Title: NIJ Journal (January 2001)
Series: Journal
Author: National Institute of Justice
Published: January 2001
Subject: Criminal justice system
61 pages
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NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE

Journal

January 2001

Policing In Indian Country
by Stewart Wakeling, Miriam Jorgensen, and Susan Michaelson

Human Trafficking: "Natasha's" Story
by Donna M. Hughes

Rural Alaskan Police Face High Turnover
by Darryl Wood

Winning Innovations in Criminal Justice
by Gail Christopher

and

At-A-Glance 

--Reducing Violence Against Indian Women
by Eileen Luna

--Vermonters Speak Out About Justice System

by John Doble with Judith Greene

---------------------------

Building Knowledge to Meet the Challenge of Crime and Justice

National Institute of Justice

The NIJ Journal is published by the National Institute of Justice, the research
arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, to announce the Institute's
policy-relevant research results and initiatives. The Attorney General has
determined that publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of
the public business required by law of the Department of Justice. 

Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of
Justice.

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Contact NIJ
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NIJ Journal Editorial Board

David Boyd, Deputy Director NIJ
Director, Office of Science and Technology

Sally T. Hillsman, Deputy Director NIJ
Director, Office of Research and Evaluation

Cheryl A. Crawford
Acting Director, Office of Development and Communications

Patrick M. Clark
A. Trent DePersia 
James O. Finckenauer 
A. Elizabeth Griffith 
Lee Mockensturm
Sharla P. Rausch
Gerald P. Soucy
Edwin Zedlewski

Editor
Jolene Hernon

Production by:
Palladian Partners, Inc.

Amy Benavides, Managing Editor
Catharine Rankin, Assistant Editor

---------------------------

Director's Message

This issue of the NIJ Journal brings three articles about the challenges 
of administering justice in Indian Country. In the cover story, Stewart Wakeling
and his colleagues at Harvard describe the results of their exploratory study of
policing practices on Indian reservations. As they explain the differences
between Indian Country and municipal policing, the authors focus on specific
problems faced by police departments in Indian Country and how Federal
policy has influenced these issues. The article also notes the benefits of
community policing in Indian Country.

Darryl Wood examines a situation often faced by law enforcement officers in
remote areas: high turnover rates. Wood looks specifically at factors that affect
turnover of officers in Alaska Native villages. He found that officers are more
likely to stay in the Village police officer program if they are grounded in the
Alaska Native culture, serve in their home villages, serve with other police
officers (either village police officers or tribal police), and if they are married.

In the third article, Eileen Luna reports findings from her evaluation 
of the effectiveness of grants to help prevent and respond to violence against
Indian women. This short article, found in the "At-A-Glance: Recent Research
Findings" section of the Journal, describes how the tribes used the grants to
improve coordination and training and enhance the focus on Native culture. The
result: improved enforcement and conviction. 

Donna Hughes looks at trafficking of women for use in the global sex industry.
Between 100,000 and 500,000 Ukrainian women were trafficked in the 1990's
alone. The United States is one of the recipient countries, and, as a result,
legislation was passed to help stop the importation of women. Hughes looks at
the factors feeding the need in the supplying countries, the extent of the problem
in the United States, and actions that the United States can take to further
eliminate the trafficking of women. 

Criminal justice organizations are continually adapting to new issues and
circumstances--such as human trafficking--and sometimes when they look at
these problems from a new angle, they find innovative ways to solve them. Gail
Christopher's article discusses different approaches to solving problems as
exhibited by the winners and finalists of the 2000 Innovations in American
Government Program. She describes the lessons learned from government
innovations, the value of collaboration, the vital need for flexibility, and the
importance of new information technologies.

---------------------------

Contents

features

--Policing on American Indian Reservations 
Stewart Wakeling, Miriam Jorgensen, and Susan Michaelson

--The "Natasha" Trade: Transnational Sex Trafficking 
Donna M. Hughes

--Police Turnover in Isolated Communities: The Alaska Experience 
Darryl Wood

--Creating Winning Innovations in Criminal Justice 
Gail Christopher

at-a-glance

--Recent Research Findings

o Protecting Indian Women From Domestic Violence 
Eileen Luna

o Misperceptions in Vermonters' Opinions 

John Doble with Judith Greene

departments

--Solicitations & Awards

--New & Noteworthy

--Events

The "Natasha" Trade

Trafficking of women for global prostitution rings has become an epidemic in
the former Soviet Union due to economic hardships and increased global
communication technologies. Ukranian women are currently the most sought
after nationality, and it is estimated that 100,000 to 500,000 of these women
were trafficked during the 1990's. The U.S., one of the recipient countries, has
passed recent legislation to help combat this growing situation. See "The
'Natasha' Trade: Transnational Sex Trafficking," page 8. Photo source:
PhotoDisc

Alaska's Native Police Turnover

Since the State's inception in 1959, Alaska Native police departments have had
extremely high officer turnover rates. A study of the factors associated with
attrition in rural Alaska Native villages found that officers are more likely to
remain in their positions if they are connected to the native culture, serve in their
home village, are not the sole officer in the village, and are married. See "Police
Turnover in Isolated Communities: The Alaska Experience," page 16. Photo
source: PhotoDisc

---------------------------

Policing on American Indian Reservations
by Stewart Wakeling, Miriam Jorgensen, and Susan Michaelson

about the authors

The authors are affiliated with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard 

University. Stewart Wakeling is a Fellow of the Program in Criminal Justice
Policy and Management. He can be reached at 617-495-5189 or at
iwake@pacbell.net. Miriam Jorgensen is Research Director of the Harvard
Project on American Indian Economic Development. She can be reached at
617-496-1071 or at Miriam_Jorgensen@harvard.edu. Susan Michaelson is
Assistant Director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
She can be reached at 617-495-5189 or at Susan_Michaelson@harvard.edu.

The authors' full report on policing on American Indian reservations, NIJ grant
number 95-IJ-CX-0086, is forthcoming in spring 2001 from NIJ. To obtain a
copy, see the "For More Information" section at the end of this article.

---------------------------

Policing in Indian Country is strikingly different from that of the municipal police
department with which most of us are familiar. 

Crime is increasing dramatically in Indian Country, but little is known about how
the unique context of Indian Country--the culture, geography, and economy, for 
example--affects law enforcement policies and practices. This article
summarizes the findings from the authors' exploratory report on policing on
American Indian reservations.

The superficial description of Indian Country law enforcement shows a rural
environment with rural-style policing. Imagine an area the size of Delaware, but
with a population of only 10,000, that is patrolled by no more than three police
officers and as few as one officer at any one time--a level of police coverage
that is much lower than in other areas of the country.[1] Most departments are
administered by tribes (through a contract between the tribe and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs [BIA]), but many are administered directly by BIA.

An important distinction is that these communities have a
"government-to-government" relationship with the United States.[2] Although
tribes control a narrower scope of policy than do nations such as Germany and
Brazil, they have significantly more scope for policymaking than do cities or
even U.S. States. Indian nations adopt constitutions for their societies, write
civil laws to regulate conduct and commerce within their territorial boundaries,
and enforce those laws with their own judicial systems. 

Another distinguishing feature of these communities is that they exhibit an
exceptionally wide variety of social and economic characteristics. Also, while
"American Indian" is a single race category on the U.S. Census, members of
one tribe can be as different from those of another tribe as citizens of Greece
are from citizens of Vietnam. Even so, most Indian nations face severe social
and economic problems. Despite new tribal opportunities, American Indians
remain the poorest minority in the United States.[3] 

Problems and Challenges

The threat of increasing crime, particularly violent crime, is especially
worrisome because we know far less than we would like about crime in Indian
Country. This stems from the unique culture, geography, and economics on
American Indian reservations; the limited administrative and technological
resources available to tribal police departments; inadequate coordination
between tribal and Federal agencies; and management problems common to
both tribal and BIA police departments. Even when it is possible to obtain
accurate tribal-level data, the prevalence and character of crime vary widely
from reservation to reservation. 

With this said, what do we know about the general prevalence, distribution, and
character of crime on reservations? 

--The intensity and range of problems that police departments in Indian Country
must respond to are increasing significantly.

--A growing number of reservation residents have settled in semi-urban
communities, and much of the crime on reservations occurs in these fairly 
dense areas. 

--Notwithstanding recent reports of dramatic increases in violent crime on
reservations, especially among youth, the crimes that most occupy police in
Indian Country are those that directly or indirectly relate to alcohol abuse. 

Moreover, departments in Indian Country face these challenges with 
a limited resource base. Existing data suggest that tribes have between 55 and
75 percent of the resource base available to non-Indian communities. However, 
the terms used in this comparison may underestimate the resource needs of
Indian Country departments. The appropriate police coverage (police officers
per thousand residents) comparison may not be between Indian departments
and departments serving communities of similar size, but between Indian
departments and communities with similar crime problems. 

Given that the violent crime rate in Indian Country is likely to be between
double and triple the national average,[4] comparable communities would be
large urban areas with high violent crime rates. For example, Baltimore (MD),
Detroit (MI), New York (NY), and Washington (DC) feature high
police-to-citizen ratios, from 3.9 to 6.6 officers per thousand residents.[5] Few,
if any, departments in Indian Country have ratios of more than 2 officers per
thousand residents.

In fact, this does not capture the severity or complexity of the challenges to
reservation policing. In the view of many researchers, policymakers, and police
professionals, there is a crisis in reservation policing. This research supports
such a conclusion. Among the problems that the authors and others have found
are that:

--High turnover and poor employee morale result in a lack of well-qualified and
experienced officers.

--Basic departmental management is flawed.

--Inadequate budgets, fiscal mismanagement, and even corruption create
serious obstacles to the effective delivery of important police services and
programs. 

--Undue political interference in police operations inhibits the ability of the
police to perform their duties in a fair and equitable manner and reduces the
credibility of the police in the eyes of the community.

A number of special reports, commissions, conferences, and blue-ribbon
committees have grappled with these problems and have responded with a
wide variety of recommendations and proposals. These include increased
funding, tightened management, clarification of ambiguous reporting
relationships, and better technology. Many of these responses are necessary
steps for improving policing in Indian Country, but they may treat the symptoms
rather than the disease.

Lessons From the Research

The authors argue that many of these issues are linked in important ways to
Federal policy. Certainly, there is strong evidence of long, cumulative, negative
effects of Federal policy on the practice of policing in Indian Country. 

The historical record shows how Federal policy created a system 
that served the interests of the U.S. Government and nontribal citizens and
failed to promote the ability of Indian nations to design and exert meaningful
control over their own policing institutions. 

However, there is a substantial body of research that suggests a road map for
understanding and beginning to remedy the problems with policing that are
rooted in Federal policy. 

Tribal Control of Institutions. Beginning in the 1970's, a handful of Indian
nations embarked on successful paths of social and economic development.
Research by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
(HPAIED) indicates that the common denominator among these successful
tribes was an effective government--one that was capable of both determining
and implementing the policy priorities of the community. 

One indicator of a tribal government's ability to effectively make and implement
decisions is whether it has adequate control over its own institutions.
Significantly, the research also indicates that an alignment between the form and
powers of a government's contemporary institutions and the form and powers
of its pre-reservation institutions is most likely to create this stability, respect,
and legitimacy. Yet that match is not typical: The U.S. Government created the
twentieth-century governments of most tribes, overriding indigenous 
institutions. 

