Centenial Celebration

Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.

Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 10:16 pm

Results for crime reduction

21 results found

Author: Finer, Stephen

Title: Review the Priority 44 Programme: A Process Evaluation of a Home Office Crime Reduction Initiative

Summary: In late 2006, a group of 44 Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) was identified as having the potential to make a significant contribution to the delivery of the then Home Office target (Public Service Agreement [PSA] 1) to reduce crime as measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS) by 15 per cent, comparing 2007/08 with the baseline year of 2002/03. The Home Office initiated a programme of work with these partnerships designed to maximise performance against the target, which became known as the Priority 44 Programme (P44). The initiative lasted until the end of the target period in March 2008. This qualitative research study explored the perceptions of a sample of practitioners and policy makers involved in the management and execution of the Priority 44 Programme. It sought to understand key elements of the initiative and how they translated into ‘action on the ground’; map the range and diversity of practitioners’ perceptions of the initiative; and understand and explain the reasons behind these perceptions in order to inform the development and implementation of future initiatives.

Details: London: Home Office, 2010. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Home Office Research Report 47: Accessed December 9, 2010 at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/horr47c.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/horr47c.pdf

Shelf Number: 113853

Keywords:
Community Safety Partnerships
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (U.K.)
Crime Reduction

Author: Ward, Liz

Title: An Assessment of the Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme (TKAP) – Phase ll

Summary: The Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) ran initially from June 2008 until March 2009 and aimed to reduce teenage knife crime in ten police force areas in England and Wales. TKAP Phase II was then launched and the programme re-branded into the Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme. Phase II ran from April 2009 to March 2010 in 16 police force areas (the original ten TKAP forces and six new areas) and aimed to reduce all serious violence involving 13- to 24-year-olds using a range of enforcement, education and prevention initiatives. The Home Office Research and Analysis Unit was asked to form an assessment of the success of TKAP Phase II in reducing serious youth violence. A secondary aim of the programme was to improve public confidence around serious youth violence in the 16 police force areas. As the TKAP areas were partly selected due to their high levels of violent crime, a randomised experimental design could not be used to assess the impact of the programme. Instead, a quasi-experimental methodology was applied using a variety of analytical techniques to compare what happened in the TKAP areas during TKAP Phase II with the previous year (2008/09) and before the start of the programme (2007/08). Wherever possible, comparisons were also made with a group of forces not involved in the programme (non-TKAP areas). The findings provide encouraging evidence that serious violence involving 13- to 24-year-olds declined across the country between 2007/08 and 2009/10. However, given that the reductions were not specific to or consistently greater in the TKAP areas (compared with the non-TKAP areas), and taking into account various methodological limitations described in the report, it is not possible to directly attribute reductions in the TKAP areas during Phase II to TKAP activities.

Details: London: Home Office, 2011. 67p.

Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 53: Accessed June 30, 2011 at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/horr53/horr53-report?view=Binary

Year: 2011

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/horr53/horr53-report?view=Binary

Shelf Number: 121923

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Homicide
Knife Crime (U.K.)
Violent Crime
Weapons

Author: Johnson, Rucker

Title: How Much Crime Reduction Does the Marginal Prisoner Buy?

Summary: We present new evidence on the effect of aggregate changes in incarceration on changes in crime that accounts for the potential simultaneous relationship between incarceration and crime. Our principal innovation is that we develop an instrument for future changes in incarceration rates based on the theoretically predicted dynamic adjustment path of the aggregate incarceration rate in response to a shock (from whatever source) to prison entrance or exit transition probabilities. Given that incarceration rates adjust to permanent changes in behavior with a dynamic lag (given that only a fraction of offenders are apprehended in any one period), one can identify variation in incarceration that is not contaminated by contemporary changes in criminal behavior. We isolate this variation and use it to tease out the causal effect of incarceration on crime. Using state level data for the United States covering the period from 1978 to 2004, we find crime-prison elasticities that are considerably larger than those implied by OLS estimates. For the entire time period, we find average crime-prison effects with implied elasticities of between -0.06 and -0.11 for violent crime and between -0.15 and -0.21 for property crime. We also present results for two sub-periods of our panel: 1978 to 1990 and 1991 to 2004. Our IV estimates for the earlier time period suggest much larger crime-prison effects, with elasticity estimates consistent with those presented in Levitt (1996) who analyzes a similar time period yet with an entirely different identification strategy. For the latter time period, however, the effects of changes in prison on crime are much smaller. Our results indicate that recent increases in incarceration have generated much less bang-per-buck in terms of crime reduction.

Details: Berkeley, CA: Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, 2010. 50p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 16, 2011 at: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ruckerj/johnson_raphael_crimeincarcJLE.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ruckerj/johnson_raphael_crimeincarcJLE.pdf

Shelf Number: 122415

Keywords:
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Deterrence
Imprisonment (U.S.)

