NCJ Number
84559
Date Published
Unknown
Length
83 pages
Annotation
Nine papers illustrate the kinds of topics being addressed and the quality of work being done in criminal justice research and evaluation. They discuss research methods (i.e., cost-benefit analysis) and applications (to rape victims in court, computer crime, antisocial behavior, etc.).
Abstract
One paper examines problems related to the reliability and validity of evaluation research, with emphasis on evaluations of community corrections projects and correctional treatment programs. Another describes the purpose, applications, and steps of cost-benefit analysis in criminal justice projects. Others explain evaluability assessments with respect to their rationale and the process by which they are undertaken and nature and use of routine evaluations in corrections. The rape victim's experience in the criminal justice system is examined, together with the ways in which recent rape reforms affect the adjudication of sexual assault cases and the victim's treatment in court. An explanation of the use of studies of twins and adopted persons in investigations of genetic and biological factors in antisocial behavior is accompanied by a summary of some of the classical and recent twin and adoption studies related to behavioral genetics. A study of the relationship between certain demographic variables and successful completion of community corrections programs in Hennepin County (Minnesota) found that education had the strongest independent relationship to successful completion. Computer criminals' motives and the reporting system on battered women in Minnesota are also discussed. Figures, tables, and references are included for some papers.