed reconciliatory tweets were more satisfied with the police response they viewed compared to the other groups; however, satisfaction with local police was negatively affected by viewing these statements compared to the no comment and control conditions. Results from these studies provide valuable insight into how police communicate PIDs on Twitter and the impact police statements may have on public perceptions of police following an EUOFI shared on social media. This research contributes to ongoing discussions about police transparency and accountability following PIDs, as well as public perceptions of police.
Neuroimaging metrics of externalizing disorders: assessing neurobiological features of substance use, withdrawal, substance use disorders, and psychopathy
(2024-05-01) Denomme, William James; Shane, Matthew
Neuroimaging research has provided several insights into the neurobiological correlates of externalizing features, notably substance use, substance use disorders, and antisociality. For instance, researchers have paired neuroimaging metrics with machine learning (ML) algorithms to classify externalizing patients from controls and externalizing patients with varying severity and prognoses. In addition, studies have used neural reactivity to drug and food rewards to separate cocaine-dependent participants from non-dependent controls, as well as cocaine-dependent with and without a history of withdrawal symptoms and varying degrees of historical cocaine use and psychopathic traits. However, variability in the classification accuracy of ML models precludes inferences of how well neuroimaging metrics can distinguish externalizing patients and controls. Moreover, variability in the classification accuracy of ML models and the lack of work using modalities outside of cue-reactivity preclude sound inferences on how well neuroimaging can distinguish subgroups of externalizing patients. This dissertation consists of three studies to address these factors. In Study 1, a meta-analysis of 49 ML models with neuroimaging predictors demonstrated that neuroimaging metrics could distinguish externalizing patients and controls with an accuracy of ~80%. Study 1 also demonstrated a classification accuracy of ~79% when distinguishing externalizing patients with severity and prognosis differences. However, it is important to note that most studies included in this meta-analysis validated their results using cross-validation, which may have inflated their classification accuracy. Next, Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that cocaine-dependent participants were distinct from non-dependent controls in terms of gray matter concentration (GMC) or functional connectivity (FNC) in response to drug and food rewards within the orbitofrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and anterior cingulate cortex. These studies also found that GMC and FNC within several corticolimbic regions, notably the MFG, separated cocaine-dependent participants with and without a history of withdrawal and varying degrees of lifetime history of cocaine use and psychopathic traits. These results provide preliminary evidence that neuroimaging metrics could distinguish externalizing patients from control, and separate externalizing patients that are subgrouped by symptomology, severity, and prognosis. The presented work has substantial implications for developing novel assessment protocols and optimal treatment strategies.
Youth justice policy implementation – community organizations’ perspective
(2023-10-01) Woods, Sarah; Cesaroni, Carla; Aquanno, Scott
This dissertation is situated at the intersection of two gaps in Canadian youth justice literature – limited scholarship focused on youth justice community-based organizations (CBOs) and few studies investigating the impact of neoliberal restructuring in Canadian youth justice. This study provides a Canadian perspective to the growing body of scholarship concerned with the influence of neoliberalism in youth justice and is an example of what a multidisciplinary approach to studying youth justice reveals. Critical institutionalism (CI), a theoretical framework from political economy, is used to address current applications of neoliberalism within criminology. There are two major problems within the criminology scholarship on neoliberalism: (1) a failure to understand the contradictory implementation and reproduction of neoliberal policy logics on relatively autonomous state actors/institutions; and (2) a failure to take seriously the origins of the neoliberal project and its relationship to economic competition. CI addresses these shortcomings by acknowledging the interconnectedness of different levels of influence and thus the role of institutions, structures, and institutionally embedded human agents, to shape, navigate, and implement policy. Drawing from in-depth qualitative interviews with front-line and management staff working in Ontario youth justice CBOs, I illustrate the purpose of these agencies within Ontario’s youth justice system and how their different roles are connected to their efforts to navigate the impacts of neoliberal restructuring and pressures of neoliberal rationalities. Findings shed light on why CBOs do the work they do, not just what work they do, as their experiences revealed the reality of how organizations and individuals struggle, resist, and negotiate constantly in their day-to-day work. The findings here suggest neoliberal logic penetrates deeply throughout youth justice CBOs; however, it is not totalizing such that youth justice CBOs are merely passive receives of the pressures of neoliberal logics. Rather, CBOs and individual staff are resilient and creative in managing these constant pressures with a shared goal of prioritizing youth over all else. Their decisions and operations are grounded in the spirit of non-profit work, yet ongoing broad pressure to fully succumb to neoliberal logics and rationalities remain.