Author: Bauldry, Shawn

Title: Positive Support: Mentoring and Depression Among High-Risk Youth

Summary: Positive Support examines the potential benefits of matching high-risk youth with faith-based mentors. Drawing on surveys and interviews with young people who participated in the National Faith-Based Initiative, we found that mentored youth were less likely to show signs of depression than the youth who were not matched with a mentor. This in turn was related to a variety of other beneficial outcomes, including handling conflict better and fewer self-reported instances of arrests. The report concludes with a consideration of the challenges of implementing a mentoring program for high-risk youth and how they might be overcome.

Details: New York: P/PV, Public/Private Ventures, 2006. 49p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2012 at http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/202_publication.pdf

Year: 2006

Country: United States

URL: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/202_publication.pdf

Shelf Number: 124009

Keywords:
At-risk Youth
Crime Reduction
Faith-Based Initiatives
Mentoring
Reentry

Author: Poland, Fiona

Title: Evaluation Research Study of Ipswich Street Prostitution Strategy 2007-8

Summary: An innovative strategy to tackle prostitution in Ipswich has made a good start, but needs to address a number of challenges, according to an independent research team from the University of East Anglia. Their report, evaluating the first year of the strategy’s implementation, finds evidence of early success in the complex matters of helping sex workers to change their lives and reducing kerb-crawling. The evaluation was commissioned to give the Joint Agency Prostitution Steering group independent information about how well the strategy was put into action and its effects in its first year. The strategy aims to address five key areas: preventing on-street prostitution, reducing demand, developing routes out of prostitution, preventing young people from being abused through sexual exploitation and providing a good flow of information between the community and other strategy partners. The emphasis is for enforcement action to be taken against kerb-crawlers rather than the sex workers, who are helped to rebuild their lives and find ways out of prostitution. The new strategy led to 137 arrests for kerb-crawling in Ipswich between March 2007 and February 2008, compared with only 10 in the previous year. Most of those arrested in 2007-8 were given Police Cautions with an Acceptable Behaviour Contract. This intense increase in police action to apprehend kerb-crawlers, together with the disposals provided, has proved to be a highly effective deterrent to those seeking to pay for sex on the streets of Ipswich. For the first time, women involved in street sex work are offered co-ordinated support from different agencies combined with "assertive outreach", whereby committed staff repeatedly contact the women to offer them support. Health problems, drug habits and violent partners may make it difficult for women involved in sex work to take up support without this repeated contact. In just a few months, over 33 women have been helped to make positive changes in their lives. This includes reducing drug use, staying in stable accommodation and getting more regular access to health treatment. Regular, well-attended public meetings have proved to be a good means of communication between local residents and strategy group partners, especially the police. This has allowed local residents to highlight the issues of most concern to them, such as personal safety, harassment near their homes and the need to know how these issues are being addressed. The work has been demanding and challenges remain to be addressed in the later years of the strategy, not least financial issues. The flexibility and creativity of voluntary organisations such as Iceni and Coastal Housing Action Group have been important for finding the new solutions required, yet such organisations are especially vulnerable to funding uncertainties. Without knowing if their funding will continue, it is difficult for such organisations to guarantee the longer-term work needed to deal with the complex problems these women face, the report says. There is also still a need to research and tackle the reasons why men seek on-street sex. This is vital for identifying the levels of risk they pose to the women and to the wider community.

Details: Norwich, UK: University of East Anglia, 2008. 205p.

Source: EVISSTA Study: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2012 at http://www.ipswich.gov.uk/downloads/EVISSTAUEAstreetprostitutionreport.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.ipswich.gov.uk/downloads/EVISSTAUEAstreetprostitutionreport.pdf

Shelf Number: 124025

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Sex Work (U.K.)
Sex Workers
Street Prostitution

Author: Mishna, Faye

Title: Interventions for Children, Youth, and Parents to Prevent and Reduce Cyber Abuse

Summary: Child participation in Internet safety interventions does not change risky online behaviour, according to a new Campbell review. The Internet has created a new communication tool, particularly for young people. Worldwide, the use of e-mail, websites, instant messaging, web cams, chat rooms, social networking sites and text messaging is exploding. While there are many benefits that result from electronic based communication, the Internet is at the same time a potential site for abuse and victimization. Young people can fall victim to sexual perpetrators, stalkers, exploiters, and peers who bully online. Interventions against cyber abuse have been developed in response to the growing need to protect children and youth from online dangers. The authors of a new Campbell review examined the effectiveness of cyber abuse interventions in increasing Internet safety knowledge and decreasing risky online behaviour. Having identified more than 3,000 potentially relevant studies, only three met the authors' eligibility criteria and were included in the review: an evaluation of the I-SAFE cyber safety program, an evaluation of the Missing cyber safety program, and an evaluation of an in-school cyber bullying intervention (HAHASO). Results provide evidence that participation in psycho-educational Internet safety interventions is associated with an increase in Internet safety knowledge; but it is not significantly associated with a change in risky online behaviour. The need for further research in this field is highlighted.