In cases where tribes were fortunate enough to avoid imposed constitutions or
where, fortuitously, the imposed structure is well matched to pre-reservation
forms, tribes are performing well; but where the match is poor, tribes are 
struggling.[6] 

One important lesson from this research concerns the effect of increased tribal
control over tribal institutions. Only those tribes that have acquired meaningful
control over their governing institutions have experienced improvements in local
economic and social conditions. The research has not found a single case of
sustained economic development where the tribe is not in the driver's seat.
Although tribal-BIA relationships in thriving Indian nations range from
cooperative to contentious, they are all characterized by a demotion of the BIA 
(and of other Federal agencies) from decision maker to advisor and provider of
technical assistance. 

Federal policies that regulate Indian policing have the twin effects of reducing
tribal control and diffusing accountability for institutional performance. Tribes
regularly blame Federal agencies for the poor state of policing in Indian
Country; not only are the resources provided by Federal agencies inadequate,
but Federal policies are driven by a misreading of tribes' real needs and
priorities. On the other hand, representatives of Federal agencies express
skepticism about the ability and intention of tribes to develop and manage
effective police departments. In actuality, the very fact that power is shared
between tribal and Federal authorities allows each to avoid its more
appropriate role and, thus, to perpetuate poor policing. 

Cultural Match. The second relevant lesson for Indian policing from the
HPAIED research is the importance of cultural match. A consonance between
present and pre-reservation institutional forms confers legitimacy on the
methods and outcomes of government decision making and channels 
political energies in productive directions. 

How do the dynamics of cultural match play out in practical terms? The police
officer working for the Tohono O'odham in southern Arizona who aggressively
confronts a suspect will have offended longstanding tribal norms and will have
failed to draw on them in the service of obtaining the suspect's compliance. By
contrast, the police officer at Turtle Mountain in North Dakota who fails to
confront a suspect is guilty of the same errors. 

To the extent that the ethos of the organization in which these officers work
perpetuates such conflicts, both public support for and the effectiveness of the
organization are diminished. It is, however, important not to be naive about 
the possibilities. There are no guarantees that culturally legitimate institutions will
be effective in a contemporary setting. If old forms cannot be adapted to
modern problems, the challenge becomes to design a new one that both makes
cultural sense and works. 

The Possibilities for Community Policing

The growing body of experience and research on community policing is
remarkably congruent with the findings on effective governing institutions in
Indian Country. Community policing provides a framework that tribes might use 
to design and implement new, Native approaches to policing--approaches that
should improve the quality of policing in Indian Country and, further, do so in 
the context of tribal nation building. 

The broader definition of the police function also helps align police 
priorities and values with those of the community. For example, many tribal
citizens rely increasingly on their police departments to settle disputes, conflicts,
and problems that police themselves do not consistently treat as legitimate crime
problems. 

The overarching lesson of community policing is that if reservation police were
to pay attention to these problems, and if they utilized credible tribal
approaches as remedies, they would become more effective problem-solvers,
more respected by tribal citizens, and better able to prevent problems that
might otherwise escalate. 

For any given Indian nation, the systems that animate and guide policing--such
as the organizational structures of the police department, tribal personnel and
training systems, and local management information and control systems--can
be linked to a vision of policing shaped by that nation's beliefs, priorities, and
resources. Changing departmental policies and procedures is one
nuts-and-bolts way this linkage between policing systems and tribal priorities
might occur. 

Consider the dispatch function. Depending on a dispatcher's assessment of a
call, a local elder could accompany a responding officer; in many instances, the
officer might be there only to support the elder's authority (or vice versa). Such
an effort would lend credibility to the modern police function while showing
respect for important tribal traditions.[7]

With the support of the Federal Government, tribes must reconsider the
foundations of policing on American Indian reservations. The lessons drawn by
tribes, academics, and policymakers from the research on and accumulating
experience in community policing and the design of effective governing
institutions in Indian Country can productively inform the development of
Federal policy. This same evidence and experience provide the necessary
starting points for tribes as they rethink policing. 

Significantly, we do not recommend that Federal and tribal policymakers direct
their full attention and resources to increased funding for reservation police
departments, the development of new specialized crime-fighting task forces, or
improved technology. Without the core investment we describe, these efforts
will add little to the ability of Indian police departments and tribal communities
to address the problems they face. 

At the same time, we are not recommending that tribes reflexively resurrect
dormant pre-reservation methods of social control and policing, nor are we
giving a blanket endorsement to restorative justice. The challenge is to create
workable, nation-specific policing institutions and approaches informed by
traditional customs.

NCJ 186185

Notes

1. In actuality, however, substantial numbers of reservation residents live in
fairly dense communities that share attributes of suburban and urban areas.

2. Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General, "Department of Justice Policy on Indian
Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations With Indian Tribes,"
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Tribal Justice, Washington, DC, June 1,
1995, published in Federal Register 61(112)(June 10, 1996): 29424.

3. Pace, David, "Most Indians Haven't Benefited From Casino Boom,"
Associated Press, September 1, 2000 (http://wire.ap.org); and Cornell,
Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt, Matthew Krepps, and Jonathan Taylor, "American
Indian Gaming Policy and Its Socio-Economic Effects," Report to the National
Gaming Impact Study Commission, Cambridge, MA: The Economics Resource
Group, July 1998
(http://www.ncai.org/indianissues/TribalGaming/NGISCRept.pdf).

4. Greenfeld, Lawrence A., and Steven K. Smith, "American Indians and
Crime," U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington,
DC, February 1999, p. 2. 

5. These rates were calculated from 1996 data found in Table 1.28 (p. 39) and
Table 3.118 (pp. 276-281) in Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook 
of Criminal Justice Statistics--1997, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Justice, 1998.

6. This point is based on research by Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt,
especially "Where Does Economic Development Really Come From?
Constitutional Rule Among the Contemporary Sioux and Apache," Economic
Inquiry 33(July 1995): 402-426.

7. We emphasize that community policing is not only a set of tactics (such as
foot patrol) but also a process by which police partner with communities.

---------------------------

Methodology

This research project was conducted by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy
and Management and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic
Development, two research programs affiliated with the Malcolm Wiener Center
for Social Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of
Government. 

The study began with a literature review and visits to several Indian police
departments and the Indian Police Academy in New Mexico. A two-part survey
was distributed to Indian police departments, and intensive site visits were made
to four reservations. 

In selecting study sites, the authors chose Indian nations that varied on as many
relevant dimensions as could be captured in a small sample. The four nations
selected were the Tohono O'odham and the Gila River Indian Community (both
in Arizona), the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Indian Reservation (in Montana), and the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort
Berthold Reservation (in North Dakota). 

The authors studied these reservation departments and the tribal contexts in
which they operate in order to gain a richer understanding of the diverse and
complex ways in which Native communities cope with policing challenges.

---------------------------

For More Information

--Copies of the full report upon which this article is based will be available in
spring 2001. Watch the NIJ Web page for an announcement of its availability.

--Visit the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied.

---------------------------

The "Natasha" Trade: Transnational Sex Trafficking
by Donna M. Hughes

about the author

Donna M. Hughes holds the Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed
Chair at the University of Rhode Island. She is a research partner in the
Ukrainian-U.S. Research Partnership, which is cosponsored by the National
Institute of Justice and the Ukrainian Academy of Law. This article is based in
part on work performed for NIJ grant 98-WT-VX-0032 and in part on 
the article "The 'Natasha' Trade: The Transnational Shadow Market of
Trafficking in Women," Journal of International Affairs, 53(2) (Spring 2000).
She can be reached at 401-874-5150 or dhughes@uri.edu.

---------------------------

Trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a
shadow market valued at US $7 billion annually. Women are trafficked to,
from, and through every region in the world. This highly profitable trade poses a
relatively low risk compared with trades in drugs or arms. The moneymakers are
transnational networks of traffickers and pimps who prey on women seeking
employment and opportunities. These illegal activities and related crimes not only
harm the women involved; they also undermine the social, political, and 
economic fabric of the nations where they occur.

Countries with large sex industries create the demand for women; countries
where traffickers easily recruit women provide the supply. For decades, the
primary sending countries were in Asia. But the collapse of the Soviet Union
opened up a pool of millions of women from which traffickers can recruit.
Former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine
have become major suppliers of women to sex industries all over the world. In
the sex industry today, the most popular and valuable women are from Russia
and Ukraine. 

This article focuses on the trade originating in Ukraine. It examines the scope of
the problem, the factors that create a climate ripe for trafficking, the methods
traffickers use, and the people who profit from the trade in women and girls. It
concludes with some strategies to address the problem of trafficking and
discusses the role that policymakers, researchers, and law enforcement officers
in the United States can play.

Scope of the Problem

It is difficult to know how many women have been trafficked for sexual
exploitation. The trade is secretive, the women are silenced, the traffickers are
dangerous, and not many agencies are counting. Also, the word "trafficking"
does not have a universal meaning, resulting in different estimates depending on 
the definition used. This article uses the following definition:

--Trafficking is any practice that involves moving people within and across local
or national borders for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Trafficking may be the
result of force, coercion, manipulation, deception, abuse of authority, initial
consent, family pressure, past and present family and community violence,
economic deprivation, or other conditions of inequality for women and
children.[1]

This definition accepts that trafficking occurs even if the woman consents, which
is consistent with the 1949 United Nations convention prohibiting it. Narrower
definitions of trafficking require acts of violence or coercion. 

Exact numbers are unknown, but international agencies and governmental
bodies estimate that each year over 1 million women and girls are trafficked for
sexual exploitation in sex industries. 

In the last decade, hundreds of thousands of women have been trafficked from
Central and Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union into
prostitution throughout the world. The U.S. State Department estimates that
50,000 to 100,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States
each year for labor or sexual exploitation, primarily from Southeast Asia, the
Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.[2]

The Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior estimated last year that 100,000
Ukrainian women were trafficked during the previous decade. The International
Organization for Migration estimated the number to be four to five times higher.
Popular destination countries include Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the
United States, and Yugoslavia. Large numbers of Ukrainian women are
trafficked into Korea to be used as prostitutes near military bases. In some parts
of the world, such as Israel and Turkey, women from Russia and other former
Soviet republics are so prevalent that prostitutes are called "Natashas."

Climate for Trafficking 

The growth of shadow economies and criminal networks in the Newly
Independent States of the former Soviet Union arises from expanding
economic, political, and social transnational linkages increasingly beyond local
and state control. Members of organized crime rings establish contacts with
collaborators in diaspora communities and work within migrating populations to
build criminal networks. Increased migration also serves as a cover for
traffickers transporting women.

Privatization and liberalization of markets have created wider and more open
marketplaces. Computer technologies also have enabled the increased volume
and complexity of international financial transactions, increasing opportunities for
transnational crime and decreasing the probability of detection. This
technological aspect of globalization allows money gained through trafficking in
women to be transferred and laundered.

In the former Soviet Union, the state economy didn't supply the goods and
services the public needed or wanted. The shadow economy began to meet
those demands decades before the collapse of communism. When the Soviet
political and economic system weakened and collapsed, existing organizations
leaped to fill the vacuum. Privatization allowed previously illegal markets to
operate legally and expand, but they retained their business methods, which
were based on corruption and protection schemes. The independent states that
emerged lacked organized and efficient regulatory agencies to hinder the growth
of crime networks. 