Breaking the silence: an intersectional approach to sexual violence and harm narratives of women living in Lebanon
(2023-10-01) Azzi-Mofrad, Natalie; Alvi, Shahid
Lebanon has experienced war and conflict for the last four decades, yet there is an absence of literature on Lebanese women’s lived experience of the Lebanese Civil War (LCW) (April 1975 – October 1989), and the ongoing conflict that has occurred thereafter. There are limited accounts of Lebanese women’s experience of sexual violence during times of conflict, and the existing literature does not address their resilience and survivorship. The militarization of public spaces increases the vulnerability of women living in Lebanon and advances masculinization within patriarchal power structures (Accad, 1990; Farr et al., 2009, Holt, 2014; Holt, 2013; Joseph, 2012). This dissertation utilizes a qualitative methodological approach to uncover in-depth narratives detailing the experiences of violence among Lebanese women within a politically conflicted nation. The research examines the gendered social relations, exploring topics such as sexuality and the female body. Furthermore, this dissertation will explore coping strategies and the use of shelter services. It seeks to understand the perspectives of Lebanese women residing in a conflict-ridden country, as they confront and challenge prevailing cultural ideologies regarding sexual violence, victimization, patriarchy, shame, and honour in Lebanon. Examining the real lived experiences of women residing in Lebanon can be significant in advancing the field of social justice and advocating for human rights in war-torn countries.
Understanding minor attracted persons
(2023-10-01) Collins, Carisa M.; Harkins, Leigh
Minor attracted persons (MAPs) are a group of understudied individuals who acknowledge a sexual interest in children but who may never have offended against a child. They are often regarded the same as individuals who have sexually offended against children, regardless of their history of personal stance on adult/child sexual relationships. This means they experience significant stigma and face many barriers to accessing mental health treatment. This dissertation provides an exploratory analysis of the lived experiences of MAPs from 3 different perspectives. Study 1 is a qualitative analysis of online support forums for MAPs, examining offense avoidance strategies they use when in a position where they believe they could engage in a relationship with a child. Study 2 used mixed methods to look at how MAPs differed from non-MAPs on several mental health treatment targets and potential criminogenic needs, as well as their help-seeking experiences. Study 3 also used mixed methods, examining psychological professionals’ stereotyped beliefs toward MAPs and their experiences and opinions about providing treatment to them. Overall, MAPs tend to prefer avoidance techniques when they feel they are presented with a potentially risky situation, using such strategies as complete avoidance or the use of a buddy system. In addition, they experience significantly more hopelessness and loneliness than non-MAPs, and less respect for authority. Though they have not had many positive therapeutic experiences, psychological professionals in my study mostly indicated a willingness to provide them with treatment predominantly through a cognitive behavioural therapy lens. Implications for treatment, public perception, and prevention are discussed.
Examining the role of race in plea decision-making for defense attorneys and laypeople
(2023-08-01) Khairalla, Annmarie; Harkins, Leigh
Guilty pleas and trials both result in convictions, however, the plea process is significantly shorter, and most convictions are secured through guilty pleas. Defendants typically only see their defense attorney during this process, so the advice that they give carries weight. Because defendants may have little time with their defense attorney before making a plea decision, they may turn to other people, such as their friends or family for advice. The racial biases of legal actors and laypeople may influence the advice they give to their clients or friends who are facing plea decisions. The current thesis examined the effects that racial biases have on plea decision making and recommendations. Study 1 explored the extent to which defense attorney recommendations differ depending on the race of the defendant and the strength of the evidence. Results indicate that defense attorneys do not make decisions based solely on the race of the client, but rather in conjunction with other factors, such as the evidence. Defense attorneys thought that it would be better for Black defendants with strong evidence to accept a plea deal than similarly situated white defendants. Study 2 explored the extent to which peer recommendations differ depending on the race of the defendant and the strength of the evidence. Results indicate that students are influenced by both race and evidence strength separately, but not together. Student participants are influenced by the race of the client, but in a counterintuitive pro-Black direction where they thought that their white friends were more guilty, so they were more likely to recommend the plea deal. The additional analysis compared the results of Study 1 and Study 2 to explore if defense attorneys and student participants make different plea-related recommendations and judgments. Results of the additional analysis indicate that student participants demonstrate more racial bias in their recommendations, and they are more pro-plea than defense attorneys. This is theorized to be because defense attorneys have more experience in the criminal justice system and with Black defendants. Together, these studies increase the field’s understanding of the role that race plays in plea recommendations and the criminal justice system as a whole.
