NCJ Number
147514
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 282- 294
Date Published
1994
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Focusing on recent major sentencing reforms in Texas, this article reviews how criminal justice research that responds to the needs of policymakers can have a significant impact in informing and shaping public policy.
Abstract
The basic principle to understand about trying to integrate research into public policy is that coalition building and negotiations among interest groups are the essence of legislative policymaking in our democracy. In Texas, policy research by the Criminal Justice Policy Council was a critical element in the development and adoption of a new sentencing system. The Council studied a large sample of offenders receiving felony deferred adjudication or a felony sentence in seven major metropolitan counties in Texas between January and September 1991. The Texas experience demonstrates that researchers who want to be effective in the area of public policy must use judgment to synthesize massive amounts of data into a contextual framework useful for informing policymakers. Figure and 17 references (Author abstract modified)