Dr. Maaike Helmus

Dr. Maaike Helmus obtained a PhD in forensic psychology at Carleton University, and is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her research has focused on how to develop, validate, and improve structured tools to assess an offender’s risk to reoffend, especially for sex offenders. These tools inform prioritization of resources in the criminal justice system, and contribute to effective, fair, and transparent decision-making with offenders (e.g., to inform bail, sentencing, treatment intensity, treatment targets, parole decisions, and community supervision intensity/conditions). Her particular focus has been on sex offender risk assessment, but she also publishes on risk assessment with general offenders, violent offenders, intimate partner violence offenders, and Indigenous offenders. She is part of the team that developed the risk scales for sex offenders that are most frequently used worldwide, including within Canada (at the federal level and in all but two provinces/territories). She consults on and testifies in court cases related to offender risk assessment. Helmus is currently co-editor of the scientific journal Sexual Offending Theory, Research and Prevention and on the editorial board of Sexual Abuse and Psychological Assessment. She is also the winner of the Governor General’s Gold Medal and the Saleem Sham Early Career Award from the American Psychology-Law Society and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.