Development of the Interview and Interrogation Assessment Instrument
(2023-04-01) Kaplan, Jeffrey; Leach, Amy-May; Cutler, Brian; Eastwood, Joseph
Confession evidence factors heavily in judicial decision making, and courts may call an expert social scientist to assess the coercive pressures of an interrogation and risk factors for false confession. At present, there exists no standardized methods for performing this task, and each expert uses their own unstructured professional judgment. To address this lack of standardization, we have developed a psychological instrument for evaluating videotaped interrogations: the Interview and Interrogation Assessment InstrumentTM. We begin with a discussion of the benefits of standardized measurement and proceed to an overview of the conceptualization and initial development of our instrument. In Study 1, we established the bases for the instrument’s items and scoring by surveying expert populations. In Study 2 we assessed interrater reliability and explain our instrument refinements based on our results. In Study 3, we examined convergent validity. Social science experts reviewed interrogation videos and rated the coercive pressures along multiple dimensions. We correlated the expert ratings with our instrument’s measures. We conclude that the newly developed instrument demonstrates preliminary reliability and convergent validity and appears to be a promising tool for future research and expert consultation in contested confession cases.
Negative emotion and eyewitness memory
(2022-12-01) Snow, Mark D.; Eastwood, Joseph
Witnessing or being the victim of a crime is often emotionally distressing, and this emotional distress reaction can influence the storage and retrieval of event-related memory. Eyewitness memory, therefore, cannot be adequately understood without an account of the memorial effects of negative emotion. On this point, however, there remains a considerable degree of inconsistency in both the methods and findings of existing research. In this dissertation I sought to clarify the nature of this effect. Across two experiments, participants (N = 204, N = 132) viewed either a Negative or Neutral version of a video of a staged social interaction. Either immediately or after a one-week delay, participants reported their memory for the video. I assessed participants’ recall (Study 1 and 2) and lineup identification (Study 1) performance. In both studies, those who viewed the Negative version of the video demonstrated superior recall performance for central event details than did those who viewed the Neutral version, though this did not appear to extend to lineup identification performance (Study 1). The Negative video group also reported more subjective and vague information than did the Neutral group. The current results, together with that of a growing number of studies, provide grounds for doubting the prevailing view among eyewitness researchers – that emotional distress causes generalized impairment of eyewitness memory. The current findings speak in favor of a pattern of selective memory enhancement. I end with a discussion of several practical and theoretical issues that were brought to the fore in the present work.
What lies beneath: an examination of the underlying components of deception detection
(2022-12-01) Elliott, Elizabeth; Leach, Amy-May
Little is known about the underlying components that are responsible for the processes involved with decision-making in deception detection. Throughout this dissertation, I explored previous (mis)conceptions about decision-making in deception and its detection. In Study 1, I used self-report and objective measures (i.e., coding of witness statements) to examine a long-held dichotomy in deception detection research – that those labelled “truthtellers” are exclusively honest and those labelled “lie-tellers” fabricate their entire accounts. My findings revealed that both groups incorporated truthful and deceptive elements into their accounts, in fact. Although it has been well-established that truth-tellers provide more information than lie-tellers (DePaulo et al., 2003; Vrij, 2008), I found that truth-tellers provided more accurate information than lie-tellers, whereas the groups did not differ in utterances of inaccurate details. Rather, lie-tellers omitted significantly more details than truth-tellers, particularly during the free recall phase of the interview. In Study 2, I examined whether deception detection is static, as has been implied by the field’s focus on post hoc decision-making (Shanks, 2017). Using a novel, dynamic approach to measuring deception detection, I found that decisions and biases changed over time. Observers in the control condition – who made decisions after viewing an interview, as is typical in the literature – were able to discern between lie-tellers and truth-tellers and they exhibited a truth-bias, replicating previous research. However, observers who rendered their decisions continuously held no biases and were insensitive to veracity. Lastly, in Study 3, I examined the effect of varying the focal element of the deception detection task (i.e., person, event, or detail) because the impact of question phrasing on veracity decisions was unexamined in previous research. There were no differences between question phrasing conditions, which implies that phrasing is not the source of variability in discrimination or accuracy results throughout the literature. Overall, this dissertation serves to validate and challenge long-standing notions within deception detection research.
