Current Research

Risk and Resiliency Factors Influencing Suicidality among John Jay Students

Starting Spring 2005

This project investigates risk and resiliency factors in African American and Latino students at John Jay College. This population has been under-represented in suicide research, and little is known about the factors that are related to suicidality in this population. The information gained from this research project will form the basis of the development of a suicide prevention/intervention program that will be targeted to meet the needs of African American and Latino students at John Jay College.

Attitudes toward the Treatment of Sexual Offenders

Starting Spring 2005

This purpose of the study is threefold:

(1) To investigate attitudes towards the treatment of sex offenders in an American sample and to determine factors that may predict those attitudes

(2) To determine if a brief psychoeducational intervention can influence individuals’ attitudes toward the treatment of sexual offenders.

(3) To determine the specific nature of intervention that may be most effective in influencing attitudes toward the treatment of sex offenders.

Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Attempters in a Forensic Population

Starting TBA

The purpose of the is to implement an empirically-supported cognitive intervention for suicide attempters in a forensic setting. Specifically, we will evaluate whether cognitive therapy is effective for reducing subsequent suicide attempts in a prison sample than the treatment typically received by these offenders. We plan to randomize 50 patients who recently attempted suicide to one of two conditions: (1) Cognitive Therapy (CT) or (2) Treatment as Usual (TAU). The primary outcome variable is the incidence of subsequent suicide attempts.

An Analysis of Sex Offending Behavior

Starting Spring 2006

This project has two main objectives:

(1) This project will examine the relationship between static (stable/unchanging such as age, gender, marital status) and dynamic (changeable variables such as attitudes toward offending) crimenogenic (related to offending behavior) risk variables and reoffending in a sample of offenders that have been convicted of a sexually based crime in the state of New Jersey.

(2) This project will examine psychological characteristics of individuals who have been convicted of a sexual offence in an effort to gain a better understanding of individuals that engage in sexual offending behavior.

We anticipate that research findings from this study will prove to be beneficial for treatment and rehabilitative services and policy decision making for sexual offenders