NCJ Number
73970
Editor(s)
M W Klein,
K S Teilmann
Date Published
1980
Length
678 pages
Annotation
This handbook offers 26 essays prepared by professionals in the fields of sociology, political science, psychology, economics, operations research, criminology, and law; these report on past styles of criminological research, current trends in methodology, recent statistical procedures, and data sources for evaluation purposes for both policymakers and students of research.
Abstract
The collection reflects a concern with conceptualizing criminal justice evaluation and a responsiveness to the diverse audiences of evaluation. It discusses the state-of-the-art of evaluation research, emphasizing three modes of analysis: the citation frequency count, the peer nomination, and the content analysis global ratings. Recent advances in evaluation methods are surveyed; it is noted that in criminal justice evaluation and evaluative research, theory currently lags far behind technology. Similarly, a review of recent statistical developments and their implications for criminal justice evaluation is presented, with particular reference to models with limited dependent variables, multiple-equation models, and time-series models. Further, sources of data often used in criminal justice evaluations are identified, and some commonly overlooked shortcomings of these useful resources are noted. Data sources discussed are the Uniform Crime Reports, victimization surveys, studies of self-reported delinquency and crime, the Uniform Parole Reports, and others. Also, illustrations of the interplay of theory, issues, policy, and data are included and imply that evaluations of criminal justice policies and practices tend to be of questionable use if not based on sound theory. Field experimentation in criminal justice -- its rationale and design -- are discussed, and the structures, uses, and problems of the multiattribute utility measurement for evaluation are elaborated. The handbook also presents an approach to evaluation that invokes the use of analytical models as an evaluative tool. Another essay discusses process evaluation, describes techniques (multivariate statistical techniques and time-series analysis),and examines cost-effectiveness analysis. The contribution to knowledge that can be made by evaluation studies -- their strategies, criteria, and findings -- are discussed; variations in criminal justice research designs are examined. Other essays focus on outcome variables in program evaluation, cost analysis, the status of self-report measures, the seriousness measure, and impact measures. Final essays emphasize substantive issues, including evaluations of female criminality, diversion programs, correctional systems, criminal justice legislation, and research utilization. Most essays supply references, notes, and tabular data; some include charts and figures. Author and subject indexes are provided. For individual articles, see NCJ 73972-90.