Toward assessing and improving the protective efficacy of Canadians’ interrogation rights: misinformation and caution comprehension
(2022-08-01) Connors, Christina J.; Eastwood, Joseph
The right to silence and right to counsel serve to protect detainees facing the power imbalance of police interrogation. Unfortunately, research indicates people are misinformed about their rights and struggle to comprehend the police cautions which explain them. This reduces the protective efficacy of rights in practice. Three inter-related studies sought to address these issues within a Canadian-specific context. First, Canadians’ (N = 212) interrogation rights knowledge was assessed through open-ended, vignette, and true/false measures. Many Canadians (72-95%) were misinformed about important aspects, and limitations, of their interrogation rights. Next, to improve knowledge and increase caution comprehension, a widely used Canadian police caution (RCMP) was modified to create a 1) “Simplified” caution with reworked wording, structure, and added explanations, and 2) an “Informative” (simplified) caution, with added content about rights limitations. Cautions were assessed for readability and complexity, then tested in a 4-condition low-stakes online experiment with Canadians (N = 200) using measures from Study 1. Despite most Canadians self-reporting caution comprehension (94-98%), and Informational condition participants demonstrating higher average scores, comprehension was low overall and group differences were not significant. However, average correct knowledge scores and key rights limitation scores were significantly higher for the Informative caution participants compared to those in the RCMP or no caution conditions. Finally, to increase test validity of the modified cautions, Ontario Tech undergraduates (N = 90) participated in a 3-condition higher-stakes mock-interrogation, guised as a “convincing alibi” study. Students prepared an alibi, heard 1 of 3 cautions, provided their alibi under mild duress, and completed Study 2 measures. Results mirrored Study 2: all students self-reported caution understanding, but comprehension scores were low overall. Students hearing the Informative caution demonstrated higher average correct rights knowledge, followed by the Simplified, then RCMP caution, however, differences were only significant for the right to counsel. This research indicates that - although Canadians are misinformed about their interrogation rights - knowledge of rights can be improved by altering the wording and structure of, and adding critical information to, Canadian police cautions. Through improving knowledge and comprehension, we can enhance the protective efficacy of interrogation rights for Canadians.
Examining interview ground rules in formal interviews with children
(2022-08-01) Rodriguez Steen, Lillian A.; Malloy, Lindsay
Within the context of formal interviews with children, accuracy and clarity are paramount. Thus, protocols for interviewing children establish ground rules to encourage children to, for example, say “I don’t know,” “I don’t understand,” or correct interviewer mistakes as necessary. Interview ground rules are intended to facilitate children’s success during formal questioning. Despite widespread recommendation and use of such instructions, relatively little is known regarding children’s understanding and implementation of these rules; and adults’ perceptions of children’s application of the ground rules have yet to be investigated. The current thesis fills crucial gaps in the literature regarding the ground rules for interviews with children, particularly the “I don’t understand” rule. Three studies are presented. Study 1 tested a novel intervention aimed at increasing children’s appropriate use of the “I don’t understand” rule. Results indicate that child age and “I don’t understand” rule reminders impacted children’s clarification requests to tricky questions in that older children and children who received such reminders requested clarification more frequently than younger children and children who did not receive reminders. Study 2 investigated individual differences (age, ADHD diagnosis, and executive functioning) in how children understand the ground rules and whether, how, and under what circumstances children apply the ground rules. Results demonstrate that children did not differ based on individual differences in ADHD diagnosis or executive functioning with respect to ground rule understanding or application but older children did exhibit a significantly higher degree of ground rule understanding than younger children. Study 3 examined adult perceptions of children’s use of the “I don’t understand” rule compared to the “I don’t know” rule, including how many times they applied either rule in an investigative interview about sexual abuse. Results indicate that the child who applied either ground rule only once during their interview was viewed more positively than the child who applied either ground rule multiple times, though the type of rule applied by the child had little impact on mock jurors’ perceptions. Together, the proposed studies yield valuable insights into the widely used but under-researched ground rules for conducting interviews with children.
