113 research outputs found
Focused Deterrence and the Prevention of Violent Gun Injuries: Practice, Theoretical Principles, and Scientific Evidence
Focused deterrence strategies are a relatively new addition to a growing portfolio of evidence-based violent gun injury prevention practices available to policy makers and practitioners. These strategies seek to change offender behavior by understanding the underlying violence-producing dynamics and conditions that sustain recurring violent gun injury problems and by implementing a blended strategy of law enforcement, community mobilization, and social service actions. Consistent with documented public health practice, the focused deterrence approach identifies underlying risk factors and causes of recurring violent gun injury problems, develops tailored responses to these underlying conditions, and measures the impact of implemented interventions. This article reviews the practice, theoretical principles, and evaluation evidence on focused deterrence strategies. Although more rigorous randomized studies are needed, the available empirical evidence suggests that these strategies generate noteworthy gun violence reduction impacts and should be part of a broader portfolio of violence prevention strategies available to policy makers and practitioners
Researching the use of force: The background to the international project
This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in eight countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officersâ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology
Portraying the nature of corruption: Using an explorative case-study design
What is the nature of corruption in Western democracies? To answer this research question, the authors study 10 Dutch corruption cases in depth, looking at confidential criminal files. The cases allow them to sketch a general profile of a corruption case. The authors offer nine propositions to portray the nature of corruption. They conclude that corruption usually takes place within enduring relationships, that the process of becoming corrupt can be characterized as a slippery slope, and that important motives for corruption, aside from material gain, include friendship or love, status, and the desire to impress others. The explorative multiple case study methodology helps to expand our understanding of the way in which officials become corrupt. © 2008 The American Society for Public Administration
Scared Straight and Other Juvenile Awareness Programs for Preventing Juvenile Delinquency: A Systematic Review
Programs like âScared Straightâ involve organized visits to prison facilities by juvenile delinquents or children at risk for becoming delinquent. The programs are designed to deter participants from future offending by providing first-hand observations of prison life and interaction with adult inmates. Results of this review indicate that not only does it fail to deter crime but it actually leads to more offending behavior. Government officials permitting this program need to adopt rigorous evaluation to ensure that they are not causing more harm to the very citizens they pledge to protect
The effects of problem-oriented policing on crime and disorder
Problem-oriented Policing (POP) was first introduced by Herman Goldstein in 1979. The
approach was one of a series of responses to a crisis in effectiveness and legitimacy in
policing that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Goldstein argued that police were not
being effective in preventing and controlling crime because they had become too focused
on the âmeansâ of policing and had neglected the âgoalsâ of preventing and controlling
crime and other community problems. Goldstein argued that the unit of analysis in
policing must become the âproblemâ rather than calls or crime incidents as was the case
during that period. POP has had tremendous impact on American policing, and is now
one of the most widely implemented policing strategies in the US.
To synthesize the extant problem-oriented policing evaluation literature and assess the
effects of problem-oriented policing on crime and disorder
Eligible studies had to meet three criteria: (1) the SARA model was used for a problemoriented
policing intervention; (2) a comparison group was included; (3) at least one
crime or disorder outcome was reported with sufficient data to generate an effect size.
The unit of analysis could be people or places.
Several strategies were used to perform an exhaustive search for literature fitting the
eligibility criteria. First, a keyword search was performed on an array of online abstract
databases. Second, we reviewed the bibliographies of past reviews of problem-oriented
policing. Third, we performed forward searches for works that have cited seminal
problem-oriented policing studies. Fourth, we performed hand searches of leading
journals in the field. Fifth, we searched the publications of several research and
professional agencies. Sixth, after finishing the above searches we e-mailed the list of
studies meeting our eligibility criteria to leading policing scholars knowledgeable in the
area of problem-oriented policing to ensure we had not missed any relevant studies.
For our ten eligible studies, we provide both a narrative review of effectiveness and a
meta-analysis. For the meta-analysis, we coded all primary outcomes of the eligible
studies and we report the mean effect size (for studies with more than one primary
outcome, we averaged effects to create a mean), the largest effect, and the smallest effect.
Because of the heterogeneity of our studies, we used a random effects model.
Based on our meta-analysis, overall problem-oriented policing has a modest but
statistically significant impact on reducing crime and disorder. Our results are consistent
when examining both experimental and quasi-experimental studies.
Conclusions:
We conclude that problem-oriented policing is effective in reducing crime and disorder,
although the effect is fairly modest. We urge caution in interpreting these results because
of the small number of methodologically rigorous studies on POP and the diversity of
problems and responses used in our eligible studies
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