In Ukraine, people who were no longer able to support themselves with one
salary or who weren't being paid for long periods sought additional work. But
the only jobs available were in the privatized criminal businesses. The result has
been a criminalization of the economy in general and an expansion of organized
criminal networks. By 1995, the shadow economy accounted for 50 percent of
Ukraine's gross domestic product. 

Transnational trafficking of women from the former Soviet Union had its
beginnings during perestroika in the mid-1980's, when international travel
restrictions were eased. The disintegration of the Soviet Union opened borders
for travel, migration, and privatized trade, all of which facilitated the operations
of criminal networks. Transnational crime networks from the Newly Independent
States organized to meet the demand for women to be used in brothels, massage
parlors, bars, and street prostitution in receiving countries. 

Strategies and Tactics 

Hundreds of trafficking victims have recounted their experiences 
to nongovernmental organizations, reporters, and police. Although individual
variations exist, the themes of manipulation and violence from the traffickers and
further persecution by police appear repeatedly.

--Irina, aged 18, responded to an advertisement in a Kyiv, Ukraine, newspaper
for a training course in Berlin, Germany, in 1996. With a fake passport, she
traveled to Berlin, where she was told that the school had closed. She was sent
on to Brussels, Belgium, for a job. When she arrived, she was told she needed
to repay a debt of US $10,000 and would have to earn the money in
prostitution. Her passport was confiscated, and she was threatened, beaten, and
raped. When she didn't earn enough money for the first pimp, she was sold to
another pimp who operated in Brussels' red light district. When she escaped
with police assistance, she was arrested because she had no legal
documentation. A medical exam verified the abuse she had suffered, such
as cigarette burns all over her body.[3]

Lena, aged 21, was recruited by a woman who said her daughter was working
in Greece and making a lot of money. When Lena arrived in Greece, her
passport was taken away and she was put into a small room in a brothel,
guarded by two dogs. She was sold in prostitution each night from 9 in the
evening until 6 in the morning. When she escaped and returned to Mykolayiv,
she had US $55.[4]

--Tatyana, aged 20, is from a small town in Lugansk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine.
She could not find a job there because the economy is very poor and the
factories are closed. A friend of her mother's told her that she could earn US
$4,000 a month working as a maid for a rich family in the United Arab
Emirates. When she arrived, her passport was taken and she was sold to a
brothel for US $7,000 and forced into prostitution to repay the purchase and
travel costs. When she escaped and went to the police for help, she was
arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison for working in a brothel.[5]

In addition, a number of trafficking rings have been uncovered, revealing the
tactics, financial rewards, and transnational reach of such networks.

--In March 1999 in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, two men and a woman were
arrested for selling 200 Ukrainian women and girls, aged 13 to 25, for the sex
industry in Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. The traffickers received US $2,000 for
each woman. The women were held in debt bondage until they repaid their
expenses. If they complained, their debt was tripled.[6]

In Poland, 70 percent of the Ukrainian women in the sex industry are
monitored at all times by guards. The women are sold from one agency to
another for US $4,500 to $11,000, and each time the woman incurs a debt that
must be repaid.[7]

In September 1999, a psychology teacher from Cherkasy, Ukraine, was
charged with being head of an international trafficking ring that sold young
Ukrainian women into the sex industry in the United Arab Emirates. Along with
criminals from Kazakhstan, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, she promised
30 young women jobs as dancers, waitresses, or domestic servants, and then
sold them to buyers in the sex industry.[8]

Recruitment Methods

Sex industries use up women--both physically and emotionally--necessitating
regular fresh supplies of women, which keeps trafficking profitable. Recruiters,
traffickers, and pimps have developed common operating methods. One
strategy is advertisements in newspapers offering lucrative job opportunities in
foreign countries for low-skilled jobs, such as waitresses and nannies. Some
advertisements promise good salaries to young, attractive women who will
work as dancers and hostesses. An estimated 20 percent of trafficked women
are recruited through advertisements.

Another method of recruitment is through "marriage agencies," sometimes called
mail-order bride agencies or international introduction services. According to a
report by the International Organization for Migration, all mail-order bride
agencies with women from the former Soviet Union are under the control of
organized crime networks.[9] Recruiters use "marriage agencies" to contact
women who are eager to travel or emigrate.

But the most common way for Ukrainian women to be recruited is through a
friend or acquaintance who gains the woman's confidence. "Second
wave" recruiting occurs when a trafficked woman returns home to draft other
women. Once a woman has been trafficked and trapped in the sex industry, she
has few options. One of the few means of escaping the brutality of being forced
to have sex with multiple men each day is to move from victim to perpetrator. 

Entrapment in Prostitution

Whatever the recruitment method, the majority of women do not expect the
sexual exploitation and violence that await them. After a woman has reached
the destination country, the trafficker or pimp tells her that she is not going to
work as a waitress, nanny, or whatever more agreeable opportunity was
offered, but will be in prostitution. The methods used to control women once
they reach the destination country include confiscation of travel documents,
violence, threats to harm family members, and debt bondage. 

Pimps in Western Europe and Israel can buy Russian or Ukrainian women for a
few hundred to a few thousand dollars, then make several thousand dollars from
them by selling them in prostitution. The women get to keep little, if any, of the
money. Women must repay their purchase price and travel and other expenses
before they are allowed to leave. A woman may be sold from one pimp to
another, at which time her debt starts all over again. Often, the only way out of
the sex industry is a police raid, which results in deportation. There are
indications that pimps, working with officials, tip off police on the whereabouts 
of a woman just about the time that woman has earned enough money to leave,
resulting in the woman being arrested and deported and the pimps keeping the
money.

Even when women know they will be in prostitution, their expectations are
usually far from the reality. One woman who knew she would have 
to engage in prostitution thought it would be like the film "Pretty Woman,"
where one man would support her.[10] Women don't realize the lack of control
they will have, the level of the violence that will be used against them, and the
small percentage of money they will receive. 

According to Narcisa Escaler, Deputy Director General of the International
Organization for Migration:

--[M]any migrants are eager to escape poverty or political and social
insecurity, and are unaware or unmindful of the pitfalls of irregular migration. 
[I]n many instances, trafficked migrants are lured by false promises, misled by
misinformation concerning migration regulations, or driven by economic despair
or large-scale violence. In such cases, the migrant's freedom of choice is so
seriously impaired that the "voluntariness" of the transaction must be
questioned.[11]

The networks' tactics mimic those of slave traders. For example, in Milan, Italy,
in December 1997, police uncovered a gang that was auctioning women from
the former Soviet Union. The women were stripped partially naked, displayed,
and sold for an average price of US $1,000.[12] Traffickers and pimps also use
extreme violence to control their women and territory. In Italy, police report
that one woman in prostitution is murdered each month.[13] Women are
mutilated and murdered as warnings to competing traffickers and pimps and as
punishment for refusing to engage in prostitution. In two reported cases, women
who resisted were killed as an example to other women. In Istanbul, Turkey,
two Ukrainian women were thrown off a balcony and killed while six of their
Russian friends watched. In Serbia, a Ukrainian woman who resisted was
beheaded in public.[14]

Trafficked women get little assistance once they are under the control of
traffickers and pimps. In receiving countries, they are treated as criminals, either
as prostitutes or illegal immigrants.

Many people view the women as complicit in the trafficking, as immoral, or as
workers--a wide span of perspectives, all of which ignore the harm to the
victims and many of which blame the victims for the crimes committed against
them. Officials often minimize or deny the severity of the problem, the violence
and coercion used in trafficking, and the harm to victims. One official in Ukraine
was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "women's groups want to blow
this all out of proportion. Perhaps this was a problem a few years ago. But it's
under control now."[15]

Officials' acceptance of prostitution and trafficking exacerbates the problem.
According to Kateryna Levchenko, coordinator of La Strada-Ukraine,
"Complacency on the part of government and law enforcement officials is as
much to blame as financial difficulties [for facilitating recruitment]."[16] In Russia,
an undercover investigation by the Global Survival Network implicated
government officials in collaborating with trafficking networks.[17]

Profit and Corruption 

Once a woman is under the control of a trafficker or pimp, she can be exploited
to make a large profit. Pimps can make 5 to 20 times as much from a woman
as they paid for her. An International Organization for Migration study of
women trafficked into Germany found that the trafficker or pimp requires a
payment of US $3,000 to $30,000 from a woman for her travel expenses and
her purchase price. Then she must pay for her room and board in the brothel as
well as the pimp's fees, lawyer's fees, doctor's fees, and sometimes private 
living expenses. Even after a woman has paid off her debt, she must turn over
50 to 75 percent of her earnings to pimps. 

--The Kyiv Post reported that a Ukrainian woman in a massage parlor owned
by a Russian in Silver Spring, Maryland, was allowed to keep only 30 percent
of the US $70 price for a massage. If she wanted more money, she had to
engage in prostitution for tips.[18]

--Le Monde reported that during a 3-month stay in Germany on a tourist visa, a
woman can make US $20,000 for a pimp, according to German police. An
Eastern European woman can earn more than that for a pimp or trafficker in
Japan, where Eastern European women are considered exotic.

--Le Monde further reported that Oksana Ryniekska, a Ukrainian doctor,
operated a brothel with non-English speaking women from Eastern Europe in
Essex, UK, for 8 months before she was arrested. During that time she made
more than US $210,000.[19]

The money made from the sexual exploitation and enslavement of trafficked
women enriches transnational criminal networks. According to Michael Platzer,
of the United Nations Center for International Crime Prevention, trafficking in
women has one of the highest profit margins and lowest risks for criminal groups
in Eastern Europe. Mikhail Lebed, chief of criminal investigations for the
Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, told the Kyiv Post, "It is a human tragedy, but
also, frankly, a national crisis. Gangsters make more money from these women
in a week than we have in our law enforcement budget for the whole year."[20]

The corruption of officials through bribes and the collaboration of criminal
networks with government officials enable traffickers to operate. In Russia, the
Global Survival Network found evidence of government collaboration in the
Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service, and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.[21] As the influence of criminal networks deepens, the corruption goes
beyond occasionally ignoring illegal activity to providing protection by blocking
legislation that would hinder the groups' activities. As law enforcement personnel
and government officials become more corrupt and criminals gain more
influence, the line between the state and the criminal networks starts to blur,
making it difficult to intervene in the succession of corruption, collaboration,
crime, and profit.

Trafficking in women brings prosperity neither to individual women nor to the
communities the women come from. The money the criminal networks make is
laundered through bank accounts of criminal bosses in financial centers, such as
the United States and Western Europe or in offshore accounts. 

In Israel, for instance, organized crime groups from the former Soviet Union
invested profits from trafficking in women, along with other illegal activities, into
legitimate businesses. Between 1990 and 1995, some US $2.5 to $4 billion
had been invested in Israeli banks and another US $600 million had been
invested in real estate.[22]

Moreover, trafficking in women has been found to be part of broader
transnational criminal schemes. From early 1998 until mid-1999, US $10 billion
was laundered through the Bank of New York. The account belonged to
Ukrainian-born crime boss Semion Mogilevich, who the FBI and Israeli
intelligence reported was involved in prostitution, weapons and drug trafficking, 
and investment scams. According to one source, Mogilevich headed 
a large prostitution ring that operated in the nightclubs in Budapest and
Prague.[23] Mogilevich's crime network operated in the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Ukraine, and the United States.[24] 

Strategies for Change

Although trafficked women can be found almost anywhere, the destinations for
most trafficked women are countries and cities where there are large sex
industry centers and where prostitution is legal or widely tolerated. Legalization
of prostitution, pimping, and brothels causes an increase in trafficking to meet
the demand created by a legitimized sex industry. 