Details: Oslo: Campbell Collaboration, 2009. 54p.

Source: Campbell Systemic Reviews 2009:2, Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2012 at www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/download/681/

Year: 2009

Country: International

URL:

Shelf Number: 116293

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Cybercrimes
Juvenile Victims

Author: Noble, Cameron

Title: Urban Youth in the Pacific: Increasing resilience and reducing risk for involvement in crime and violence

Summary: The report “Urban Youth in the Pacific – Increasing Resilience and Reducing Risk for Involvement in Crime and Violence" was produced in response to a concern raised by the Forum Regional Security Committee (FSRC) about the involvement of a small but increasing number of urban youth in crime and violence and acknowledgment that the region can work towards building the resilience of young people. The report aims to provide policy and programming options for Pacific governments and other stakeholders, including the United Nations, to prevent young people becoming involved in crime and violence, and to fulfill their potential as productive citizens. The report covers issues like what factors push Pacific youth to become involved in crime and violence and what can be done to reduce the risk and increase the resilience of young people. The report highlights good policies and activities that address youth crime and violence. It contains case studies from six Pacific Island countries – the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tonga.

Details: Suva, Fiji: UNDP Pacific Centre: PIFS, 2011. 172p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 11, 2012 at http://www.undppc.org.fj/_resources/article/files/Full_Report_Urban_Youth.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: International

URL: http://www.undppc.org.fj/_resources/article/files/Full_Report_Urban_Youth.pdf

Shelf Number: 124458

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Juveniles (Pacific)
Urban Crime (Pacific)

Author: Schatz, Eberhard

Title: The Dutch treatment and social support system for drug users: Recent developments and the example of Amsterdam

Summary: This paper, written in collaboration with the Correlation Network, briefly describes the history and the basic elements of the Dutch drug dependence treatment policy, including recent trends in drug use and the current drug treatment system implemented in the four largest cities in the Netherlands. Building on more than 30 years’ experience, the Dutch approach focuses on an integrated treatment system, which provides comprehensive support and services to the most vulnerable groups, including homeless people, problematic drug users and chronic psychiatric patients. At the same time, a strong emphasis is given to public order and crime reduction. The paper describes the law enforcement and community involvement elements of the strategy, and provides available data on the results achieved so far. Although the current policy has shown positive results for individuals and society as a whole, the system is at risk of losing its balanced approach. The approach of public health-based regulation may have reached its limits and is lose focus in over-medicalization and over-regulation. The policy may have been under pressure from surrounding countries in the 1980s and 1990s, but nowadays, the biggest threat for turning back the clock is coming from inside the country. There is a growing concern among service providers and drug using communities that the new government will be redrafting the policy agenda away from the primary interest of drug policy: increasing the quality of life of people who use drugs.

Details: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2011. 15p.

Source: IDPC Briefing Paper: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper-dutch-treatment-systems.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Netherlands

URL: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper-dutch-treatment-systems.pdf

Shelf Number: 125216

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Drug Policy (Netherlands)
Drug Treatment (Netherlands)
Evidence-Based Practices

Author: Wilson, Anne P.

Title: Trafficking Risks for Refugees

Summary: Refugees are at particular risk for human trafficking – a consequence of their vulnerable status, the devastating losses they have experienced, and their precarious life situations until durable solutions become available. According to the United National High Commissioner for Refugees, trafficking risks for refugees are at ever-increasing levels worldwide. This paper will provide an overview of both the constant and emerging facets of the refugee condition contributing to trafficking risk, and will offer policy and practice recommendations for risk reduction. The perspective offered is that of a national non-profit organization - Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service - which resettles refugees from around the world in forty-five communities across the United States, serves asylum-seekers and other at-risk migrants in detention, and works with smuggled and trafficked migrant children. LIRS is a national faith-based nonprofit organization, founded in 1939, which works to engage communities in service to and advocacy for migrants and refugees. Our primary expertise in the area of refugees and trafficking comes from two decades of experience working with migrant children, the insights we have gained in serving “women at risk”, and our knowledge of the vulnerabilities within refugee populations in the post-resettlement period.

