Complex criminal behaviour

This research stream brings together our research into stalking, harmful sexual behaviour, family violence, deliberate fire-setting and radicalisation and extremism. Each of these behaviours may or may not involve aggression or physical violence, but they nonetheless cause significant individual and social harm. All of them have complex psychological and social determinants, making them important areas in which to develop knowledge about prevention and intervention.  Over the past two decades, our researchers have investigated why these behaviours occur (or are sustained) and what approaches may be most effective for managing them. 

Our research in this area focuses on: 

• increasing knowledge about psychological and social factors that contribute to different types of complex criminal behaviour 
• development and evaluation of risk assessment instruments appropriate to different complex criminal behaviours 
• clarifying the contributory role of mental disorder in complex criminal behaviours 
• understanding and developing effective interventions for such behaviour across different service systems (such as mental health, policing and corrections). 
   

Current and recent projects 

• Understanding and responding to online child sexual exploitation offenders 
• Improving family violence risk assessment with Victoria Police 
• Understanding psychological factors related to stalking 
• Developing an effective risk assessment for adolescent family violence  
• Review of the initiatives for countering violent extremism in schools  
• Validation of risk assessment instruments for sexual offending, stalking and intimate partner violence 
• Investigating the role of mental health in family violence 
• Risk assessment and treatment management for preventing ideology-based terrorism recidivism in Indonesia. 
   

Research stream leaders 

• Associate Professor Troy McEwan
   

Recent publications 

Daff, E. S., McEwan, T.E. & Luebbers, S. (2018). Australian Adolescents’ Experiences of Aggression and Abuse by Intimate Partners. Journal of Interpersonal Violence https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518801936

Henshaw, M., Ogloff, J.R.P. & Clough, J. (2018). Demographic, mental health, and offending characteristics of online child exploitation material offenders: A comparison with contact‐only and dual sexual offenders. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 36(2): 198-215. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2337

McEwan, T. E., Harder, L., Brandt, C. & De Vogel, V. (2020). Risk Factors for Stalking Recidivism in a Dutch Community Forensic Mental Health Sample. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 19(2): 127-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2019.1661885

Nanayakkara, V., Ogloff, J.R.P. McEwan, T.E. & Davis, M.R. (2020). Applying classification methodology to high-consequence firesetting. Psychology, Crime & Law https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2020.1733568 

Reeves, S. G., Ogloff, J. R. P., & Simmons, M. (2018). The Predictive Validity of the Static-99, Static-99R, and Static-2002/R: Which One to Use? Sexual Abuse, 30(8), 887–907. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063217712216 

Shea, D. E., McEwan, T.E., Strand, S. & Ogloff, J.R.P. (2018). The reliability and predictive validity of the Guidelines for Stalking Assessment and Management (SAM). Psychological Assessment 30(11): 1409-1420. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000589  

Simmons, M., McEwan, T.E., Purcell, R. & Ogloff, J.R.P. (2018). Sixty years of child-to-parent abuse research: What we know and where to go. Aggression and Violent Behavior 38: 31-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.11.001  

Spivak, B., McEwan, T.E., Luebbers, S. & Ogloff, J.R.P. (2020) Implementing evidence-based practice in policing family violence: The reliability, validity and feasibility of a risk assessment instrument for prioritising police response. Policing and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2020.1757668   

Watson, R., Daffern, M. & Thomas, S. (2018). The impact of sex offender’s interpersonal style, treatment readiness and the therapeutic alliance on treatment gain. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 29(4): 635-655. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2018.1432673