An analysis of face matching accuracy and related variables: a meta-analysis and two follow-up studies
(2022-07-01) Rumschik, Danielle M.; Leach, Amy
Face matching is used in many different transportation and policing situations and is an important last line of defense in security contexts such as the TSA. Despite how important this task is in ensuring security, no meta-analyses have been performed to find the average effect sizes of previously researched variables. To rectify this issue, I conducted a series of studies aimed at clarifying the field with regard to the factors important for influencing face-matching accuracy. Study one was a meta-analysis; studies two and three tested specific questions that arose from the meta-analysis. As expected, view, expertise, and feedback were found to be important; however, inconsistent with multiple reports, base rates of mismatch did not reach significance. A second study further examined base rates of mismatch to see if awareness of the base rate is necessary for the known low prevalence effect to occur. Results found that awareness mitigated the low prevalence effect instead of inducing it. A final study examined how expressions affect face matching accuracy. Participants were most accurate when evaluating photos showing neutral stimuli as opposed to expressive stimuli. The results of these studies provide information that can be used to increase face matching accuracy which is crucial as many security decisions rely on face matching and face matching is increasingly involved in legal decision making.
Improving understanding of rape proclivity
(2022-04-01) Dadgardoust, Laleh; Harkins, Leigh
The current dissertation included three studies that together aimed to improve understanding of rape proclivity as a potential construct related to sexual violence. In the first study, participants' understanding of the items on the Rape Proclivity Measure were assessed to gain insight into participants' perspectives about rape scenarios and to examine the content validity of the measure. Most participants (68.7% to 95.8%) did not view the wording of scenarios as ambiguous, and understood scenarios as incidents of sexual violence, indicating that the Rape Proclivity Measure is comprehensible and has good content validity. However, participants were more likely to label rape scenarios involving: (a) a stranger perpetrator, and (b) use of physical force, as incidents of rape, indicating that their definition of rape matches the rape scripts prevalent in North America. The second study examined the relationship between rape proclivity and various correlates of rape, namely deviant sexual interests, offence supportive cognition (both rape and antisocial), and history of past sexually aggressive behaviour. The aim was to identify the most relevant variables, and to evaluate whether rape proclivity forms a distinct construct or whether it overlaps substantially with one of these other constructs. There was a strong correlation between rape proclivity and correlates of rape. However, in a factor analyses, the various measures of rape proclivity did not form a distinct construct indicating that different measures of rape proclivity may not be assessing the same construct. Finally, the third study aimed to address the gap in the literature regarding the role of rape proclivity, assessed by rape proclivity measures, as a predictor of sexually aggressive behaviour. Results indicated that rape proclivity measured by Sexual Experience Survey-Tactics First Revised (SES-TFR) predicted future sexual violence, but the Rape Proclivity Measure did not. This means that rape proclivity may be a factor related to the perpetration of sexual offending, but care must be taken in the measures that are used. Once proclivity can be identified in a reliable and valid manner, it can be targeted in programs designed to prevent sexual violence.