Details: Baltimore, MD: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2011. 13p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2012 at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=humtraffconf3

Year: 2011

Country: International

URL: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=humtraffconf3

Shelf Number: 125353

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Human Trafficking
Refugees
Risk Assessment

Author: Soeiro, Mafalda

Title: Determinants of Highter Education Students' Willingness to Pay for Violent Crime Reduction: A Contingent Valuation Study

Summary: By eliciting an individual’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) for a reduction in crime risks, the contingent valuation method is one of the most solid methodologies in use to estimate the intangible costs of crime. However, very few studies have applied contingent valuation methods to random samples of the population located in high crime rate areas. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first attempt to apply the contingent valuation method to estimate how much a specific group of society, which is relatively prone to falling victim to (violent) crime, i.e., students, is willing to pay to reduce the likelihood of being the victim of violent crime. In contrast to the existing literature, our study focuses on a rather unexplored context, Portugal, where criminality and violent crime rates are relatively low by international standards, even though they have been on the rise. Based on responses from 1122 higher education students in a broad range of degrees (from Economics to Psychology and the Humanities), we found that 33% of our respondents have been victims of crime in the past, although in general they did not result in physical or psychological injuries. A reasonable percentage of the students (almost 40%) is very worried about falling victim to a crime and 52.8% worries moderately. Over 40% of our respondents were willing to pay a certain amount but less than 50€, whereas 20.8% were willing to pay between 50€ and 250€. On average, all other determinants constant, younger and female students revealed that they were more inclined to pay so as to avoid violent crime than their older and male counterparts. Low and high income Portuguese students do not differ in their willingness to pay more to avoid being victims of violent crime. Cautious behaviour, such as locking doors at home, and a strong opinion about policies and payment vehicles with potential to reduce the risk of crime is positively associated with the WTP. Finally, the students’ field of study surfaced as a key determinant of WTP – students enrolled in Economics and Management revealed a higher WTP. Such findings are likely to have a critical impact on crime and insurance policies.

Details: Porto, Brazil: Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto, 2010. 41p.

Source: FEP Working Papers N. 384: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2012 at http://wps.fep.up.pt/wps/wp384.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: International

URL: http://wps.fep.up.pt/wps/wp384.pdf

Shelf Number: 126018

Keywords:
Costs of Crime
Costs of Criminal Justice
Crime Reduction
Violent Crime

Author: McCrary, Justin

Title: The Effect of Police on Crime: New Evidence from U.S. Cities, 1960-2010

Summary: Using a new panel data set on crime in medium to large U.S. cities over 1960-2010, we show that (1) year-over-year changes in police per capita are largely idiosyncratic to demographic factors, the local economy, city budgets, measures of social disorganization, and recent changes in crime rates, (2) year-over-year changes in police per capita are mismeasured, leading many estimates in the literature to be too small by a factor of 5, and (3) after correcting for measurement error bias and controlling for population growth, a regression of within-state differences in year-over-year changes in city crimes on within-state differences in year-over-year changes in police yields economically large point estimates. Our estimates are generally similar in magnitude to, but are estimated with a great deal more precision than, those from the quasi-experimental literature. Our estimates imply that each dollar spent on police is associated with approximately $1.60 in reduced victimization costs, suggesting that U.S. cities employ too few police. The estimates confirm a controversial finding from the previous literature that police reduce violent crime more so than property crime.

Details: Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkeley, 2012. 84p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 29, 2012 at: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/~jmccrary/chalfin_mccrary2012.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/~jmccrary/chalfin_mccrary2012.pdf

Shelf Number: 127031

Keywords:
Crime Measurement (U.S.)
Crime Rates
Crime Reduction
Police Officers
Policing

Author: U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs

Title: Crime-Reduction Best Practices Handbook: Making Indian Communities Safe 2012

Summary: This handbook contains the successful strategies with information ranging from general approaches to specific details that should be in place to successfully implement strategies. Although specific applications of best practices may vary from location to location, the basic approach to crime-reduction outlined in this handbook is relevant to all law enforcement entities in Indian Country. This handbook is organized into six sections: section 1, The Conceptual Framework, entitled “Formula for Success,” overviews the crime-reduction strategies and how they interrelate to achieve the overall goal of reduced violent crime. Sections 2 through 6, “Implementation and Results,” examine the implementation of each strategy; analyzes which strategies were successful; describes what challenges were faced; and indicates what positive outcomes were achieved. The appendixes provide specific formats and vehicles used to implement the strategies. This part of the handbook is particularly useful to facilitate implementation at other reservations. Information contained in the appendixes includes the formats used for each strategy (e.g., shift reports, operating plans, memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with other agencies, press releases); violent crime and property crime statistics at each High Priority Performance Goal (HPPG) reservation; demographic information for each HPPG reservation with other non-HPPG locations with similar population and acreage; a blank interview guide used for obtaining specific information from the HPPG reservations; and a list of the information sources used to compile this handbook.

