Lancefield K1, Langhorn M
1Private Practice/Federation University, 2Victoria Police
Biography:
Kay Lancefield currently works as a Psychologist in private practice. She has worked in the forensic field for some thirty years. Kay recently completed her PhD thesis titled: Early intervention to reduce young peoples’ contact with the criminal justice system: Local knowledge to inform practice.
Recent practice has included professional supervision, individual counselling, assessment and treatment of adolescents with harmful sexual behaviours, consultancy work in the areas of establishing treatment services, program development and staff training to Government and non Government agencies.
This presentation details an aspect of a translational research project that examined how police data sets can be applied to enhance the effectiveness of developmental prevention strategies (Welsh, & Tremblay, 2020). Rather than a risk-based perspective a focus on identifying protective factors was adopted. Key findings were that in certain contexts early contact with police can be protective; sharing data across the service system improved responses and local knowledge best informed practice innovations (Lancefield, 2021). This presentation discusses the findings from the perspective of police response in collaboration with the broader service sector, at the point of contact with youth to enhance early intervention.
Recorded contact with police when young is often understood to be a risk indicator for future involvement criminal justice systems (Sentencing Advisory Council, 2016). Research findings indicated that it is feasible to intervene with vulnerable young people at their first contact with police, even before offending. Combining developmental data from the service system in a timely manner with police data sets greatly improved tailoring interventions to reduce future contact with justice systems. The presentation discusses research findings and practice implications for police operational processes. The presentation highlights systemic aspects of delivering practice innovations, ethical issues associated with utilising and sharing data sets and the importance of place-based initiatives in increasing efficacy.
References
Lancefield, K. (2021) Early intervention to reduce young peoples’ contact with the criminal justice system: Local knowledge to inform practice. Dissertation, Federation University Australia.
Sentencing Advisory Council. (2016). Reoffending by Children and Young People in Victoria. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Sentencing Advisory Council
Welsh, & Tremblay, R. E. (2020). Early Developmental Crime Prevention Forged Through Knowledge Translation: a Window into a Century of Prevention Experiments. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 7(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-020-00145-5