Dr Leon Bakker

PhD, MNZPS, MInstD
Registered Psychologist

Leon Bakker is a Registered Psychologist with extensive experience in working in the criminal justice area. For 18 and a half years he worked in the corrections system for the Corrections Department. His initial work involved providing clinical services to inmates and probationers in the Christchurch area. He was involved in the development and establishment of several innovative programmes that involved both government and community groups. His experience also includes several years in full time research and evaluation of Corrections programmes culminating in the development, establishment and piloting of a Driving Offender Treatment programme at Rolleston prison and in the community. This research resulted in a PhD in Psychology. His work also includes the development of assessment instruments for risk and criminogenic needs now routinely used by the Corrections Department in its management of offenders.

In recent years he has worked as the Manager of a policy unit in Corrections Head Office which focused on strategic analysis, research and evaluation. Since then he has been involved in contract work including involvement in the Towards Wellbeing youth suicide prevention programme, a formative evaluation of the community sex offender information sharing pilot for the Ministry of Justice, development of impact measures for the Department of Child Youth and Family, programme manager for the evaluation of the Performance based research fund and assessment and monitoring processes for the Tertiary Education Commission.