Notifying Sexual Assault Victims When Evidence Is Tested
Interview with Dr. Noël Busch-Armendariz, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Watch Dr. Noël Busch-Armendariz discuss what Houston is learning about the role of notifying sexual assault victims when their rape kits are DNA-tested. In talking about the nationwide implications of the Houston action-research project, Dr. Busch-Armendariz says that the nation is ready to move beyond a focus solely on kit-testing to the larger discussion of how to tackle the complicated issue of sexual assault.
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The Importance of Victim Cooperation in Solving Sexual Assaults
Interview with Dr. Bill Wells, Ph.D., Sam Houston State University
Watch Bill Wells discuss the problem of unsubmitted sexual assault kits in Houston, including some lessons learned to-date. Dr. Wells also talks about the crucial role of victim cooperation in solving sexual assault cases and the Houston Police Department's hiring of a justice advocate to improve investigations.
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Consequences of a Prison Record for Employment: How Do Race, Ethnicity & Gender Factor In?
Scientific studies have long documented the negative impact of a prison record on a person's ability to find employment. But what is the impact when gender and race/ethnicity are factored in? Also, most jobs are now advertised online — so how does this affect the ability of former prisoners to find a job?
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Consequences of a Prison Record for Employment
Dr. Decker gave a seminar in NIJ's Research for the Real World series about his research on the impact of race, gender and prison records on finding employment.
Before the seminar, we sat down with Dr. Decker for an interview to discuss his findings and their policy implications.
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"Sentinel Event" Review in the Criminal Justice System
Listen to James Doyle discuss the basics of a "sentinel event" review in the criminal justice system. This learning-from-error approach borrows from principles that medicine, aviation and other high-risk enterprises have successfully used. Former NIJ Fellow Doyle offers the basics to understand this innovative idea that takes a system-wide perspective of error, bringing all stakeholders together in a non-blaming, forward-looking way after a bad outcome, such as a wrongful conviction, occurs.
Body Armor Video for Officers
Law Enforcement officers need proper equipment when they go to work. NIJ and National Law Enforcement Technology Center work together to ensure that body armor standards help officers do their jobs. A new video is available for officers.
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Body Armor Video for Procurement
When it comes to saving an officer's life, nobody can hold back. NIJ's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center has created a video that can help procurement officials find the right vest for the right officer.
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Why Is the United States the Most Homicidal Nation in the Affluent World?
Ohio State University Since World War II, the homicide rate in the U.S. has been three to ten times higher than in Canada, Western Europe, and Japan. This, however, has not always been the case. What caused the dramatic change? Dr. Roth discussed how and why rates of different kinds of homicide have varied across time and space over the past 450 years, including an examination of the murder of children by parents or caregivers, intimate partner violence, and homicides among unrelated adults.
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Second Chance Act: What Have We Learned About Reentry Programs So Far?
Interview with Ron D'Amico, Social Policy Research Associates. Offender reentry into the community is a pressing social problem. The number of inmates released every year from the nation's prisons increased fourfold over the past three decades.
Since the Second Chance Act (SCA) was passed in 2008, more than $250 million has been awarded to government agencies and non-profits for programs to help offenders successfully reenter society. NIJ is doing an in-depth study of 10 sites to determine the effectiveness of these reentry programs.
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Erroneous Convictions in Criminal Justice
Interview with Jon Gould, Ph.D., Director of the Washington Institute for Public and International Affairs Research, American University.
Dr. Gould discusses:
- Bottom line findings from the study "Predicting Erroneous Convictions: A Social Science Approach to Miscarriages of Justice"
- Ten statistically significant factors related to wrongful convictions
- The role of systemic error and tunnel vision
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Wrongful Convictions: The Latest Scientific Research & Implications for Law Enforcement
What does science tell us about case factors that can lead to a wrongful conviction? Dr. Jon Gould of American University will discuss the findings of the first large-scale empirical study that has identified ten statistically significant factors that distinguish a wrongful conviction from a "near miss." (A "near miss" is a case in which an innocent defendant was acquitted or had charges dismissed before trial). Following Dr. Gould's presentation, Mr. John R.
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Community Policing Strategies for Countering Violent Extremism
February 2013
Interview with David Schanzer, J.D., Associate Professor, Duke University and Director, Triangle Center of Terrorism and Homeland Security
Mr. Schanzer discusses his study of community policing strategies for countering violent extremism. Schanzer points out that there is a wide variety of terrorist ideologies from religious, to environmental, to economic. He is hoping to discover if particular community policing strategies are more effective in countering certain types of terrorism and building resilience against extremism.