Most approaches to the problem of trafficking have focused on the sending
countries. In the former Soviet Union, prevention education projects are aimed
at potential victims of trafficking, and nongovernmental organizations have
established hotlines for victims or women seeking information about the risks of
accepting job offers abroad. 

Less attention is focused on curtailing demand. For example, in 1998 
a Training Program to Combat Trafficking of Women from Ukraine was held in
New Jersey, where hundreds of Ukrainian women have been trafficked into
strip clubs and massage parlors. Twenty representatives from Ukraine
government ministries, law enforcement, social services, the media, and
nongovernmental organizations attended. An INS agent told this audience, "This
is your problem that you are going to have to solve. It is like drugs--you have to
get at the root of the problem, which is overseas."[25] He ignored the possibility
for action against the illegal sex industry in the United States.

Legalized prostitution makes it difficult to hold traffickers accountable for their
activities. Traffickers evade prosecution by claiming that the women knew what
they were getting into, and prosecutors generally have a hard time establishing
the line between voluntary and forced prostitution. When prostitution is legal, the
prosecution's case depends upon proving that the woman did not consent.
Considering women's vulnerability in these slavelike circumstances and the fact
that some women do initially consent to travel or even to work as a prostitute,
such cases are much more difficult to prove. 

According to Michael Platzer, head of operations for the United Nations' Center
for International Crime Prevention, "The laws help the gangsters. Prostitution is
semi-legal in many places, and that makes enforcement tricky. In most cases
punishment is very light."[26] In the Plan of Action Against Traffic in Women
and Forced Prostitution for the Council of Europe, Michele Hirsch stated,
"where only forced prostitution is illegal, inability to prove constraint has
repeatedly led to international procurers being acquitted by the courts."[27]

In 1949, the U.N. General Assembly Convention for the Suppression 
of Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others stated
that "prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the
purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the
human person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the family, and 
the community" and that consent of the trafficked person is irrelevant to the
prosecution of the exploiter. Ukraine is a signatory to the Convention (1954), as
are the Russian Federation (1954), Belarus (1956), and Latvia (1992). The
Convention was not widely ratified and did not create a monitoring body, so
there has been no ongoing evaluation of its implementation or effectiveness. 

The Convention is under attack by those who favor legalized prostitution and
"consensual trafficking." The trend toward legalization of the sex industry and
definitions of trafficking that require proof of coercion or force will make 
conviction of traffickers even more difficult and will benefit transnational
criminal networks.

Another approach to ending trafficking is to intervene in the demand. In 1998,
Sweden passed a law that created a new offense: "gross violation of a woman's
integrity." Prostitution was included as a type of violence against women. The
"purchase of sexual services" is prohibited and is punishable by fines and/or
imprisonment up to 6 months. The government was clear that this new offense
marked Sweden's attitude toward prostitution as an "undesirable social
phenomenon." This law is the first that aims to protect women from violence by
holding men accountable and thereby addressing the demand for women to be
trafficked for prostitution. 

Policies and laws in the United States need to change to recognize the
victimization of women who have been trafficked into prostitution. In most
cases, the women are treated as criminals and/or illegal immigrants when in fact
they have been the victims of violent crimes and are desperately in need of
medical, legal, and social services. There needs to be aggressive intervention
against illegal prostitution in the sex industry to curtail the trafficking of women
to meet the demand. More research is needed to support a new understanding
of prostitution and the trafficking of women, instead of relying on old rationales
based on sexist judgments of women's lives and experiences.

Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation has become such a large and
severe crisis, affecting not only women's well-being but also the security of
nations, that strong interventions are needed at all levels and points in the
trafficking process. This modern slave trade benefits only criminals.

NCJ 186186

Notes

1.This definition of trafficking was modified slightly from that put forth by the
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, an international nongovernmental 
organization.

2. Visit the Secretary of State's Web site at http://secretary.state.
gov/www/picw/trafficking/index.html for more trafficking information.

3. Paringaux, Roland-Pierre, "Prostitution Takes a Turn for the West," Le
Monde, May 24, 1998.

4. Bird, Chris, "100,000 Ukrainians Slaves of West's Sex Industry," Reuters,
July 6, 1998.

5. Escaler, Narcisa, "Statement at the United States-European Union
Transatlantic Seminar to Prevent Trafficking in Women," Lviv, Ukraine, July 9-
10, 1998.

6. "Ukrainian Police Arrest Sex Trade Gang," Newsline 3(54), Part II
(Prague, Czech Republic: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 18, 1999).
Regional Security Office, U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Crime Digest, March
1999, http://www.usemb.kiev.ua/rso/CrimeDigest9903.html.

7. Regional Security Office, U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Crime Digest,
January 1999, http://www.usemb.kiev.ua/rso/CrimeDigest9901.html.

8. "Ukrainian Teacher Held Over Sex Ring Allegations," Reuters, September
24, 1999.

9. International Organization for Migration, Information Campaign Against
Trafficking in Women from Ukraine--Research Report (Geneva, Switzerland:
International Organization for Migration, July 1998).

10. Hyde, Lily, and Marina Denisenko, "Modern-Day Slavery Traps Local
Women," Kyiv Post, October 9, 1997.

11. Escaler, Statement.

12. Specter, Michael, "Traffickers' New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women," New
York Times, January 11, 1998.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid. 

15. Ibid.

16. La Strada is a nongovernmental organization in Ukraine working to
prevent trafficking in women and help the victims of trafficking.

17. The Global Survival Network was an organization focused on illegal
trafficking of both humans and other animals. In December 1999, the
Network's directive was altered to include only wildlife conservation issues and
its name was changed to WildAid. Although the group's emphasis has changed,
information dealing with human trafficking still is available from WildAid.
Contact the organization at http://www.WildAid.org or call 415-834-3174.

18. Hyde and Denisenko, "Modern-Day Slavery Traps Local Women."

19. Paringaux, "Prostitution Takes a Turn for the West."

20. Hyde, Lily, "Women's Groups Battle Sex Slavery," Kyiv Post, 
January 23, 1998.

21. Global Survival Network, Crime and Servitude (Washington, DC: Global
Survival Network, 1998).

22. Amir, Menachem, "Organized Crime in Israel," in Organized Crime--
Uncertainties and Dilemmas, eds. Stanley Einstein and Menachem Amir
(Chicago: Office of International Criminal Justice, 1999): 231-248.

23. "Les Nouvelles Mafias d'Europe de l'Est," Marianne en ligne, 
December 5, 1997. Accessed at http://www.marianne-en-ligne.
fr/12-05-97/dessus-b.htm.

24. Koshiw, Jaroslav, "A Native Son and the Bank of New York Scandal,"
Kyiv Post, August 26, 1999.

25. Personal notes from Training Program to Combat Trafficking of Women
From Ukraine, July 1998.

26. Specter, "Traffickers' New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women."

27. Hirsch, Michele, Plan of Action Against Traffic in Women and Forced
Prostitution (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1996).

---------------------------

The U.S. Response and Role

Until recently, trafficking in women in the United States had never been
systematically studied, and the U.S. lagged behind Europe and Asia in 
recognizing and addressing the problem, especially as it occurred within this
country. In the last 2 years, the United States has vigorously responded, making
the trafficking of women a top priority. In 1998, a Memorandum on Steps to
Combat Violence Against Women and the Trafficking of Women and Girls was
issued that directed the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the
President's Interagency Council on Women to expand their work against
violence against women to include work against the trafficking of women.

The strategy to combat trafficking has been implemented as a program referred
to as the three P's: Prevention of Trafficking, Protection and Assistance for
Victims, and Prosecution and Enforcement Against Traffickers.

---------------------------

For More Information

--Todd S. Fogelsong and Peter H. Solomon, "Crime, Criminal Justice and
Criminology in Post-Soviet Ukraine" (Washington, D.C.: National Institute of
Justice, forthcoming spring 2001). 

--Donna M. Hughes and Claire M. Roche, eds., Making the Harm Visible:
Global Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls, Speaking Out and Providing
Services (Kingston, Rhode Island: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women,
1999).

--International Organization for Migration, Information Campaign Against
Trafficking in Women From Ukraine--Research Report (Geneva, Switzerland:
International Organization for Migration, July 1998).

--Kateryna Levchenko, Combat of Trafficking in Women and Forced
Prostitution: Ukraine, Country Report (Vienna: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of
Human Rights, September 1999).

--MiraMed Institute, "Who Is Trafficking CIS Women?" Preliminary Survey
Report on Sexual Trafficking in the CIS. (Moscow MiraMed Institute, June
1999).

--Visit the Trafficking in Women From Ukraine Research Project, part of the
US-Ukraine Research Partnership, Web site at
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/ukraine.

---------------------------

Police Turnover in Isolated Communities: The Alaska Experience
by Darryl Wood

about the author

Darryl Wood is an assistant professor with the Justice Center at the University
of Alaska Anchorage. He can be reached at the Justice Center, University of
Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508,
907-786-1126, fax: 907-786-7777, afdsw@uaa.alaska.edu.

---------------------------

In the rural areas of Alaska, where public safety services are provided to
isolated areas spread across vast distances, officer employment turnover is a
problem. This is especially true in isolated Alaska Native villages. From the days
before statehood in 1959 to the present, administrators have had a difficult time
keeping village police positions staffed. Employment turnover rates as high as
500 percent per year are not unheard of in some Alaska Native village police
agencies. 

To one degree or another, many small police agencies serving rural areas
across the United States face similar problems. Rural police officers usually
serve less time with their agencies than their suburban or metropolitan
counterparts. The problem is especially troublesome for "micro" police
departments--those with fewer than 10 sworn officers.[1] Generally speaking,
the smaller a police department, the greater the officer turnover. In one early
study, officer turnover was referred to as "the plague of small agencies."[2]

Explanations often revolve around the issues of pay, benefits, and promotional
opportunities. Because of limited tax bases, rural police departments generally
offer officers lower pay and relatively fewer benefits compared to agencies
serving jurisdictions with larger populations. Departments with few employees
often are treated as career "stepping stones" by officers who see them as a good
place to begin a policing career. Because promotional advancement is difficult in
smaller departments, officers often parlay the experience they receive in these
small departments into a longer term position with a larger metropolitan or State
police agency. 

Alaska's Situation

Alaska's program that serves rural Alaska Native villages, the Alaska Village
Public Safety Officer (VPSO) program, has not been immune from the
employment turnover problem. Established as a way to locate a permanent
public safety presence in isolated Alaska Native villages, the VPSO program
has had an annual average turnover rate of 55 percent (see figure 1). This rate 
is roughly 10 times greater than urban police departments across the country.
With such high rates of attrition, the typical VPSO has remained employed in the
program for slightly less than 1 year since the program began in 1979.

This article presents the findings from a study that examined factors related to
officer turnover in the VPSO program. The findings from Alaska's experience
suggest ways police administrators in other rural jurisdictions can reduce the
turnover rates in their departments.

What Are Village Public Safety Officers? 

