Our Story
Director's Message
Hello, Bonjour. My name is Mansfield Mela. I am the Director of the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is gratifying to welcome you to the expertise, resources, impact, and relevance of the exclusive work facilitated through the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies.
This interdisciplinary research centre was established in 2011. It comprises two and a half dozen faculty members from the Colleges of Law, Medicine, Nursing, and Arts and Science in conjunction with the Correctional Services of Canada and the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety in Saskatchewan.
Our research focus, outlined by our strategic plan, is to reduce victimization through research that informs practice and policy. The breadth of preventative, rehabilitative and reintegrated, and violence reduction research is only possible because our core research team, though relatively small in number, is truly mighty, motivated, and productive.
History
The Centre represents a unique and exciting collaboration between the University of Saskatchewan, the Correctional Service of Canada, and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety to establish a prairie-based centre for enhanced research and training in the area of forensic behavioural science and justice. The Centre serves as a gateway to a vast array of interdisciplinary research, education and engagement activities that serve to build capacity in the creation and use of new knowledge, identify best practices, and act as a catalyst for evidence-based policy change and program and service provision as it pertains to crime, justice, and corrections.
Formally established at the University of Saskatchewan in 2011, the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies has widespread faculty and student involvement representing the Colleges of Arts and Science, Law, Medicine, and Nursing. The Centre’s original Director, Dr. J. Stephen Wormith, led the Centre from 2011 to 2019. He passed away on March 28, 2019.
What We Do
The Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies strives to build effective and sustainable working relationships between academic researchers and criminal justice professionals in the non-profit, government, and Indigenous sectors. Our team of researchers, affiliated university faculty members, and graduate students are actively engaged in making evaluative and research-based contributions to science that directly benefit the programs and services of policing, corrections, justice, and non-governmental criminal justice agencies.