Forensic
Psychology Research Team
Mario
J.
Scalora, Ph.D.
Collaborative
Research Sites
Lincoln Police
Department
With the generous support of Chief
Thomas Casady, the research team
collaborates with the Lincoln Police Department to study characteristic
of and
risk factors pertaining to various areas of violence including sexual
assault
and workplace violence encountered by local police.
Lincoln Regional
Center
The Forensic Mental Health Service of
the Lincoln
Regional Center
(a 120 bed maximum security facility providing court-ordered evaluation
and
treatment for mentally ill defendants and also houses an inpatient sex
offender
treatment program) has been an outstanding collaborator for forensic
research
and training opportunities. In addition to research assessing
personality
correlates related to violent behavior, this site offers opportunities
for
investigating risk factors related to sex offender recidivism as well
as
amenability to and response to treatment. This facility ahs also
provided opportunities
for research assessing clincians’ risk assessment decision making
processes.
Nebraska
Department of Correctional
Services
Data
Collection activity is also taking place within the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center within the Nebraska
Department of
Corrections. This maximum security facility is responsible for the
classification and evaluation of all inmates sentenced to the
Department. The
Department has been a generous collaborator with research pertaining to
risk
factors related to offender recidivism, as well as personality
correlates
(e.g., empathy, thrill seeking) related to violent behavior. Currently,
the tam
is collaborating with the Department with research investigating the
correlates
of sexually assaultive behavior within prison settings.
Nebraska State Patrol
The
Nebraska State Patrol has been an active collaborator with this
research team.
Data collection has taken place both with the Sex Offender Registry and
Notification Section allowing for
recidivism and risk assessment research related to recidivism,
offending
behavior, as well as policy issues related to sexual offenders.
Collaboration
with the Executive Protection Detail (responsible for state official
security)
has provided outstanding opportunities pertaining to threat assessment
and
workplace violence research concerning state government employees and
officials.
United
States Capitol Police
The forensic research team has the privilege of
collaborating with the United States Capitol Police on threat
assessment
research concerning Members of Congress and their staffs. In addition
to
research addressing risk factors related to threatening and other
problematic
contacts toward public officials, the research team continues to
investigate
factors pertinent to the appraisal of risk in such contexts.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police
Department is an
active research partner assisting with threat assessment research
pertaining to
threatening and extremist activity within educational settings. The
Department
continues to be an invaluable contributor in projects assessing methods
to
enhance the utility of threat management information for the protection
of educational
settings as well as other facets of infrastructure.