Details: Washington, DC: Office of Justice Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2012. 124p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 16, 2012 at http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xojs/documents/text/idc-018678.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xojs/documents/text/idc-018678.pdf

Shelf Number: 127211

Keywords:
American Indians
Crime Reduction
Indians of North America
Indigenous Peoples
Native Americans
Reservation Crimes
Reservation Law Enforcement
Tribal Justice
Tribal Law Enforcement

Author: Tepe, Markus

Title: Cops for Hire? The Political Economy of Police Employment in the German States

Summary: In times of an alleged waning of political business cycles and partisan policymaking, vote-seeking policymakers can be expected to shift the use of political manipulation mechanisms towards other policy domains in which the macro-institutional environment allows them greater leverage. Public employment generally, and police employment specifically, are promising domains for such tactics. Timing the hiring of police officers during election periods may increase votes, as these are 'street-visible' jobs dealing with politically salient issues. Law-and-order competence signaling makes police hiring especially attractive for conservative parties. Testing these electioneering and partisanship hypotheses in the German states between 1992 and 2010, we find that socio-economic variables such as population density strongly determine police employment. But incumbents also hire more police officers before elections, while conservative party power increases police numbers. Subjectively 'immediate' forms of crime (issue salience) and perceived causes of crime such as immigration are also positively associated with police numbers.

Details: Unpublished paper, 2012. 46p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 18, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2031003

Year: 2012

Country: Germany

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2031003

Shelf Number: 135801

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Hiring Practices
Police Recruitment and Selection
Policing
Political Patronage

Author: Youth Justice Board for England and Wales

Title: The Knife Crime Prevention Programme: Process Evaluation

Summary: The Knife Crime Prevention Programme (KCPP) is an intervention which aims to reduce the prevalence of knife carrying and use by young people. Young people are referred to the programme if they are aged between 10 and 17 and have been convicted of an offence where a knife or the threat of a knife is a feature. The programme is based on a national delivery framework, with flexibility for local adaptation. It was rolled out as part of the Home Office "Tackling Knives Action Programme"(TKAP). Research objectives This process evaluation was commissioned to: - provide a picture of the implementation and delivery of KCPP - explore participants' knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to knife crime before and after the programme - explore staff attitudes to the programme. Methodology The methodology adopted was as follows: - an electronic survey of 67 youth offending teams (YOTs) delivering KCPP3 - a paper-based survey of 96 young people from 13 YOTs at entry to and exit from the programme - site visits to eight YOTs, where interviews were undertaken with 33 staff/partners and 12 young people, and one focus group was undertaken with seven young people. Key findings YOT staff who were surveyed reported that the majority of young people who started KCPP in their local area completed the programme. Non-completion was reportedly most often due to the young person being taken into custody (named by 24 of 67 YOTs), being disruptive in sessions, or failing to attend. KCPP respondents spoke highly of the use of personal accounts of the consequences of knife crime from victims, families, ex-offenders or professionals. However, YOTs found this challenging and resource-intensive to arrange and, in most YOTs, case studies and recorded media were used in place of personal delivery. Where achieved, some young people felt they had increased empathy for victims' families and health professionals as a result of the programme. By the end of the programme, the majority of those young people completing the survey upon entry and exit to the programme demonstrated a correct understanding of the law. YOT staff surveyed felt that the greatest learning points for young people from the programme were 'recognising the dangers of carrying a knife' and a perceived increase in 'understanding of the consequences of knife crime'. Group work provided challenges to staff in terms of risk management and appropriate grouping of young people. The importance of appropriately skilled facilitators was emphasised by YOT staff. Staff did feel, however, that the group setting provided an opportunity for positive social interaction between young people. The majority of YOT staff surveyed (40 out of 67) said that they believed KCPP was effective. The qualitative interviews indicated that YOT staff thought that the programme was more likely to be effective for young people with a low risk of reoffending. The need to carry a knife 'for protection' was considered by young people and staff to be a key reason why some young people would continue to carry a knife. The KCPP framework did not stipulate any formal follow-on activity for those who completed the programme. Only a few of the YOTs surveyed (six) provided organised follow-on activities, depending on local availability and funding, and even when follow-on activities did take place, they were not explicitly linked to knife crime.

Details: London: Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, 2013.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 17, 2016 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/395990/knife-crime-prevention-programme.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/395990/knife-crime-prevention-programme.pdf

Shelf Number: 138308

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Homicide
Knife Crime (U.K.)
Knives
Violent Crime
Weapons

Author: McCandless, Rhydian

Title: Do initiatives involving substantial increased in stop and search reduce crime? Assuming the Impact of Operation BLUNT 2