Compared to non-Native jurisdictions, Alaska Native villages are 
dangerous places. The available measures of crime and accidental death in
those villages are much higher on average than those found statewide or
nationally.[3]

The high levels of crime and safety problems provide good reason for 
a local public safety presence in Alaska Native villages. However, 
difficult terrain, a harsh climate, and the lack of a road system connecting rural
areas, along with relatively small village population sizes, make "traditional"
methods of law enforcement and public safety unsuitable.

Rather than rely on a traditional police presence, many villages are served
instead by Village Public Safety Officers. These officers are responsible for all
public safety services, including law enforcement, fire fighting, water safety,
emergency medical assistance, and search and rescue. VPSO's can be thought
of as public safety "jacks-of-all-trades." 

VPSO's are assigned to a specific village and are responsible for meeting all
public safety services in and closely around the village. They patrol on foot or in
all-terrain vehicles and serve as the first response to any criminal offense or other
emergency that may arise. As they presently operate, VPSO's serve a
"trip-wire" function.[4] Although they are trained and equipped to handle the
smaller problems that arise, they must broker larger emergencies to their
specially equipped partner agencies (such as the Alaska State Troopers). 

Because of the VPSO's unique organizational structure and officers' multiple task
bundle, Captain John Stearns, former VPSO program coordinator for the
Alaska State Troopers, has referred to the program as "community policing 
at its rawest."[5] 

Four aspects of the program make it a prime example of a community policing
program: 

--Policing authority is decentralized at the community level.

--Responsibilities both to State law and to traditional tribal and village social
controls require officers to go beyond meeting minimal legal requirements 
and encourage VPSO's to employ problem-solving techniques to perform with
effectiveness.

--The generalist policing role stresses the complexities of public safety and social
order to address all causes of disorder and threats to welfare.

--Participation of the community is built into the organizational structure of the
program, with the involvement of local village councils and regional nonprofit
corporations in personnel and operational decisions.[6]

In short, the VPSO program is organized to provide a community-based
response to the distinct needs of modern-day Alaska Native villages. (Read
more about the organizational structure of the program in "How the VPSO
Program Works.")

In its development over the years, the VPSO program has received 
and continues to receive a good deal of support from within the Alaska Native
community.[7] Although it went unheeded, the Alaska Federation of Natives in
1998 passed a resolution calling for the State to increase funding for the program
and expand it to cover Alaska Native villages located on the State's highway
system. The State of Alaska, however, did not agree with the Federation's
resolution, and funding was not increased.

Today the relationship between the Alaska Native community and the State
government is, to put it mildly, strained. Limits on local self-government, disputes
over subsistence hunting and fishing rights, and a general perception held by
Alaska Natives that they are treated as second-class citizens underlie the strain.
Given that the VPSO program is one of the few efforts of State government in
the villages that has the support of the Alaska Native population, it is unfortunate
that since its inception, the program has had a problem with retaining officers. 

Why Do Officers Leave and Stay?

Researchers conducted a survey of current and former VPSO's to better
understand the reasons for the high turnover rates the program has experienced.
(See "Methods and Data Analysis.") 

Survey questions were developed based on four possible explanations for
officer turnover: 

--Job stress, especially the stress associated with rural policing.

--Dissatisfaction with salary and benefits.

--Difficulties associated with applying non-Native policing arrangements in
Alaska Native communities using Alaska Native employees.

--Sociodemographic characteristics, such as age and marital status. 

Based upon a multivariate analysis of the data gathered in the survey, 
a number of factors were found to be closely associated with VPSO turnover
while other factors once thought to be important were ruled out as having an
influence upon attrition.

The Effects of Job Stress. Stress, in general, did not appear to be the reason
why VPSO's left the program. None of the traditional measures of police officer
stress were associated with the likelihood of a VPSO leaving. For instance,
VPSO's who reported having felt the physiological effects of stress (e.g., loss of
sleep, headaches, difficulty relaxing) were no more or less likely to leave the
program than officers not reporting such effects. 

The degree to which officers reported experiencing role ambiguity or role
conflict (that is, being a Native Alaskan and a law enforcement officer) likewise
had no effect on their likelihood of turnover. Being injured on the job or facing
numerous dangerous situations, including having to deal with armed conflict, also
appeared to have little effect on the probability of an officer leaving the
program.[8]

The only measure of general stress among police in general that did seem to
influence turnover was counter to what was predicted: Those who reported
feeling endangered on the job were actually less likely to leave the program.

Except for one officer, the special stresses often said to plague police serving in
rural areas did not appear to be associated with VPSO turnover. The extent to
which officers felt that they were expected to be on duty at all hours of the day
or that their job made it difficult to hunt, fish, or spend time with their family had
little influence on the likelihood of attrition.[9]

Serving in isolated circumstances also did not appear to increase the chances
that a VPSO would leave the program. Those VPSO's reporting a lack of
contact with the Alaska State Troopers or a long distance from Trooper
support were not any more likely to leave the job. 

The only factor associated with the stresses of rural policing that had a significant
influence on VPSO turnover was the presence or absence of other police in the 
village. In many villages, VPSO's are the lone public safety presence; in others
they serve alongside village police officers or tribal police officers.[10] Turnover
was less likely for officers serving in a village where there were other police
officers. 

Effects of Salary and Benefits. Officer dissatisfaction with salary and benefits,
another issue facing most rural police administrators, was not shown to be
associated with VPSO employment turnover. 

Almost all of the VPSO's surveyed were strongly dissatisfied with the pay and
benefits they received. Because the level of dissatisfaction was nearly equal for
those who quit as for those who remained with the program over the long term,
it failed to predict the likelihood of officer attrition.

Other measures associated with salary, however, were related to VPSO
turnover. For instance, VPSO's who relied on food stamps to make ends meet
while employed were about five times more likely to leave the program as those
who did not use food stamps. Contrary to expectations, the officers who
reported additional employment (such as commercial fishing) while serving as a
VPSO were about 70 percent less likely to leave the program than those who
did not moonlight. 

Effects of Non-Native Policing Arrangements. The survey also examined the
issues associated with using Alaska Native employees to apply non-Native
policing arrangements. The researchers hypothesized that factors associated
with VPSO attrition would include (1) feelings of rejection and isolation, which
Native police officers sometimes develop in their encounters with the community,
(2) difficulties associated with policing one's relatives, and (3) the conflicting
feelings officers might have when required by official duties to go against
fundamental cultural precepts. 

Contrary to the hypotheses, however, analyses indicated that those most likely
to stay on the job were Alaska Natives from the villages they were serving. The
stronger a VPSO's Alaska Native heritage (in terms of being Alaska Native,
being fluent in the native language, and being raised in an Alaska Native home
and village), the less likely he or she was to leave the job. VPSO's serving in
their home villages were less likely to leave the program as were the Alaska
Native VPSO's who were psychologically suited to conduct their business in a
culturally appropriate fashion. 

Feelings of rejection and isolation and the need sometimes to deal with relatives
in a law enforcement capacity were not factors associated with increased
turnover. Although many officers felt that they received little village support or
that they were treated like outcasts in the village, neither of these factors were
associated with turnover. Similarly, the pressures and difficulties of policing
relatives did not appear to increase the probability of an officer leaving the
program. 

Although the VPSO program was originally designed so that Alaska Native
officers would provide public safety services to their home villages, over time a
sizable minority of officers have been hired who are non-Natives and are
outsiders to the villages they serve. This is an unfortunate development, given 
that locally hired Alaska Natives are the ones who last the longest on the job.

Effects of Social and Demographic Characteristics. Of the VPSO's
sociodemographic characteristics examined in the survey, only two appeared to
be associated with turnover. The most prominent was marital status: VPSO's,
both Alaska Natives and non-Alaska Natives, who were married were much
less likely to leave the program. The age of an officer also appeared to affect the
chances of remaining a VPSO: Among the non-Native VPSO's, 
the younger the officer was, the more likely he or she was to leave the program.
Age did not make a significant difference for Alaska Native VPSO's.

Implications for Policy and Practice

VPSO turnover does not appear to be associated with the relatively low pay,
the job-related stresses, the difficulty in policing one's relatives, or the difficulties
of enforcing non-Native policing policies and procedures. 

Rather, officers are more likely to stay in the VPSO program if they are: 

--Embedded in the Alaska Native culture. 

--Married. 

--Serving in their home villages. 

--Serving in villages where other police, such as village police officers or tribal
police, are stationed (even though it can increase the levels of stress reported by
VPSO's). 

Despite all the reasons for leaving, many VPSO's do remain with the program
for a considerable amount of time. Some of these factors, such as officer marital
status, cannot be considered in the recruiting and hiring process. Other factors,
such as higher salaries, are usually beyond the control of many rural police
administrators. Nonetheless, the central finding--that officers with personal and
cultural connections to their local environment and to other local police are the
ones most likely to remain in service--suggests a number of steps that rural
police administrators can take to minimize officer attrition. 

Hire locally. Compared to those who are recruited from outside, VPSO
recruits from in and around the immediate police jurisdiction are more likely to
remain with the department. It appears to be a sign of an intent to stay when
someone from the local area chooses to join a local department. 

Conversely, those from outside the local area have already demonstrated their
willingness to move geographically to a new job. Chances are, they will be
willing to move again.

Hire culturally. Of all the VPSO's surveyed, those who were most integrated in
the local culture remained with the program the longest. Having strong
connections to the local culture appears to give police officers--VPSO's and,
perhaps, their rural counterparts in the lower 48 States--a greater reason to stay. 

Strengthen ties to the community. Once an officer has been hired, steps should
be taken to strengthen connections to the local community. Some rural police
chiefs, for example, have found it useful to encourage their officers to purchase
homes locally, thereby giving them a reason to remain employed in the area.[11]
Administrators might persuade their officers to take advantage of the 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Officer Next
Door Program, which allows full-time police officers to purchase HUD homes
at 50 percent of market value.[12] By purchasing their own homes, officers both
gain a stake in employment stability and become owners of a piece of the
community.

Strengthen ties to the police culture. Rural police managers also can reduce
turnover once officers are hired by getting officers involved in the larger police
culture. VPSO's who had a connection to other officers in their village were
about twice as likely to stay on the job as VPSO's who served without such
connections. 

Given the solitary nature of rural policing--in which officers spend much of their
day working alone--administrators should expand the opportunities for working
with others in the law enforcement field, both inside and outside their
departments. Doing so will help officers feel that they are part of something
bigger than their little corner of the world and will give them someone with
whom they can share the ups and downs of the police occupation. 

Employment turnover among rural police officers is prevalent but by 
no means inevitable. Even in the Alaska VPSO program, with its many
conditions that might encourage officers to leave, many stay and provide police
services that meet the specific needs of Alaska Native villages. Knowing why
suggests actions decision makers can follow to reduce officer attrition in similar 
situations. 

NCJ 186187

Notes

1. Bass, Jay, "Rural Policing: Patterns and Problems of 'Micro' Departments,"
The Justice Professional 9 (April 1995): 59.

2. Hoffman, John, "Turnover: The Plague of Small Agencies," Law & Order 41
(June 1993): 25.

3. Angell, John E., Alaska Village Justice: An Exploratory Study, Anchorage,
AK: Criminal Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage, 1979: 49.
Berman, Matthew, and Linda Leask, "Violent Death in Alaska: Who Is Most
Likely to Die?" Alaska Review of Social and Economic Conditions 29(1)
(Spring 1994): 5. Lee, Nella, "Rural Crime Rates High," Alaska Justice Forum
5(2) (Summer 1998): 1-3.