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Empirical Assessment of Domestic Radicalization
Interview with Gary Ackerman, Director for Special Projects, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland
Mr. Ackerman is conducting an empirical assessment of domestic radicalization, with an emphasis on the process of radicalization. In this interview, Ackerman explains how he is using large empirical analysis and small scale life study analysis to discover which factors might cause an individual to make the leap from illegal terrorist behavior to violent terrorist behavior.
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Lone Wolf Terrorism in America
Interview with Mark Hamm, Ph.D., Indiana State University
Dr. Hamm is studying lone wolf terrorism in the United States and how such terrorists become radicalized. In this interview, Hamm explains the difference between mass violence and terrorism and discusses the ways in which many lone wolf terrorists use public forums to broadcast their intent to commit terrorist acts.
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Slow Down, Move Over — Public Service Announcement
More law enforcement officers die each year in traffic incidents than from any other cause, including shootings. Many of these deaths occur on the roadside as officers perform their duties. This public service announcement reminds drives to slow down and move over when they see a public safety responder on the side of the road. This video was produced by Respondersafety.com with funding from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, and United States Fire Administration, Department of Homeland Security.
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Terrorism Research Before and After 9/11
In this interview conducted at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Conference 2011, Gary LaFree, Ph.D., Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism, University of Maryland, discusses the state of domestic and transnational terrorism research in the social and behavioral sciences prior to and following September 11, 2011.
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CrimeSolutions Can Be Used to Help Address Problems in Your Community
Learn about CrimeSolutions, a site that uses rigorous research to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. Captured in the videos are scenarios of how the site can be of use to justice professionals and practitioners who are working to address criminal activity in their communities. Also captured are testimonials from actual CrimeSolutions users, highlighting how the site has proven to be beneficial in meeting their needs.
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An Elder Abuse Study Impacts How Law Enforcement Work Their Cases
In this interview, Professor Aileen Wiglesworth, University of California, Irvine and Detective Cherie Hill of the Anaheim Police Department, discuss how research on elder abuse can impact how law enforcements pursue abuse cases.
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Director's Corner: Translational Criminology
Dr. Laub discusses fusing NIJ's dual mission through translational criminology, questions that guide NIJ's approach to translational criminology and the role of 'trust' in translational criminology.
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The Neurobiology of Sexual Assault: Implications for Law Enforcement, Prosecution, and Victim Advocacy
Dr. Campbell brings together research on the neurobiology of trauma and the criminal justice response to sexual assault. She explains the underlying neurobiology of traumatic events, its emotional and physical manifestation, and how these processes can impact the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults. Real-world, practical implications are examined for first responders, such as law enforcement, nurses, prosecutors, and advocates.
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Changing the Behavior of Drug-Involved Offenders: Supervision That Works
A small number of those who commit crimes are heavily involved in drugs commit a large portion of the crime in this country. An evaluation of a "smart supervision" effort in Hawaii that uses swift and certain sanctioning showed that individuals committing crimes who are heavily involved in drug use can indeed change their behavior when the supervision is properly implemented.
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What is the New Orleans Criminal Justice Leadership Alliance?
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Reforming New Orleans' Criminal Justice System: The Role of Data and Research
With its criminal justice system in disarray following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans invited the Vera Institute of Justice to examine the city's court and jail operations. For five years, Vera has been tracking arrest-to-first-appearance time, custodial arrests versus summonses, the granting of pretrial release, and many other decision-making points. Based on analysis of these data, Vera is making policy recommendations to assist with the implementation of new procedures and to ensure performance monitoring.
Healthy Officers Are Safer Officers: The Nexus Between Performance & Health
Moderator: Brett Chapman, Ph.D., NIJ Social Science Analyst.
Panelists:
- Ambassador John Miller, U.S. State Department
- Mark Montigny, Massachusetts State Senator
- Norma Hotaling, Founder of the SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) Project
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Using Random Forest Risk Prediction in the Philadelphia Probation Department
Watch two experts talk about developing a computerized system that successfully predicts — with a high degree of accuracy — which probationers are likely to violently reoffend within two years of returning to the community.
Drs. Barnes and Hyatt teamed up with the Philadelphia Adult Probation & Parole Department in an NIJ-funded project. Here they discuss:
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