Summary: Stop and search is a well-established police power. Over the last decade use of the power has varied widely but at its peak, in the final quarter of 2008/09, a search was undertaken every 20 seconds on average nationwide. The evidence base on the effectiveness of stop and search on crime is limited. This paper examines whether a police initiative that involved a large increase in the number of stop and searches was effective at reducing crime. As part of Operation BLUNT 2 - a Metropolitan Police initiative aimed at reducing knife crime that began in the spring of 2008 - there was a marked increase in the number of weapons searches conducted in London. London boroughs were assigned to one of three tiers based on intelligence on their knife crime problem. Resources were prioritised to ten Tier 1 boroughs, and to a lesser extent to six Tier 2 boroughs. The ten Tier 1 boroughs recorded a more than threefold increase in the number of weapons searches, up from 34,154 in the year before BLUNT 2 to 123,335 in the first year of the operation. Over this period, the 16 Tier 3 boroughs also recorded an increase in weapons searches but on a smaller scale (up by 18,103, an 87% increase on pre-BLUNT 2 levels). Under normal circumstances, it is hard to interpret the relationship between changes in stop and search and crime rates. Because it is a form of responsive policing, trends in stop and search often mirror trends in crime, so it is difficult to establish whether stop and searches lead to a fall in crime, or simply reflect it. However, the scale of the increases in searches under Operation BLUNT 2 was less clearly the result of changes in short-term crime rates. This strengthens the robustness of the evaluation. The analysis focuses on crimes that might be affected by large increases in weapons searches, and compares changes in offence numbers across the three tiers. If a large increase in weapons searches is effective at reducing knife crime then a drop in offences in Tier 1 boroughs would be expected, compared with boroughs that recorded smaller increases in stop and searches. Nine measures of police recorded crime were used in the analysis. These included: different types of assault involving sharp instruments; robbery; weapons and drugs possession offences; and three types of acquisitive crime. A difference-in-difference regression analysis, which controlled for other factors that might affect crime trends, found no statistically significant crime-reducing effect from the large increase in weapons searches during the course of Operation BLUNT 2. This suggests that the greater use of weapons searches was not effective at the borough level for reducing crime. London Ambulance Service data on calls for weapons-related injuries were also analysed. Unlike recorded crime measures, these should be unaffected by police recording or victim reporting issues. The number of London Ambulance Service callouts for weapons injuries did not fall more in the Tier 1 boroughs than in the other boroughs. Rather, ambulance call-outs actually fell faster in those boroughs that had smaller increases in weapons searches. Knife homicides were examined separately, as the small numbers involved prevent meaningful difference-in-difference analysis. Both Tier 1 (high resource) and Tier 3 (low resource) boroughs saw reductions in knife homicides, so it is unlikely that the falls in Tier 1 boroughs can be attributed to the Operation BLUNT 2 increases in weapons searches. Overall, analysis shows that there was no discernible crime-reducing effects from a large surge in stop and search activity at the borough level during the operation. However, it does not necessarily follow that stop and search activity does not reduce crime. This study is based on data at the London borough level, with an average population of over 200,000 per borough. It is possible that there are localised crime-reducing effects of stop and search activity that are masked when analysing data on such a large geographic area. This might be a useful focus of future research. It is also possible that a base level of stop and search activity does have an effect after which there are diminishing, or even zero, returns. This current study has not been able to shed light on what that level would be.

Details: London; Home Office, 2016. 52p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 17, 2016 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508661/stop-search-operation-blunt-2.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508661/stop-search-operation-blunt-2.pdf

Shelf Number: 138320

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Knife Crime
Police Effectiveness
Stop and Search
Weapons

Author: Great Britain. House of Commons. Justice Committee

Title: Crime reduction policies: a co-ordinated approach?

