NCJ Number
85859
Date Published
Unknown
Length
82 pages
Annotation
Selected papers from the proceedings of a 1979 criminal justice research and planning conference address both research methods and actual evaluation projects conducted in Minnesota, covering areas such as community corrections programs, a data collection system on battered women, and computer related crime.
Abstract
The first four presentations focus on research methods, beginning with reliability and validity issues encountered in community corrections projects and correctional treatment programs. An outline of steps in a cost-benefit analysis for a criminal justice system project emphasizes that this method provides valuable feedback to decisionmakers and the public from an efficient resource allocation viewpoint. The next paper argues that an evaluability assessment -- a process to develop a conceptual model that explicitly defines what the program is believed to be -- is prerequisite to any evaluation. Also discussed are the benefits and methods of routinized evaluations in corrections. The second group of five papers address specific applications of evaluation research. The first describes Minnesota's mandatory data collection system on battered women and their use of emergency shelters. Using findings from a jury simulation research program, another presentation focuses on the experience of the rape victim in the criminal justice system and how recent legal reforms affect the adjudication of sexual assault cases and the victim's treatment in court. A review of classic and recent twin and adoption studies that attempt to assess the roles of genes and environment in the development of antisocial behavior suggests that delinquency behaves more like an infectious disease than a genetically conditioned trait. Another paper details two appraoches to categorizing the characteristics of computer-related crime, by crime type and the role of the computer. The concluding article examines the relationship between demographic variables such as education, race, age, and prior criminal activities and successful program completion in five community corrections programs for adult offenders in Hennepin County, Minn. Most papers contain references and tables.