NCJ Number
81177
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape presents the major exercise debriefing of LEAA's Criminal Justice Analysis course. This course concentrates on the specification of crime and system problems using basic statistical and other analytical tools.
Abstract
The major exercise provides the analyst an opportunity to develop and present an original problem statement involving one of three current issues in criminal justice: community crime prevention, attrition in case dispositions, or recidivism among adult offenders. Tasks 1 and 2 of this exercise are to specify the problem and assess hypotheses proposed as possible causes of the problem. The debriefing focuses on the substantive, procedural, and technical aspects of these tasks. It is designed to make students understand the nature of a good problem statement, a concept, a hypothesis, and variables and measures. It shows how specification is used to elaborate a concern into understandable and testable propositions. The exercise uses an imaginary jurisdiction, Chaos City, to focus on the crime problem and provide a base for students' hypotheses. See NCJ 81170 for the instructor's guide and related material. For other videotaped sessions, see NCJ 81171-6, 81178-82, and 81186.