Dr. Lisa Callahan, Professor Emerita

Dr. Lisa Callahan, Emerita

Dr. Lisa Callahan, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, came to The Sage Colleges in 1990. Until her retirement in May 2008, she taught both at Russell Sage College and in the Sage Graduate School. At Russell Sage, Dr. Callahan taught Research for the Professions and Senior Seminar, both of which are part of the core curriculum for both sociology and criminal justice majors. Additionally, Dr. Callahan taught Nature of Crime, The Death Penalty, Sociology of Mental Disorder, Juvenile Delinquency, Law and Legal Process. In the graduate school, Dr. Callahan taught Introduction to Forensic Mental Health and co-taught (with Dr. McLeod) Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Dr. Callahan earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at The Ohio State University in 1983. Her area of emphasis was in Criminology with a minor in Public Administration. While in graduate school, Dr. Callahan began research in mental health law and continues her work in this area today. Following graduate school, Dr. Callahan completed a National Institute of Mental Health post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Callahan was instrumental in developing the Master's Program in Forensic Psychology at the Sage Graduate School. As part of her role in this new program, she has co-organized two "Teaching Days" in collaboration with the New York State Office of Mental Health. These symposia have featured internationally recognized scholars and clinicians in the area of forensic psychology and psychiatry. The symposia have been targeted to practitioners in the field who work with offenders with mental illness.

Teaching had always been a critical component to Dr. Callahan's professional life, both before coming to Sage and while at Sage. She brought experience and innovative teaching approaches to her courses, challenging students to extend their boundaries and expand their knowledge. Students were encouraged and often required to use up to date technology in her courses. Dr. Callahan developed a course on The Death Penalty before the topic was widely acknowledged outside of legal circles. The course challenges students to consider many dimensions to this perplexing social issue. During the Spring 2003, her class developed a website on the death penalty and the courts in America. Students from across the campus have taken this elective course. In the Senior Seminar taken by all sociology and criminal justice majors at RSC, students select a topic and complete a comprehensive literature review. In addition, students conduct data analysis on a data set using SPSS, resulting in a research paper, which combines the literature and the data analysis. Students find this course enormously challenging as it brings together their course work in theory, research methods, statistics, and a substantive topic. Most students also find it is a significant intellectual growth experience.

Dr. Callahan was an active member of the Sage community and beyond. She served as a member and/or chair of faculty committees and as a Faculty Mentor for first year students and for other faculty members. She remains active in her professional communities and is a member of many professional organizations. Dr. Callahan is a member and/or chair of 3 Institutional Review Boards, which are responsible for protecting human subjects in research studies. She also recently served for 4 years as the Public Member on the American Psychology Association's Ethics Committee.

Publications

Articles:

  • "Correctional Officer Attitudes Toward Inmates with Mental Illness." Under review. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health.
  • "Accommodating Death Penalty Legislation: Assistant District Attorney's Personal and Professional Views About Capital Punishment." 25(1), American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2000 (with J. Acker & K. Cerulli)
  • "Is There Community for Community Conferences? A Response to Scheff." 67(3), pp. 615-622, Revista Juridica Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998
  • "Revocation of Conditional Release: A Comparison of Individual and Program Characteristics Across 4 U.S. States." 21(2), pp. 177-186, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1998 (with E. Silver)
  • "Factors Predicting the Release of Persons Acquitted by Reason of Insanity: A Decision Tree Model." 22(2), pp. 1-15, Law and Human Behavior, 1998 (with E. Silver)
  • "Research in Mental Health and Law." 66(2), Psychiatric Quarterly (Guest Editor), 1995
  • "The Effect of Montana's Insanity Defense Abolition." 66(2), pp. 103-117, Psychiatric Quarterly, 1995 (with P. Robbins & H. Steadman)
  • "Measuring the Effects of the GBMI Verdict: Georgia's 1982 GBMI Reform." 16(4), pp. 447-462, Law and Human Behavior, 1992 (with M. McGreevy, C. Cirincione & H. Steadman)
  • "Comment on the Insanity Defense Papers." 5, pp. 45-51, Forensic Reports, 1992
  • "The Volume and Characteristics of Insanity Defense Pleas: An Eight State Study." 19(4), pp. 331-338, Bulletin of the American Academy of Law and Psychiatry, 1991 (with H. Steadman, M. McGreevy, & P. Robbins)
  • "The Negligible Effects of California's 1982 Insanity Defense Reform." 148, pp. 744-750, The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1991 (with M. McGreevy & H. Steadman)
  • "Insanity Defense Reform in Ohio." 19, pp. 809-824, Capital University Law Review, 1990 (with H. Steadman)
  • "The Maintenance of an Insanity Defense Under Montana's Abolition." 146, pp. 357-360, The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1989 (with H. Steadman, P. Robbins, & J. Morrissey)
  • "Post-Hinckley Insanity Defense Reforms in the United States." 11(1), Mental and Physical Disabilities Law Reporter, 1987 (with C. Mayer & H. Steadman)
  • "Changing Mental Health Law: Butting Heads with a Billygoat." 4(3), Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 1986
  • "Psychiatric Patients Right to Refuse Psychotropic Medication: A National Survey." Mental Disability Law Reporter, 1983 (with D. Longmire)

Books and Book Chapters:

  • Proseminars in Sociology. Teaching resources book published by the American Sociological Association, 1997
  • "Sing Sing Prison." Chapter in Encyclopedia of American Prisons, (eds) M.D. McShane and F.P. Williams III. Garland Press, 1995
  • Before and After Hinckley: Evaluating Insanity Defense Reform. (Steadman, McGreevy, Morrissey, Callahan, and Robbins). New York: Guildford Press, 1993
  • "The Role of Reason in the Social Control of Madness" (Callahan and Longmire). Chapter in The Underside of High Tech: The Deformation of Human Sensibility, (eds) J. Murphy, J. Pilotta, and A. Mickunas. New York: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1986

Book Reviews:

  • America's Experiment with the Death Penalty by J. Acker, C. Lanier, and R. Bohm, 10(4), Criminal Justice Policy Review, 2000
  • Careers in Sociology (2nd) by W. Richard Stephens, Jr. 28(1) Teaching Sociology, 2000
  • Law in a Therapeutic Key: Developments in Therapeutic Jurisprudence by D. Wexler and B. Winick 33(6) Criminal Law Bulletin, 1997