Our Research
ODARA Scores for men charged with intimate partner violence in Canada
Police officers who attend intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents must decide how to protect victims at risk from future violence. The tools they use to assess risk should be regularly updated. This study provided updated norms for the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment to improve risk communication and risk management in IPV cases across Canada.
Hilton, N. Z., Hanson, K., Jung, S., Campbell, M. A., Eke, A. W., Ham, E., Kim, S., & Weissflog, M. (2025). Cross-province comparisons of intimate partner violence risk assessment: New Canadian percentile norms for the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000477
View our presentation at the Annual Canadian Psychological Association Convention in Montreal, June 2026
Police reports can provide reliable measures of coercive control
We evaluated fictional police assessments of intimate partner violence (IPV) and victim interviews for coercive and controlling behaviours using adapted versions of the Checklist for Controlling Behaviour (CCB) and the Coercive Behaviour Scale-Revised (CBS-R). The interrater agreement (IRA) was generally good; however, the subjectivity involved in categorizing behaviours contributed to lower IRA in some instances. Since the examples of coercive and controlling behaviours were not exhaustive, raters sometimes assigned behaviours to the categories they felt were the best fit. To reduce subjectivity, future research should combine scale items into a checklist to explore the relationship between specific coercive and controlling behaviours and IPV risk more effectively.
Weissflog, M., Ham, E., Jung, S., Kim, S., Eke, A. W., Campbell, M. A., & Hilton, N. Z. (2025). Measuring coercive control from police reports of intimate partner violence. Journal of Criminal Justice, 99, 102442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102442
View preprint here
Coercive control predicts more severe domestic violence
This is the first paper from researchers working together on the "Common Language for IPV Risk Appraisal, an Evidence-Based Policing Approach” project.
This study showed that coercive control is a distinct set of behaviours and attitudes that can be documented by police. Also, coercive control is important in assessing the risk of future physical violence.
*Hilton, N. Z., Eke, A. W., Kim, S., & Ham, E. (2022). Coercive control in police reports of intimate partner violence: Conceptual definition and association with recidivism. Psychology of Violence. Advanced online: https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000457
Developing successful academic police partnerships: through the lens of researchers and law enforcement
This panel explored caveats and challenges academic researchers and police personnel navigate when developing effective, impactful, mutually beneficial, and sustainable research. Law enforcement is increasingly engaging in collaborative research and knowledge generation to enhance evidence-based policing. Academic programs and research hubs benefit from access to law enforcement related data. The literature has many examples of successful research collaborations. However, there can be challenges to developing these partnerships, for example: identifying shared research priorities; working with both the academic and police organizational processes necessary for accessing data; aligning goals and communication expectations; and collaborating on knowledge mobilization that accurately translates research findings into applied practice, uses optimal methods for knowledge dissemination, and includes the co-production of materials and reports. This panel discussion included psychology researchers and police personnel with diverse experience and perspectives. The goal of this panel was to help prepare those interested in pursuing such collaborations and is relevant to students, early career researchers and established researchers. This critical discussion was facilitated by the moderator via key questions posed to panel members with a well-grounded familiarity with establishing partnerships.
Back row: Shelby Scott, Mirna Batinic, Angela Eke, Karl Hanson, Elke Ham, Madison Wesenberg, Zoe Hilton, Mary Ann Campbell, Sandy Jung. Front row: Meghan Weissflog, Soyeon Kim, Danika Widmer, Chella Mae Robles