Summary: During this inquiry we wished to examine the nature and effectiveness of crime reduction policies over the four years since our predecessor Committee reported on the merits of justice reinvestment as a means of cutting crime. Since 2010, crime has been falling, but we found that the extent to which this can, in practice, be attributed to the success of national or local crime reduction policies is unclear. Re-offending rates which had been falling have stabilised over this period but remain relatively high, and it concerns us that last year there has been a fall in the proportion of local areas achieving a decrease in reoffending. We call on the Government to seek to recognise more explicitly where reoffending has fallen and seek to understand why. The prison population has remained high but its once inexorable growth seems to have calmed. All parts of the criminal justice system have had to cope with significant spending cuts, yet it appears to us that the Government has shied away from using the need to make significant cuts to re-evaluate how and where money is spent. This is in contrast to the approach that we saw in Texas (and over half of US states) where they concluded that any real effort to contain spending on corrections must have as its centrepiece a plan to limit the growth of, and ultimately reduce, the prison population. The Government's method of reform remains focused largely on the activity of the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, which can over-emphasise the significance in attempting to reduce crime of measures taken entirely within the criminal justice system. Some cross-Government initiatives have been developed, such as the Troubled Families programme, to deal with sources of crime. We welcome these yet note that the resources attached to very early intervention schemes, like Family Nurse Partnerships, are tiny in relation to the prison budget and the staggeringly high costs of crime to society. For example, we were told that it is estimated that annually violent crime, 44% of which is alcohol related, costs almost $30 billion, crime perpetrated by people who had conduct problems in childhood costs about $60 billion, and drug-related crime costs almost $14 billion. There have been significant changes to the local partnership landscape for crime reduction since 2010, including the introduction of police and crime commissioners and the transfer of public health responsibilities to local authorities, reflecting the ongoing broader shift of power in this field from Whitehall to local communities. While this has resulted in an assortment of local accountability structures, our evidence highlights the clear benefits of collective ownership, pooled funding and joint priorities that have been facilitated by this approach, although there remains a considerable way to go before health can be considered a fully integral part of the crime reduction picture. In particular, we consider that addressing the funding of mental health services, the inadequacy of which costs the police, courts, probation, and prisons and victims of crime greatly, should be an urgent priority. Alcohol treatment similarly remains a Cinderella service. In our view, two major elements are missing from local partnership approaches to crime reduction: courts and prisons. We believe that a prison system which effectively rehabilitates a smaller number of offenders, while other offenders are rehabilitated through robust community sentences, has the potential to bring about a bigger reduction in crime. Additionally, seeing courts as purely instrumental institutions involved solely in processing and resolving cases, misses an opportunity for encouraging greater innovation, for example through the adoption of problem-solving approaches, which we saw in operation in Texas and in Stockport, and we believe has the potential to make broader systemic savings. The radical and controversial changes that have been made to the probation system with the intention of providing for supervision of short-sentenced prisoners will be commissioned centrally and must be carefully managed to ensure that local crime reduction activity continues to build in strength as the resources for all concerned are further diminished. What remains lacking also is still, as our predecessor observed, a rigorous assessment of where taxpayers' money can most effectively be spent in cutting crime, and a government-wide approach which recognises more explicitly that the criminal justice system is only one limited part of the system through which taxpayers' money is spent to keep people safe from crime. We do not have the right structures in place to provide a collective memory of research evidence, its relative weight, and its implications for policy-making, including the capacity to make decisions about the best direction of resources, and we call on the Government to create an independent and authoritative body to facilitate this. In addition, the Treasury should seriously question whether taxpayers' money is used in ways most likely to reduce future crime and victimisation, and develop a longer-term strategy for the use of resources in this manner.

Details: London: The Stationery Office Limited, 2014. 211p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2016 at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmjust/307/307.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmjust/307/307.pdf

Shelf Number: 138482

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Criminal Justice Policies
Criminal Justice Reform
Re-Offending

Author: Mello, Steven

Title: Police and Crime: Evidence from COPS 2.0

Summary: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act increased funding for the Department of Justice's local police hiring (COPS) grant program from $20 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2009 and over $150 million annually in 2010-2012. Among grant winners, program rules generate quasi-random variation in the timing of grant-induced police increases. I leverage this variation to overcome simultaneity bias and estimate the causal effect of police on crime. Event study and instrumental variables estimates suggest that police added by the program resulted in large and statistically significant declines in robberies, larcenies, and auto thefts. I find evidence that these crime reductions are achieved through deterrence rather than incapacitation. Under conservative assumptions, the program's costs outweigh its benefits, but the program is easily cost-effective under more generous assumptions about its crime effects or associated stimulus benefits. The results highlight that police hiring grants may offer higher benefit-cost ratios than other job creation programs.

Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University - Department of Economics, 2016. 64p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 1, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2812701

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2812701

Shelf Number: 139936

Keywords:
Crime Deterrence
Crime Reduction
Police Effectiveness
Policing

Author: Bondurant, Samuel R.

Title: Substance Abuse Treatment Centers and Local Crime

Summary: In this paper we estimate the effects of expanding access to substance-abuse treatment on local crime. We do so using an identification strategy that leverages variation driven by substance abuse-treatment facility openings and closings measured at the county level. The results indicate that substance-abuse-treatment facilities reduce both violent and financially motivated crimes in an area, and that the effects are particularly pronounced for relatively serious crimes. The effects on homicides are documented across three sources of homicide data.

Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2016. 41p.

Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper 22610: Accessed September 7, 2016 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22610.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22610.pdf

Shelf Number: 147857

Keywords:
Crime Reduction
Homicides
Substance Abuse Treatment
Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities
Violent Crime

Author: Fleming, Jennie

Title: 'Evidence-informed Policing: An Introduction to EMMIE and the Crime Reduction Toolkit'. A Pilot Training Evaluation

