NCJ Number
87921
Date Published
Unknown
Length
83 pages
Annotation
Selected papers from a 1979 conference sponsored by the Minnesota Crime Control Planning Board and the College of St. Thomas address both methodology and practical applications of research and evaluation programs, examining community corrections, cost-benefit analysis, battered women, rape laws, and computer-related crime.
Abstract
The first author explores validity and reliability issues, concluding that problems are rooted in the structure of quasi-experimental designs, the instability of programs being evaluated, and the lack of rigor and precision in evaluation measures. Other presentations concerning methodology outline the steps in a cost-benefit analysis applied to criminal justice projects, detail an evaluability assessment model (which is prerequisite to any substantive evaluations), and discuss the benefits of routinizing evaluations in corrections. The section on applications of State research programs begins with a report on the progress and benefits of Minnesota's mandatory reporting system on battered women. The next paper focuses on the experience of the rape victim in the criminal justice system and the effect of recent rape law reforms on the adjudication of sexual assault cases. Classical and recent studies that use the twin or adoption strategies of research in behavioral genetics to investigate the genetic contributors to antisocial behavior are surveyed, followed by an overview of computer-related crime which details characteristics of such crimes, environmental and personal influences on the computer criminal, and prevention tactics. The final presentation describes the relationship between certain demographic variables and successful program completion in five community corrections programs for adult offenders. References accompany all papers. For individual papers, see NCJ-87922-23.