The Risk to Resilience (R2R) Lab not only conducts research studies that investigate youth behavior, but also engages with the community to create a larger impact.
The lab on the West Valley campus focuses on characterizing factors that may result in antisocial behavior from youth who have interacted with the legal system. The lab also helps create preventative measures to protect young people engaging in risky behavior.
Currently, the lab is working on research projects like the Legal Implications of Developmental Immaturity (LIDI) Study, which, according to the R2R Lab's website, is looking into "how youth make decisions in situations where important legal rights are involved."
Justin Richardson, a graduate student studying law and psychology who is working on the study, said adolescents can make "adult-like decisions" at approximately 16 years old, but they may struggle to make the best choices when in challenging situations, such as police interrogations.
"They might want to make choices to get out of that situation, potentially, because they are stressful and (adolescents) may not fully reflect on how that might impact them in the future," he said.
Within all of the lab's research projects, involved researchers utilize their wide range of experiences in psychology.
"You have people working in detention centers, volunteering, interning. You have people who have been in prior research labs," said Jahnavi Tekal, a part-time lab coordinator at the R2R Lab and graduate student studying psychology.
Beyond the research
The Psychopathology and Antisocial Risk in Context Lab was founded in 2023 by Cortney Simmons, a professor at the School of Interdisciplinary Forensics. She wanted the lab to bring together students and people working on topics of youth risk and involvement in the legal system. However, the name didn't stick around.
"I wanted to change the name to something that wasn't so wordy," Simmons said. "But I also wanted to make it something that was a little bit more public-facing as we started doing more community-engaged work."
From there, the name of the "Risk to Resilience Lab" was formalized.
While it is a research lab, members also work on community engagement projects, and those involved in the lab can participate in outreach events. One such opportunity was a college fair at a high school in August, Tekal said.
The R2R Lab engages in these projects, and members can and want to use various avenues to spread the knowledge the lab has discovered, Simmons said.
Published research can be hidden from the public due to paywalls and a lack of knowledge on where to look, Simmons said.
The lab wants to be involved in the community alongside their research, and are even discussing more volunteer projects for the future, said Royce Hill, a graduate researcher at the R2R Lab who is studying law and psychology.
"We've collaborated with people in the local juvenile detention facility here in Maricopa County," Hill said. "They have many kids (who) don't have access to clothes that are good for court or just in general."
As a result, the R2R Lab set up a clothing drive to help the facility.
"Ultimately, the goal of many of our community partners is to help people who are involved in the legal system," Simmons said.
Additional resources
To continue on the path of spreading knowledge and providing assistance, the R2R Lab has compiled a list of mental health and legal rights resources on its website.
The page provides information on how to address mental health concerns and where to find support. Additionally, the page provides a spreadsheet listing strategies, hotlines and mental health centers.
In terms of legal rights resources, the web page also includes a document on how to interact in police encounters and where to find legal aid resources for justice-involved youth.
"I want to continue to explore what types of supports are most helpful for what outcomes and what types of supports are most helpful for which kids," Simmons said. "It's not a one-size-fits-all sort of approach; people are following varied pathways."
Edited by Kate Gore, Senna James, Tiya Talwar, Katrina Michalak and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at dmle5@asu.edu.
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