Resource Results
Targeted policing has proven effective in reducing serious crime in areas where it is highly concentrated, but the enforcement mechanisms responsible for the success of so-called hot spots strategies remain poorly understood. This study evaluates the effects of a 9-month randomized controlled hot spots field experiment on firearm assaults and robberies in St. Louis, MO. Thirty-two firearm violence hot spots were randomly allocated to two treatment conditions and a control condition.… Read More
Local governments across the U.S. are striving to improve public safety and optimize criminal justice investments. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) supports these efforts by convening justice system decision-makers to devise data-driven approaches to criminal justice reform that will generate savings that can be reinvested in evidence-based public safety strategies. The Urban Institute has monitored the progress of the 17 local jurisdictions currently engaged in JRI.
In a testimony before the Committees on Public Safety California State Assembly and Senate, Jessica Saunders of the RAND Corporation states how a data-driven approach can improve police-community relations
Under the guidance of BJA, Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative partners and subject-matter experts from across the country supported development of a new resource: Call to Action and Issue Brief: Justice System Use of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs—Addressing the Nation's Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Epidemic.
The Smart Policing Initiative presented a webinar on "Criminology 101" on September 3, 2014 from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern Time. This review of Criminology 101 examined ten basic facts about crime and offered insights into how they can be used to reduce crime. Dr. Scott Decker and Dr. James R. "Chip" Coldren, Jr. developed a fact sheet responding to questions asked during the "Criminology 101" webinar.
Researchers are working with probation and parole departments to find solutions to today's key problem: balancing dwindling financial resources with the need to ensure the lowest possible risk to communities. In Philadelphia, the Adult Parole and Probation Department worked with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania to develop and test a statistics-based risk assessment tool. It shows great promise for identifying probationers who are likely to commit violent offenses within two… Read More
There is a substantial and powerful literature in statistics and computer science clearly demonstrating that modern machine learning procedures can forecast more accurately than conventional parametric statistical models such as logistic regression. Yet, several recent studies have claimed that for criminal justice applications, forecasting accuracy is about the same. In this paper, we address the apparent contradiction. Forecasting accuracy will depend on the complexity of the… Read More
Although more than 12,000 offenders are on parole at any given time, little is known about the effectiveness of parole supervision in reducing reoffending. The few studies that have been conducted involve samples of parolees released from prison in other countries. The present study is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of parole supervision in Australia. It compares several groups of offenders, matched in terms of the factors likely to affect reoffending, but differing in terms of… Read More
In recent years, many law enforcement agencies have been deploying small video cameras worn by officers to record encounters with the public; investigate officer-involved incidents; produce evidence; and strengthen agency performance, accountability, and transparency. While body-worn cameras have the potential to improve police services, they also raise issues involving privacy, police-community relationships, procedural justice, and technical and cost questions, all of which agencies… Read More
In 2012, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded a grant to the Urban Institute (Urban) to conduct an evaluability assessment of the Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) initiative, developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in collaboration with the NIJ and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Urban identified 15 sites for this assessment from 441 law enforcement agencies that have received DDACTS training and/or technical… Read More