Neural markers of antisocial behaviour in offenders and their relationship with risk-factors of offending
(2022-03-01) Simard, Isabelle; Shane, Matthew
The relationship between neural integrity and offending patterns has been increasingly evaluated to better understand the mechanisms that predispose towards offending behaviours. While this work has made inroads into establishing the neural underpinnings of offending behaviour, some important knowledge gaps remain. First, the extent to which neural abnormalities extend across both rest and task-based contexts in offenders remains unclear. Thus, Studies 1 and 2 compared whole-brain resting-state power spectra (rs-PS) between offenders and non-offenders, and Study 3 performed a meta-analysis of task-based neural activity differences between offenders and non-offenders. Results from Studies 1 and 2 indicated that offenders were characterized by decreased rs-PS in five (Study1) and six (Study2) of the eight evaluated resting-state networks compared to non-offenders (which occurred as a result of both decreased low-frequency activity and increased high-frequency activity). In Study 3, offenders presented aberrant task-based activity in the left IFG and increased activity in the left MOG compared to non-offenders. Thus, some dysfunctions spanned across both resting-state and task-based metrics (i.e., within left IFG and left MOG), suggesting stable abnormalities between offenders and non-offenders, while rest-related dysfunctions were more extended than those observed in offenders’ task-based activity. In addition, this work aimed to assess the degree to which offenders’ aberrant neural processes were influenced by several antisocial and criminogenic variables (e.g., psychopathic traits, drug use and features of criminal history). In Studies 1 and 2, cocaine use and number of criminal convictions predicted rs-PS disruptions, but psychopathy and cocaine-dependence status did not. In Study 3, activity within left MOG and left PCC appeared more specific to offenders with violent offence histories, while left IFG activity appeared to be more specific to contexts within which cognitive processes (rather than emotional processes) were interrogated. Overall, this work uncovered several regions of abnormal neural activity, across two different neuroimaging modalities, that differed between offenders and non-offenders. Potentially, the application of neurophysiological treatments (e.g., neurofeedback) to these sites could have treatment or rehabilitative benefits. Nonetheless, these results suggest that neural disruptions are not uniform across offenders, but rather vary as a function of antisocial/criminogenic features and processing type.
Young adults’ understandings of their transition out of the child welfare system
(2021-07-01) Rambajue, Rajendra; O'Connor, Christopher D.
This dissertation examines care leavers’ first-hand experiences of negative outcomes through a theoretical lens. Regardless of multiple, intersecting identities and structural changes, youth in the Ontario child welfare system must navigate the same transition from the system to the larger community. This major life event and process involves a drastic change from full dependency on the child welfare system, which is a restricted context to full responsibility on care leavers with limited guidance to navigate a fluid context. There is increasing awareness that during this compressed process, care leavers experience numerous risks of negative outcomes. As a result, the Ontario government allocates funding for the child welfare system to promote a collective vision of support for youth and young adults to flourish. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence that care leavers benefit from investments. Drawing on one-on-one in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 21 young adults ages 19 – 27, this research found that care leavers were inadequately prepared for transition out of care, and after transitioning, they encountered poor outcomes in the following areas: education, employment, housing, mental health, criminal justice system, and social support networks. Thus, Kimberle Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory and Ulrich Beck’s individualization theory are used to construct a social justice lens (i.e., intersectional individualization) with the aim to enhance understandings of reasons why youth and young adults transitioning out of the child welfare system experience risk of poor outcomes. Utilizing this intersectional individualization lens, this study argues that while care leavers tried to reflexively navigate their transition, diverse, multiple, overlapping identities and structural changes heightened their vulnerability, marginalization, and risk of negative outcomes. Moreover, this study contributes a nuanced understanding that can inspire systems of power to take a social justice approach, which can mitigate the impact of transition out of the child welfare system. This dissertation concludes with implications for future research, theorizing, policy, and practice within this specific field.