4. Hippler, Arthur, Final Report to the Commissioner of the Department of
Public Safety on the Village Public Safety Officers Program (VPSO).
Anchorage, AK: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of
Alaska Anchorage, 1982: 4.

5. Associated Press, "Funding Sought for Village Cops," Juneau Empire
(September 14, 1992): 8. 

6. See, for example, Marenin, Otwin, "Community Policing in Alaska's Rural
Areas: The Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) Program," unpublished paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences,
Denver, Colorado, 1990: 21-22.

7. Marenin, Otwin, "Conflicting Perspectives on the Role of the Village Public
Safety Officer in Native Villages in Alaska," American Indian Quarterly 
18 (Summer 1994): 313.

8. It should be noted that VPSO's do not carry firearms in the performance of
their duties.

9. As one VPSO put it, "The only time I am off duty is when I am out of the
village."

10. Some villages, using local and Federal funding, employ their own village
police officers. Other villages, through local tribal governments, employ "tribal
police officers." Unlike the VPSO program, neither of these policing
arrangements has typically received the support and funding of the State of
Alaska; recently, though, the Alaska State Troopers have begun to provide
rudimentary police training to the village police officers and tribal officers.

11. Hoffman, "Turnover: The Plague of Small Agencies," 27.

12. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Officer Next Door
Program. February 14, 2001, http://www.hud.gov:80/ond/ond.html.

---------------------------

How the VPSO Program Works

From its outset, the VPSO program was designed to deal with the broad
range of public safety issues facing Alaska Native villages and to instill within
the program local support for and control over the provision of law
enforcement and public safety services to these communities. The program has
been heralded for a management structure that allows Alaska Native leaders in
each village to make day-to-day decisions about the delivery of public safety 
services to their communities. 

Administration of the VPSO program is divided into three levels: (1) the Alaska
State Troopers, (2) regional nonprofit Native corporations, and (3) at the local
level, Alaska Native villages. Each level has specific responsibilities associated
with selecting, training, equipping, supervising, and paying VPSO's. 

The Alaska State Troopers, whose policing jurisdiction encompasses all areas in
the State that lack municipal police services, play a major role in the
administration of the program. Apart from the agency's role in training and
issuing some equipment, the troopers' main function in the program is field
supervision of the VPSO's. 

Each VPSO is assigned an "oversight trooper" (a commissioned Alaska State
Trooper working from a central location that is, in some cases, 300 miles away
from the VPSO posting) who acts as a mentor and provides technical assistance
and on-the-job training. In high-risk or complex situations, including all felony
cases, the VPSO stays in communication with the oversight trooper and takes
immediate action as prescribed by the trooper to keep the situation under
control until the trooper arrives, generally by air or snow machine.

Regional nonprofit Native corporations, which handle the day-to-day managerial
functions of the VPSO program, are the agencies considered to be the actual
employers of the individual officers. 

Because these entities are unique to Alaska, a bit of explanation is 
in order. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was enacted in 1971,
12 regional for-profit Native corporations were created across Alaska to invest
funds received from land claims. Coinciding geographically with these
for-profit corporations are an equal number of regional nonprofit Native
corporations, which play a significant role in the lives of Alaska Native village
residents.[1] The nonprofit corporations provide many of the services, such as
education, health, housing, and employment counseling, normally provided by
local governments. The corporations actively compete for Federal and State
grant funds to provide such services to their areas. Given their experience in the
administration of government-funded programs and their awareness of the
specific needs of the local areas to be served, these regional nonprofit
corporations are viewed as being particularly well situated to provide
administrative support to the VPSO program.[2] 

Each nonprofit has a VPSO coordinator who administers the program for the
corporation. The coordinator has numerous duties, including management of
payroll, insurance, and retirement plans; record-keeping of personnel files; and
expenditure of grant funds. The VPSO coordinators also assist the villages and
the troopers in recruiting, hiring, and terminating VPSO's. 

Local village control over the VPSO program comes in two ways. First, the
villages choose to participate in the program; they cannot have a VPSO imposed
on them. Villages request a VPSO from their nonprofit, which, in turn, requests
funding from the State for the position. When funding becomes available, the
village receives its VPSO. With recent cutbacks in the program, however, more
villages want VPSO's than can receive them. 

The second source of village control over the program involves the selection and
termination of officers. Although hiring and firing is generally conducted in
consultation with the nonprofits and the troopers, the villages have the ultimate
discretion over who becomes their VPSO and whether that officer is retained or
dismissed.[3]

Given their inadequate resources, the local villages' other responsibilities to the
VPSO program are limited. They provide office space, telephone service, and
a holding cell for use by the VPSO. They also are responsible for obtaining any
equipment above and beyond that provided by the Alaska State Troopers.

1. Case, David, Alaska Natives and American Laws, Fairbanks, AK:
University of Alaska Press, 1984: 389.

2. Marenin, Otwin, "Innovations in Policing: Bureaucratic Entrepreneurship in the
Development of the Village Public Safety Officer Program in Alaska,"
unpublished paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Society of Criminology, Reno, Nevada (1989): 13.

3. Marenin, Otwin, and Gary Copus, "Policing Rural Alaska: The Village Public
Safety Officer (VPSO) Program," American Journal of Police 10 (Winter
1991): 11-12.

---------------------------

Methods and Data Analysis

The research drew upon two primary data sources: 

--Alaska Department of Public Safety records for the period 1978 through
1999, showing the amount of time officers spend in the VPSO program.

--Self-administered surveys from 113 (out of a possible 184) current and
former VPSO's who had served in the program between July 1, 1994, and
June 30, 1998. 

The first data source was used to calculate program turnover rates and length of
the officers' employment tenure. Information for possible explanations of officer
turnover was taken from the completed surveys. 

Principal components analysis was used to reduce the large number of survey
variables into a smaller number of theoretically compelling factors and scales that
could then be reasonably analyzed while holding other factors constant. The goal
was to determine the likelihood that a VPSO would leave the program in any
one month.

These factors and scales were used in three different proportional hazards
regression models. 

Proportional hazards regression analysis examines the relationships between
each of the individual causal variables (e.g., dissatisfaction with training) and the
effect variable (VPSO turnover) while holding constant the values of the other
causal variables (e.g., marital status, age, dissatisfaction with pay, and so forth).
In other words, the proportional hazards regression analysis helped determine
the impact of each individual causal variable upon turnover when the values of
the other individual causal variables were held equal.

---------------------------

Creating Winning Innovations in Criminal Justice 
by Gail Christopher

about the author

Gail Christopher is Executive Director of the Innovations in American
Government awards program of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government and cochair of the National Academy of Public Administration's
Alliance for Redesigning Government.

---------------------------

Innovation may be more of a challenge in government than anywhere else.
Proposals that depart from established ways of doing business may face
objections from organizations or individuals wedded to the status quo. In the
criminal justice system, innovation may be an even greater challenge. After all,
crime can be a matter of life and death. Protecting citizens from crime and
ensuring equitable treatment by the justice system are the overriding concerns.
Because so much is at stake, policy debate can be acrimonious, public opinion
sharply divided. Yet despite this, and despite the complexity and scope 
of the issues, innovative practices abound at all levels and in virtually every
component of the criminal justice system, including arenas in which the
problems seem insurmountable.

The Need

The decline in the crime rate notwithstanding, established ways no longer
produce the desired results in many arenas of criminal justice. Reinvention, with
its emphasis on performance, responsiveness, and customer service, is the new
imperative and has been the catalyst for innovation. 

Since its inception in 1986, the Ford Foundation's Innovations in American
Government awards program has counted many criminal justice programs
among its winners and finalists. (The most recently named award recipients are
listed in "Notable Criminal Justice Innovators in 2000," page 26.) Outside that
circle are uncounted others, at the local, State, and Federal levels, who also
exemplify risk-taking, adaptability, and flexibility.

Lessons From Government Innovations 

Innovative programs in criminal justice and elsewhere in government are born
when staff and administrators face head-on the frustrations that can be common
in the public sector. They find ways to overcome barriers and eliminate
disincentives, and the best of them find ways to sustain their programs for the
long term.

Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, which administers the Innovations
program, has distilled the lessons learned from the winners in the 14 years since
the program began.[1] Most, if not all, apply to criminal justice agencies, where
they can serve as guidelines for seeking new solutions.

--Define a mission clearly and in terms of compelling public problems. 

Most award-winning government programs clearly articulate a purpose that is
understood both inside and outside the organization. This sense of mission keeps
the organization focused in the face of controversy, change, and daily routine.

--Define challenging but achievable outcomes against which to measure
performance. 

Because results are what matter, setting outcome targets can motivate staff and
mobilize support. If outcome measures are clearly defined, the public 
is more likely to feel the agency is accountable. 

--Collaborate with other agencies whenever possible. 

Shrinking resources and greater demand have spurred the search for creative
ways to collaborate. Partnerships can help solve problems too complex for any
single agency to handle. 

--Build partnerships with the private and nonprofit sectors. 

Working alone, the government cannot solve all problems. Business and
community nonprofits are often the best equipped to be catalysts and 
to help develop programs. 

--Respect the talents of frontline workers. 

The prospect of innovation is enhanced when employees participate in decision
making and when their experience informs practice. The business world knows
this, and it is being applied increasingly in the public sector. 

--Identify clearly the citizens and groups entitled to your services and focus as
sharply as possible on their needs. 

Many award-winning government programs have borrowed the customer
service approach of the business world and are shifting their focus accordingly,
from process to people. 

--If the agency's tasks involve regulation, consider working with the regulated
parties to meet common objectives through compliance, rather than depending
entirely on traditional enforcement. 

Much discontent with government stems from stories of seemingly capricious,
adversarial actions by regulatory agencies. Many agencies have adopted a more
cooperative, problem-solving approach that involves a mutual focus on results
and partnerships. 

--Consider how market forces may complement the provision of public 
goods and services. 

In many areas of government, opportunities exist to improve service by being
open to market forces. The interests of business may often dovetail well with
those of government agencies. 

--Use information technology to improve services to citizens. 

This area holds great potential for improving access to agencies and their
programs. The government may lag behind the private sector, but it is now
assiduously cultivating the use of telecommunications and information
technologies to speed service and save resources. 

--Be flexible, take risks, and don't give up. 

The Innovations program award recipients are always on the lookout to
improve performance. They work collaboratively with multiple partners 
and are as patient as they are energetic in planning and improvising toward their
goals.

NCJ 186188

Note

1. Based on the paper by Alan Altshuler, "Ten Lessons From Innovations,"
Innovations in American Government, 1986-1996, Tenth Anniversary, New
York: Ford Foundation, December 1996: 8-11. The complete essay is
available on the Innovations Web site:
http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/essays.htm.

---------------------------

Notable Criminal Justice Innovators in 2000

The Innovations in American Government Program, which began in 1986,
identifies outstanding examples of creative problem-solving in the public sector at
the local, State, and Federal levels. Administered by Harvard University's
Kennedy School of Government and managed by the Council for Excellence in
Government, the program each year names 10 winners and 15 finalists. Each
receives a Ford Foundation grant. 

Information about the program and instructional materials in the form of case
studies of award-winning programs are on the Innovations Web site, at
http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/index.html. 

