NCJ Number
229397
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 5 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 472-484
Date Published
December 2009
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This British study examined the potential role of criminologists in contributing to the public debate on crime and criminal justice, based on a survey of the impact of communicating factual information on crime and criminal justice through a specific newspaper column.
Abstract
Based on the findings of this research, the author suggests that criminologists should contribute to information in the public sphere as an end in itself, functioning in their unique role in sharing stories of complexity, uncertainty, dilemmas, and normative problems associated with crime and criminal justice. This is criminologists' distinctive role in enabling and supporting evidence-based policy, and it makes government officials and politicians more accountable. In order to fulfill this role effectively criminologists must tell interesting and compelling stories that are appropriate and relevant. They must develop the communication skill that enables them to present complex and subversive stories that make sense to the different 'publics' they intend to address. This recommendation derived from the main research findings of the Crime Scene Study, an experimental intervention designed to determine the impact of communicating factual information on crime and criminal justice through a newspaper column. A local newspaper published weekly columns, 800 words long, written by the author of this article. The column was linked to locally relevant themes and stories, continuing in the Oxford Times for 6 months. In the Oxford Public Opinion Survey, 3,145 questionnaires were sent to a random sample of Oxford residents selected through the electoral roll, 2,079 prior to and 1,066 after the experimental intervention. Semistructured interviews with survey respondents who reported reading the Oxford Times were intended to lead to a better understanding of the processes of interest or lack of interest in the newspaper column. 5 notes and 41 references