Influencing motivation to empathize in individuals with heightened psychopathic traits: neural and behavioural assessment of empathizing with others
(2021-08-01) Groat, Lindsay L.; Shane, Matthew
Central to psychopathy is a purported lack of empathy for others. However, recent literature suggests that the decreased empathic responses of psychopathic individuals may be a result of aberrant motivations, rather than incapacities. To further consider the validity of these motivational hypotheses, a series of three studies was completed using a modified Empathic Accuracy (EA) task to assess whether empathic responses across conditions designed to influence empathy differed as a function of psychopathic traits. Studies 1a and 1b employed fMRI to assess whether community members with varying levels of psychopathic traits would show changes in EA as a function of the target’s social distance. There were no overall significant differences in neural or behavioural metrics of EA. However, EA functioned as a result of psychopathic traits such that those higher in psychopathic traits demonstrated decreased, rather than increased, EA for those closest to them. Study 2 assessed whether students with varying levels psychopathic traits would show changes in EA as a function of the utility of the emotional information. Contrary to study hypotheses, EA functioned as a result of psychopathic traits such that those higher in psychopathic traits demonstrated decreased, rather than increased, EA scores in the implicit motivation (i.e., high utility - emotional Lie Detection) condition. Study 3 expanded on Study 2, assessing the effect that influencing explicit (i.e., increase condition) versus implicit motivations had on the EA scores of individuals with varying levels of a psychopathic traits. Psychopathic traits influenced EA scores in the implicit, but not explicit, motivation condition, in line with results from Study 2. Overall, support for hypotheses was mixed. Empathic responses in those with heightened psychopathic traits did appear influenced by the various motivational manipulations, but not always in the expected direction. Supportive of motivational frameworks, these results suggest that empathic responses fluctuated across targets and contexts; however, more research is required to identify the specific drivers of empathy in those with heightened psychopathic traits. These findings may help further the identification of motivations deemed relevant to those high in psychopathic traits for use in the potential development of empathy-based treatments.
Youth correctional officer orientation and opinions on relationships with youth
(2021-08-01) Bickle, Korri; Cesaroni, Carla
This study explored the personal perspectives of current and past youth correctional officers within secure and open custody facilities in Ontario. A multi-methods design was used to examine officers’ orientation to their work, how they view their interactions with youth and their opinions on relationships with youth in custody. Quantitative data was collected to assess demographics, correctional orientation, and officer typology. Qualitative open-ended survey responses probed exploratory areas of interest such as participants’ descriptions of their day, their thoughts on relationships with youth, and their general approach to their work. Although there was a small sample size (N=26), the results indicated that there may be some important relationships between correctional orientation and beliefs around relationships in youth correctional officers. As suggested in previous literature, youth correctional workers report their job as including various tasks ranging from supervision and security to cleaning and preparing meals. There are also indications of differences in correctional orientation and endorsements for relationship development with youth for those who see treatment as part of their role in rehabilitation and those who do not. Additionally, there does not appear to be the groupings of officer types in this youth correctional worker sample as is seen in adult correctional workers. This exploratory study provides a starting point for understanding the unique experiences and duties of youth correctional workers, their correctional orientation, and their views on relationship development with youth. Future research will focus on replicating these findings with a larger sample size.
The impact of individual differences on the interviewing success and post-training performance of investigative interviewers
(2019-08-01) Akca, Davut; Eastwood, Joseph
In this thesis, whether and how personality characteristics affect the performance in investigative interviewing and the efficacy of training was examined in a three-step research design. In Study 1, the structure of a 50-item aptitudes scale, a modified and extended version of the Police Interviewing Competences Inventory (PICI), was assessed using a general population sample (N = 300), and a four-dimensional aptitudes scale was created. The four dimensions found were named as Humane (13 items), Communicative-Insisting (13 items), Self-controlled (9 items), and Careful-Tenacious (10 items). In Study 2, student participants (N = 154) completed the aptitudes and the Five Factor Model (FFM) scales, and then interviewed witnesses who watched a mock robbery crime video. Interviewer performance was assessed based on the amount of details they could elicit, the perception of the witness, and researcher ratings of behaviours and question usage. Three dimensions of the FFM were correlated with the success measures: Agreeableness with witness perception and appropriate questioning, Extraversion with researcher ratings and inappropriate questioning, and Openness with researcher ratings. Only the Communicative-Insisting dimension of the aptitudes scale predicted high researcher ratings. In Study 3, we used a policing student sample (N = 38) to investigate the impact of training on the interview performance and also to analyze how training effect interacts with personality measures when predicting the performance of participants. Overall, training increased the performance of participants in most of the success measures. The Humane dimension of the aptitudes scale and the Openness/Intellect dimension of the FFM predicted training efficacy. The post-interview performance of the participants was predicted by the Openness/Intellect, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism (negatively) dimensions of the Big Five and the Careful-Tenacious and Communicative-Insisting dimensions of the aptitudes scale. Findings might help police departments to identify potential successful interviewers and develop new training policies.

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