Summary: In March 2013, the Cabinet Office launched the 'What Works Network', a nationally co-ordinated initiative aimed at positioning the research evidence on 'what works' at the centre of public policy decision-making, developed in a political environment increasingly amenable to the idea of evidence-based decision-making, particularly in the context of 'austerity' and cost effectiveness. Currently there are seven research centres focusing on six key areas of public policy, intended to build on existing models of delivering evidence-based policy - such as the well-established and well-funded National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). For some years now, the College of Policing (the College) and its predecessor the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) have been promoting the importance of research evidence to inform practice in policing and crime reduction. The College Five Year Strategy (2014a) outlines its intentions to promote understanding of 'what works' in policing and use this understanding to set standards and enable members to share knowledge and evidence around 'what works' (College of Policing, 2014a). Within a context of austerity and changing policing demands (e.g. Brain & Owens, 2015; http://www.college.police.uk/Documents/COP_infographic.pdf) the College is promoting 'professionalisation' of police. As part of achieving many of the aforementioned aims, the 'What Works Centre for Crime Reduction' (WWCCR) was established in 2013 to develop a strong evidence base for decision-making around crime reduction. It is led by the College and supported by a Commissioned Partnership Programme (CPP). A key component of the WWCCR programme is the development and piloting of a Police Development Programme (Work Package 6/7) to enable police officers to appraise and use evidence to inform their decision-making. The purpose of the current research was, therefore, to design, pilot and evaluate the implementation of a police development training programme to develop officers' theoretical and practical understanding of evidence-informed approaches, equip them with the skills required to use evidence to inform their decision-making and support them to appraise evidence and commission research (Hereafter referred to as 'Evidence-based Policing': EBP3 ). See Fleming, Fyfe & Wingrove (2016a) for an overview of the design methodology and the training programme outline. This report focuses on the evaluation of the pilot training programme. The main objective of the evaluation of the pilot training was to assess and understand trainee reaction and to note aspects of learning following training. The following research questions were addressed: - To what extent do police officers/staff respond positively to EBP? - To what extent do police officers/staff believe EBP training will enhance their role? - To what extent does the training enable police officers/staff to use the Crime Reduction Toolkit?

Details: London: College of Policing, 201. 101p.

Source: Internet Resource: What Works Centre for Crime Reduction Work Package 7 Final Report : Accessed May 3, 2018 at: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/About/Documents/EIP_pilot_evaluation.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/About/Documents/EIP_pilot_evaluation.pdf

Shelf Number: 150038

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Evidence-Based Polilcing
Evidenced-Based Practices
Police Effectiveness
Policing Training

Author: Fleming, Jennie

Title: Evidence-informed Policing: The Design of a Pilot Training Programme

Summary: In March 2013 the Cabinet Office launched the 'What Works Network', a nationally co-ordinated initiative aimed at positioning the research evidence on 'what works' at the centre of public policy decision-making. Currently there are seven research centres1 focusing on six key areas of public policy. These 'research hubs' are intended to build on existing models of delivering evidence-based policy - such as the well-established and well-funded National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This provides independent evidence-based guidance to the NHS and health professionals about the targeting of funding and the most effective ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease and ill health. The What Works centres are being developed in a political environment increasingly amenable to the idea of evidence-based decision-making, particularly in the context of 'austerity' and cost effectiveness. Government White Papers (e.g. Cabinet Office, 2011; HM Government, 2012) assert a government commitment to scrutiny and transparency across departments, and initiatives are in place which aim to facilitate access to government administrative data for the purposes of research and evaluation (Mulgan and Puttick, 2013; UK Administrative Data Research Network, 2012). However, a recent report by the National Audit Office (NAO) (2013) suggests that these ambitions are not yet embedded in practice. The NAO's assessment of the frequency and quality of impact and cost-effectiveness evaluation across key government departments, and the use of such evidence to support resource allocation and policy development, highlighted a number of issues. These included a lack of robust impact evaluations, a lack of clarity in government decisions about what to evaluate and a failure to effectively apply learning from evaluative research.

Details: London: College of Policing, 2016. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: What Works Centre for Crime Reduction, Work Package 6 Final Report : Accessed May 3, 2018 at: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/About/Documents/EIP_pilot_design.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/About/Documents/EIP_pilot_design.pdf

Shelf Number: 150039

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Evidence-Based Polilcing
Evidenced-Based Practices
Police Effectiveness
Policing Training

Author: Ferreira, Leonardo Nogueira

Title: Do police reduce "crime"? An analysis through social disorder data

Summary: There is extensive literature that attempts to relate increased policing to the reduction of crime. The main difficulty is to isolate the causal effects of police presence on crime due to the clear endogeneity problem, since areas with higher crime rates tend to receive more police. However, in 2012, New York City experienced a completely exogenous raise in policing near some Jewish institutions after the occurrence of a terrorist attack in a Jewish school in Toulouse, in France. Using data from social disorder, we assessed whether the impact of increased policing was significant in regions that received more protection. Among the seven categories of incidents analyzed, drinking, noise and blocked driveways showed statistically significant reduction.

Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 26p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed Mary 23, 2018 at: https://lacer.lacea.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/53151/lacea2015_police_reduce_crime.pdf?sequence=1

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://lacer.lacea.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/53151/lacea2015_police_reduce_crime.pdf?sequence=1

Shelf Number: 150326

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Reduction
Policing
Social Disorder