Of the winners and finalists in the 2000 competition, four were in the field of
criminal justice. The following programs were named the winner and finalists: 

Winner

Healthier Inmates Can Mean a Healthier Community

"Public Health Model for Corrections"
Hampden County, Massachusetts, Sheriff's Department

Inmates' limited access to health care before incarceration, along with impulsive
or risky behavior, contributes to a disproportionate prevalence of disease
among them. Once discharged, they could potentially be a public health risk.
The Hampden County, Massachusetts, Sheriff's Department developed a
public health model of care that responds to the concerns of the community and
also meets the medical needs of jail inmates. 

The model helps inmates lead healthier lives in jail and when released. Medical
service is provided contractually with nonprofit neighborhood health centers.
Inmates are assigned to a team of doctors and case managers from the centers
who provide care onsite at the jail and after release. Program elements include
assessment, long-term treatment, education, and case management with
postrelease links to the community. For more information, contact:

Dr. Thomas Conklin
Hampden County Sheriff's Department
627 Randall Road
Ludlow, MA 01056-1079
Phone: 413-547-8000, ext. 2344
Fax: 413-589-0912

Finalists

Community Program Keeps Young Offenders Out of State Institutions 

"Community Youth Investment Program"
Deschutes County, Oregon, Commission on Children and Families and
Department of Juvenile Community Justice

Placing young people who commit nonviolent crimes in State institutions can do
more harm than good for both the offender and the community. Deschutes
County's Community Youth Investment Program (CYIP) is an alternative way to
help youthful offenders while saving the county money.

The young people participate in a highly structured program that holds them
accountable for their offenses while teaching them responsibility and requiring
restitution and community service.

In return, the county earns money for every bed it does not use in a State
facility that would otherwise house these offenders. 

As a result of the program, the county's incarceration rate for young people
dropped from 23 in 1997, the year before CYIP began, to 5 in 2000. The
county earned funds for use in early intervention programs, proven to reduce
juvenile crime. For more information, contact:

Deevy Holcomb
Department of Juvenile Community Justice
Deschutes County
63333 Highway 20 
West Bend, OR 97701
Phone: 541-617-3356
Fax: 541-383-0165
Email: deevyh@deschutes.org

Research and Data Used to Identify Risk and Prevent Juvenile Offending 

"Risk-Focused Policing"
City of Redlands, California, 
Police Department

Redlands, California, began consolidating its police, recreation, and housing
services in 1997 in an attempt to reduce factors that put young people at risk for
delinquency, substance abuse, dropping out of school, and teen pregnancy.

The Redlands Police Department is the first in the country to fully embrace a
research-based prevention framework, focused on risk and protective factors. 
In this data-driven strategy, the department, working with the local school
district, measures community, family, school, and peer group risk factors 
and develops comprehensive responses. 

Through recreation center and afterschool programs, Redlands has served
thousands of young people. Since program implementation, major crime has
decreased 36 percent. After a police officer was assigned to the local drug
court, participation in the program among youth increased 70 percent, and drug
court recidivism dropped as much as 6 percent. For more information contact:

Chief Jim Bueermann
Redlands Police Department
30 Cajon Street 
Redlands, CA 92373
Phone: 909-798-7661
Email: JBueermann@aol.com 

Inmate-on-Inmate Violence Reduced

"Total Efficiency Accountability Management System (TEAMS)"
New York City Department of Correction 

New York City jails have been transformed into a safer and more habitable
environment through the reduction of inmate-on-inmate violence. The city's
Department of Correction accomplished this through its Total Efficiency
Accountability Management System (TEAMS), introduced in 1996 to address
growing inmate violence, staff absenteeism, and low morale and 
to control employee use of overtime. 

TEAMS holds managers accountable while emphasizing goal-oriented
management and job performance of correctional officers. An information
collection system was created to measure performance throughout
the agency. Since TEAMS began, inmate violence has fallen 93 percent and
employee absenteeism more than 30 percent. Staff spend less time responding
to violent and dangerous incidents and more time improving inmate services. For
more information, contact: 

Thomas Antenen
Deputy Commissioner of Public Information
Police Department
City of New York
One Police Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Phone: 212-374-6700
Fax: 212-374-6056
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doc/html/teams.html.

---------------------------

At-A-Glance: Recent Research Findings

How to Get At-A-Glance Materials

Materials are available at:

--NIJ's Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij, or

--NCJRS, puborder@ncjrs.org, 1-800-851-3420, P.O. Box 6000,
Rockville, MD 20849-6000.

The summaries in this section are based on the following:

Research in Progress Seminars. At these seminars, scholars discuss their
ongoing research and preliminary findings with an audience of researchers and
criminal justice professionals. Sixty-minute VHS videotapes of the Research in
Progress seminars are available from the National Criminal Justice Reference
Service (NCJRS) at 1-800-851-3420. Videotaped seminars are $19 ($24 in
Canada and other countries). 

NIJ Final Reports. These final submissions from NIJ grantees typically are
available from NCJRS through interlibrary loan. In some cases, 
photocopies may be obtained for a fee. For information about these reports
and possible fees, contact NCJRS.

NIJ Publications. Some of the information here is summarized from recent NIJ
publications, which are available from the NIJ Web site or by contacting
NCJRS. Refer to the documents' accession (ACN) or NCJ numbers.

---------------------------

Protecting Indian Women From Domestic Violence

Eileen Luna, Impact Evaluation of STOP Grant Programs for Reducing Violence
Against Women Among Indian Tribes, final report submitted to NIJ, grant
number 96-WT-NX-0006 (NCJ 186235).

When Congress made funds available for the development of ways
to reduce violence against Indian women, tribal elders faced a challenging task:
find ways to cooperate with various tribal and nontribal criminal justice
agencies, and navigate the maze of law enforcement authority. 

(For more discussion about the complexity of law enforcement in Indian
Country, see "Policing on American Indian Reservations" by Wakeling,
Jorgensen, and Michaelson, page 2.)

A recently released evaluation found that the tribes rose to the challenge. The
grants to stop violence against Indian women have made a significant impact in
the 14 Native communities that initially received awards.

The Congressional Mandate

Through Title IV, the Violence Against Women Act of the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (the Crime Act), Congress
mandated that 4 percent of the funds allocated for violence against women
grants be made available to Indian tribal governments to empower Native
communities to combat violent crimes against women. 

In fiscal year 1995, 14 tribal governments received grants from the Department
of Justice's Violence Against Women Office to develop ways to stop violence
against Indian women. The money was made available through a program called
STOP (Service-Training-Officers-Prosecutors). 

Evaluating the Effects of Violence Against Women Grants

To assess the effects of the violence against Indian women grants, the Tribal
Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona, with NIJ funding,
conducted an evaluation using surveys and site interviews. In particular,
researchers sought to learn about the unique cultural and political context within
which each STOP program functioned.

Improved training. Many tribal grantees used their STOP violence against
Indian women funds to train representatives from numerous agencies who came
into contact with abused women. 

The evaluators found that training improved both the efficiency and the number
of responses to domestic violence situations, as well as increased awareness
among community, police, prosecution, and judicial officials. 

According to the data, increases in protection orders ranged from 
a 98-percent increase in one tribal community to a 50-percent increase in
another. Prosecution rates rose as well; in one location, cases reaching court
quadrupled after training. 

Improved coordination. Other grantees formed working groups 
to bring together representatives from various community groups to design and
review policies regarding the handling of sexual assault and domestic violence
cases. These groups often included members from tribal courts, law
enforcement, prosecution, victims' services, tribal council, social services, and
community members. 

The evaluators found that, in general, the working groups successfully
developed appropriate, sensitive tribal legislative codes and protocols for
responding to violent crimes against Indian women, fostered interagency
coordination, and created an atmosphere where issues related to violence
against Indian women could be discussed in the community.

Improved focus on Native culture. Tribes that received grants were creating
programs that kept traditional views intact.

Before the STOP funding was available, Indian women who requested
counseling often were referred to off-reservation counseling centers in
surrounding towns. Such programs usually stress leaving the abusive situation 
and becoming self-sufficient--something that usually requires urbanization and is
inappropriate for Native populations. Similarly, grantees view off-reservation 
batterer intervention programs as incompatible with tribal values, customs, and
practices. With their STOP grants, tribes are developing on-reservation,
culturally appropriate crisis intervention programs for women and their 
batterers. 

Improving Enforcement 

Tribal police and courts encounter significant problems getting tribal court
orders and tribal legislative codes honored by other jurisdictions. To rectify this
problem, grantees are: 

--Negotiating full faith and credit agreements with outside jurisdictions.

--Expanding task forces or advisory boards to include nontribal law enforcement 
agencies to generate a more coordinated response. 

--Constructing tribal legislative codes modeled after State codes in the hope
that they will be more readily accepted by outside jurisdictions.

--Negotiating cross-deputization agreements with nontribal law enforcement
agencies.

Four tribal grantees added a specialized domestic violence/sexual assault officer
through the grant, and eight grantees developed mandatory arrest policies as a
result of the STOP Violence Against Indian Women grant. 

Most grantees used the discretionary portion of their awards to develop or
supplement probation services and to develop or supplement court-mandated
batterer intervention groups. Six tribes created a position in which some-one
tracks offenders' movements through the criminal justice system. 

Increasing Conviction Rates 

Overall, tribal grantees were prosecuting and sentencing domestic violence
crimes more vigorously. Grant managers attributed the increased conviction
rates both to initiation of the funding and to the resulting development of tribal
legislative codes since the funding became available. 

For more information, contact Eileen Luna, Principal Investigator, Tribal Law
and Policy Program, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210076, Harvill 430,
Tucson, AZ 85721-0076, 520-621-2262, eluna@email.arizona.edu. The 
final report, under grant number 96-WT-NX-0006, is available 
from NCJRS (NCJ 186235).

Misperceptions in Vermonters' Opinions

John Doble with Judith Greene, Attitudes Toward Crime and Justice in
Vermont: An Experiment With Restorative Justice, NIJ final report, grant
number 98-IJ-CX-0028 (NCJ 182361).

Understanding public opinion is an integral part of any successful criminal justice
system. To further understand public opinion about the criminal justice system in
Vermont, John Doble Research Associates and Judith Greene updated in 1999
an earlier 1994 study that found low public confidence in the entire system and
broad public support for a reform that was subsequently enacted: the
establishment of a statewide network of community-based reparative boards
that give citizen volunteers the authority to determine and oversee
nonincarcerative community-based punishments for an array of nonviolent
offenders.

Common Misperceptions 

The 1999 study found that Vermont's citizen evaluations of the performance of
the criminal justice system had improved by 7 percent. The study also found
three misperceptions that seemed to be root causes of what is often called "the
disconnect," which is the widespread alienation and cynicism people feel toward
the government.

Misperception 1: Vermonters overestimate the crime rate in the State. More
than 80 percent reported that crime had increased or was as common as it was
5 years ago. In truth, crime in Vermont, as in many jurisdictions, has been
steadily decreasing.[1]

Misperception 2: While 95 percent said that someone "convicted of 
violently raping a woman at knifepoint" should be sent to prison, only 28
percent said this is what (always or almost always) happens. In truth, anyone
convicted of such a crime would almost certainly be incarcerated in Vermont.[2]

Misperception 3: Sixty-three percent of Vermonters said that "many" violent
offenders are released early because of prison overcrowding. Though not all
violent offenders serve the maximum term imposed by the court, the truth is that
none are released early just because of prison overcrowding.[3]

Fighting Misperceptions 

No substitute exists for an informed public; misperceptions must be cleared up.
But correcting misperceptions, the study suggests, is only part of the answer to
restoring public confidence and making the public believe that the criminal
justice system is fulfilling its mandate. 

