Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:47 am
Time: 3:47 am
Results for research
1 results foundAuthor: Turner, Liz Title: Report 2: Literature Review Summary: 1) This literature review critically engages with the current body of knowledge about public confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). 2) A variety of indicators have been used to measure public confidence, including: - The general confidence measure (confidence in CJS effectiveness at bringing offenders to justice) - Questions about 'doing a good job' - Indices of confidence composed of multiple indicators - Questions about whether the CJS is 'dealing with crime' - Questions about satisfaction - Questions about what respondents anticipate would happen in a specific scenario Each of these could be considered appropriate in certain situations but it is important to recognise that they will all measure different things. 3) Quantitative research varies in terms of its power for making accurate generalisations to the population as a whole. It is important to treat findings from 'low power' surveys with caution. Quantitative explanations can be covertly derived - looking for associations between variables - or overtly derived - specifically asking respondents why they take a certain view. Overtly and covertly derived explanations each have advantages and disadvantages. 4) Qualitative research is useful to probe respondents own understandings of the meanings behind research concepts. It has been underused in confidence research and has a lot to offer in terms of increasing our understanding of the conditions underpinning how people become confident. 5) Existing confidence research often attempts to identify the 'drivers' of confidence. The term 'driver' comes from market research and may be hindering effective research into confidence by obscuring the complexity of confidence. It may be more useful to think in terms of the 'objects' and 'conditions' of confidence. 'Objects' are the components and attributes of CJS activity in which the public seek to have confidence and 'conditions' are the underlying conditions which will shape confidence. 6) The conditions underpinning confidence identified in the existing research can be divided into three categories: - Demographics - gender, ethnicity, age, socio-economic background - Underlying values and beliefs - on the state of society, on justice, on the service the CJS should provide - Information - personal experience, word of mouth, media, official information, environmental indicators Demographic factors affect confidence indirectly via the values and beliefs that people have and the information sources that they are subject to. Values and beliefs contribute to the normative expectations people have of the CJS. Information sources help to shape whether or not people anticipate that the CJS will match their normative expectations. 7) Existing research has identified a wide range of objects of confidence, that is things people expect the CJS to do and how they expect it to do them. These can be divided into three categories: - Principles - punishing offenders, striking an appropriate balance between victim and offender rights, focussing on the right kind of crimes and being fair to all - Functions - being there when needed, apprehending offenders, customer service, dealing with offenders - Results - controlling crime levels, keeping people safe, preventing reoffending, maintaining a pleasant local environment 8) What the CJS does and is seen to be doing emerges from the existing research as particularly important. The actions of the agencies and personnel of the CJS may have communicative qualities which are more reassuring to the public than information about crime statistics or the likelihood of becoming a victim. What the CJS is seen to be doing may, in effect, influence people's beliefs about the principles of the CJS and the results it is achieving. 9) Despite the wide range of research findings on what 'drives' confidence only a limited number of recommended solutions to increase confidence have been made. The most commonly recommended solution is to educate the public and correct their misperceptions by communicating better. Unfortunately the existing knowledge-base does not provide much specific guidance about how to do this. The techniques of ‘social marketing' have been cited as one way to change attitudes towards the CJS. However, social marketing is a branch of marketing concerned with changing people's behaviour in ways which are socially beneficial. Initiatives to improve confidence are not in the first instance aimed at altering behaviour, but rather altering an attitude. This brings into question whether techniques from social marketing can be effectively borrowed in order to increase confidence. 10) There are several areas of enquiry that it would be useful to pursue in order to produce a more sophisticated outcomes -focussed account of public confidence. These are: - Develop outcome-focussed indicators for confidence - Fully exploit the potential of qualitative research - Be sensitive to the importance of dominant discourses in structuring the way people talk about criminal justice - Explore the symbolic importance of CJS actions, as opposed to the results achieved through those actions - Understand the role of lay reasoning about what is effective in determining levels of confidence. Details: Newcastle upon Thyne, England: Newcastle University, 2007. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2019 at: https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/55086/F07F5519-90D9-4042-97C9-0F341D13579A.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/55086 Shelf Number: 156991 Keywords: Literature Review Public Attitudes Public Confidence Research |