Resource Results
On the national level, crime remains historically low. However, this national aggregate paints a deceiving picture of crime in many major cities. Individual cities experienced grim spikes in violent crime from 2014 to 2015 and through 2016 as well.
The work of law enforcement involves countless and risky low-visibility duties. Over the last three years, however, members of the public have brought increased attention to incidents of police-community conflict, violence, and misconduct, sparked by several high-profile deaths of people of color, many of them unarmed, during seemingly routine police encounters.
Over several centuries of crime analysis, the process of examining and approaching illegal activities has changed dramatically. Though we may take for granted how lawful searches are performed or the way an interrogation takes place, things were very different before groundbreaking cases put today’s procedures into place.
This is an interactive toolkit to help local elected officials, agency leaders and city staff use integrated data to improve city services. The toolkit provides city leaders with information on how to:
- Find the balance between privacy rights and the delivery of effective services.
- Keep the public informed.
- Ensure compliance with relevant federal laws and regulations.
- Operate more efficiently to improve outcomes for residents.
It… Read More
Professor Edward J. Latessa, director of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, discusses the importance of evidence-based practices and the challenges of implementing reform.
The Fall 2013 issue of TechBeat (a publication of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center) features an article about the use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement personnel. The article describes the experiences of the San Mateo police department with body-worn camera use by officers.
This page lists a number of resources related to restorative justice and policing, developed for the SPI Fall 2013 Quarterly Newsletter by Dr. James R. "Chip" Coldren, Jr., SPI Project Director.
Recommended Reading (with commentary)
Community Policing, Community Justice, and Restorative Justice: Exploring the Links for the Delivery of a Balanced Approach to Public Safety, by Caroline G. Nicholl (Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 1999).
"In 2004-05 the Smith Institute ran a highly successful series of seminars looking at case studies of the use of restorative justice (RJ) techniques among criminals and their victims, in schools, and within communities and neighbourhoods. Building on the impressive accounts of how powerful restorative justice techniques could be, as a way both of changing behaviour and of mitigating harm, this independent report was commissioned by the Smith Institute in association with the Esmée Fairbairn… Read More
This report presents the implementation and initial results of an experiment on the use of restorative justice conferences as an alternative response to early law breaking by young offenders. Restorative justice conferences bring the offending youth, the victim, and the supporters of both offender and victim together to discuss the incident and the harm brought to the victim and to the group of supporters. Conferences provide the opportunity for the victim to explain how they have been… Read More
This is a report on the Bethlehem Pennsylvania Police Family Group Conferencing Project. First-time moderately serious juvenile offenders were randomly assigned either to formal adjudication or to a diversionary “restorative policing” process called family group conferencing. Police-based family group conferencing employs trained police officers to facilitate a meeting attended by juvenile offenders, their victims, and their respective family and friends, to discuss the harm caused by the… Read More