The authors suggest that reparative boards, a reform favored by 91 percent of
the respondents, along with other approaches to reconnect the public, such as
the establishment of community justice centers, have the potential to give people
what they want--a sense of ownership over a significant piece of the criminal 
justice function. 

Reparative boards encourage restoration of the victim and restitution by the
offender, two top priorities for Vermonters, while simultaneously transferring 
decision-making authority from the bureaucracy to the community. 

Allowing community members to decide what are appropriate sanctions and
risks may be a way to reconnect the public to the criminal justice system while
informing the public about what is one of the government's most basic functions.

For more information, contact John Doble, John Doble Research Associates,
375 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, 201-568-7200,
doble@carroll.com; or Judith Greene, Justice Strategies, 199 Washington
Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205, 718-857-3316, greenej1@mindspring.com.
The final report, under grant number 98-IJ-CX-0028, is available from NCJRS
(NCJ 182361).

Notes

1. FBI Uniform Crime Report data show that index crime rates have been
decreasing in Vermont for two decades. Part 1 violent crimes (murder, rape,
aggravated assault, and robbery) have dropped from 179 per 100,000 citizens
in 1980 to 106 per 100,000 in 1998. Part 1 property crime rates also have
declined since they reached a peak of approximately 5,000 per 100,000 in
1979 to approximately 3,000 per 100,000 in 1998. 

2. Data available from the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) do
not allow for distinguishing between offenders who were convicted of FBI part
1 violent crimes using a knife or gun from those who did not. Of those convicted
of a violent crime, about three-quarters are sentenced to a term of incarceration.
Data also do not distinguish between offenders who were convicted of rape
using a knife from those who did not. Of all those convicted of a sex crime,
about three-fifths are sentenced to a term of incarceration. Fifteen judges, State's 
attorneys, and public defenders interviewed for the project said, with unanimity,
that anyone convicted of rape at knifepoint would unquestionably be
incarcerated in Vermont, probably for a sentence of at least 15 years and
possibly for life.

3. Data available from the Vermont DOC show that early release 
of violent offenders is on the decline in Vermont and that violent offenders are
serving longer terms of incarceration. In 1993, those sentenced for FBI part 1
violent crimes served an average of 29 months, having been released after
serving--on average--just 29 percent of the maximum term imposed by the
court. By 1998, these offenders were serving an average of 76 months,
released--on average--after serving 59 percent of the maximum term. In
background interviews, DOC officials said that although many violent offenders
are released before serving the maximum term imposed by the court, such
releases are unrelated to overcrowding and that it is DOC policy that no violent
offenders are released early because of, or merely to ease, prison overcrowding.

----------------------------

July 22-25, 2001

JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC

Plan Now to Attend the 2001 Annual Conference on Criminal Justice 
Research and Evaluation

For more details, contact:

Institute for Law and Justice
1018 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-684-5300
fax: 703-739-5533
http://www.nijpcs.org

Sponsored by
National Institute of Justice and other Office of Justice Programs offices 
and bureaus.

---------------------------

Solicitations & Awards

Search NIJ Grant Information Online

The fully searchable portfolio of all NIJ grants is now available to Web users at
the NIJ Web site. 

The online database can be searched using all or one of the following terms:
project title, category, project location, date awarded, project number,
awardee, and awardee contact name. Once the project is identified, the system
provides all remaining information, including a description and funding data. 

The portfolio reflects research, evaluation, technology development,
dissemination, and technical support projects, including those supported by the
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (the Crime Act) and
those conducted in partnership with other Federal agencies through inter-agency
and cooperative agreements. 

In fiscal year 2000, NIJ made more than 200 awards totaling more than $116
million. 

Visit the online portfolio at http://www.nij.ncjrs.org/portfolio. For more
information about the latest funding opportunities, visit the NIJ Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

New & Noteworthy

Special Issue of NIJ Journal

"Crime Policy in the 21st Century" is the working title of a special edition of the
NIJ Journal to be published this Spring. The special issue is the product of a
series of roundtable discussions held in 2000 that examined three significant
issues the criminal justice field will face in the future. 

The topics of the three roundtables were (1) public trust and confidence in the
system, (2) sentencing and corrections, and (3) use of technology. 

Before each roundtable session, well-known experts in the field were asked to
submit background papers as a starting point for the conversations. The special
issue of the NIJ Journal will summarize the papers and the conversations; the
full-length version of the essays and comments will be available online 
at the NIJ Web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij). 

The special edition of the NIJ Journal will explore three primary policy issues as
seen by well-known thinkers and experts on each topic.

All regular NIJ Journal subscribers will automatically receive a copy 
of the special edition. To become a subscriber, email puborder@ncjrs.org and
enter "NIJ Journal subscription" in the subject line.

---------------------------

Correction: The October issue of the NIJ Journal incorrectly identified the
location of "Building Data Systems for Monitoring and Responding to Violence
Against Women." It can be found in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Reports, vol. 49, no. RR-11, published October 27, 2000, and it is available
online in both .pdf and .html formats. Volume 49 of the MMWR can be found
on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/indrr_2000.html.

---------------------------

Events

DNA Commission Holds Its Final Meeting

The National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence convened its 11th
and final meeting November 19-21 in Boston. Held in conjunction with the
"DNA and the Criminal Justice System" conference, cosponsored by Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government, the Com-mission members focused on critical
issues, including DNA database privacy issues, postconviction DNA testing and
retesting, funding opportunities, and the relation of genetics and environment to
criminality. 

The opening panel for the conference, "Behavior, Genetics, and the Criminal
Justice System," addressed the concept of a gene for criminality and how it
would affect the roles of responsibility and rehabilitation in the criminal justice
system. The panel included Nobel Laureate James Watson, who identified the
structures of DNA in 1953. 

Proceedings of the meeting will be available through the Commission's Web site
at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/dna.

The Future of DNA Testing: Predictions of the Research and Development
Working Group also was released at the conference. This NIJ publication
describes past and present techniques used to analyze DNA and predicts
improvements over the next decade, including: 

--More reliable and quicker results created through increased automation.

--Production of small, mobile computer chips which would allow officers to
complete DNA testing at a crime scene.

--Improvements in the ability to analyze small and/or degraded DNA samples.

--More comprehensive DNA databases of convicted criminals.

--More accessible global information and international DNA comparisons.

--Increased number of suspects identified through DNA databases. 

Former Attorney General Janet Reno established the DNA Commission in
1996 to respond to concerns in five specific areas: (1) the use of DNA in
postconviction relief cases; (2) legal issues arising out of expanded use of DNA
technology in DNA cases; (3) criteria for training and technical assistance for
criminal justice professionals involved in the identification, collection, and
preservation of DNA evidence at the crime scene; (4) essential laboratory
capabilities in the face of emerging technologies; and (5) the impact of future
technological developments on the use of DNA in the criminal justice system. 

To learn more about the Commission, visit its Web site at http://www.
ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/dna/welcome.html. Copies of The Future of DNA Testing:
Predictions of the Research and Development Working Group are available
from NCJRS (NCJ 183697) and at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/
pubs-sum/183697.htm.

---------------------------

What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence
(already available as a brochure) is soon to be released free of charge as an 
interactive training program on CD-ROM. The computer-based training will
provide in-depth training on identification, preservation, and collection 
of DNA evidence at a crime scene. 

The training program was written by members of the Crime Scene Investigation
Working Group of the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence
and was developed through an NIJ grant to Eastern Kentucky University and 
Advanced Systems Technology, Inc. 

The program can be used on any desktop or laptop computer equipped 
with a CD player and can be used by both individual officers or in groups, 
such as at roll-call or in an academy training session. 

The training has two modules: The first module covers basic information on
identifying and preserving potential DNA evidence; the second module is a
more advanced curriculum designed for the investigating officer or evidence
technician who collects evidence at the crime scene.

The CD program will be available free of charge in early 2001 through 
the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Call 1-800-851-
3420 for more information.

---------------------------

OLETC Conference Exhibits New Technologies

Advances in technology can help criminal justice practitioners stay one step
ahead of criminals. To spotlight technological advances, NIJ's Office of Law
Enforcement Technology Commercialization (OLETC) held the National
Commercialization Conference 2000, which brought together more than 200
researchers, developers, and users to discuss new trends in technology. 

The conference emphasized topics such as "Bringing New Technology into
Your Agency" and "Partnering Basics," which showed the importance of
partnerships and demonstrated how the commercialization process works. 

In his keynote speech, Captain Donald R. Gagnon discussed the Navy's
simulated training efforts as well as current projects and partnerships. 

Established in 1995 and located on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University
(West Virginia), OLETC works to bring new technology and innovations to the
market. Its mission is to join research and private industry activities so that
affordable, market-driven technologies are developed, commercialized, and
made available to practitioners in the field.

Technologies exhibited at the conference included:

--CruiseCam[TradeMark], which combines a camera, microphone, control
panel, and recording equipment into a seat (developed by Lear Corporation).

--Integrated Law Enforcement Face-Identification System, a next generation
system based on a 3D framework (developed at Wheeling Jesuit University
through a cooperative agreement with NIJ).

--Puncture-resistant gloves, which provide additional protection to officers
who come into contact with individuals in custody (developed by Gimbel Glove
Corporation).

For more information, visit the Office of Law Enforcement Technology
Commercialization's Web site at http://www.oletc.org.

Crime Mapping Investigates "Broken Windows" 

The increasing role of geographic information systems (GIS) in investigations
was the focus of the fourth annual International Crime Mapping Research
Conference, "Wheredunit? Investigating the Role of Place in Crime and
Criminality," sponsored by NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center. The
conference brought together crime analysts, police officers, researchers, and
criminal justice practitioners to look at several topics, including the use of GIS in
school safety, multijurisdictional cases, and juvenile criminal justice.

How GIS sheds light on the "Broken Windows" theory was of major interest at
the conference. Featured speaker Dr. Lawrence Sherman, Albert M.
Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and Director of the Jerry Lee Center
of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed aspects of the theory
in his lecture, "Hot Spots, Broken Windows, and Tipping Points."

The conference, which included more than 45 plenary sessions and 70 leading
expert presenters, provided information on hotspotting methods, Internet-based
mapping applications, advanced spatial analysis techniques, and spatial analysis
tools. Victimization, corrections, and school safety were all analyzed in depth.

For more information about the crime mapping conference, visit the Crime
Mapping Research Center's Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc.

Courtroom Science Subject of NIJ Conference

Improving understanding among scientists, attorneys, and judges is important
for the developing relationship between science and the law. 

The second annual National Conference on Science and the Law, "Emerging
Trends: Scientific Evidence in the Courtroom," brought together 400 criminal
justice professionals to discuss just how to improve these relationships.

The NIJ-sponsored conference fostered discussion among speakers and
attendees on topics they felt would benefit from additional research, such as the
use of DNA to predict dangerousness, the challenges to the admissibility of
expert testimony, and new and historically accepted scientific techniques in light
of recent Supreme Court rulings. 

In addition, to help attendees develop questions for future research, panel
discussions included risk assessment and predictions of dangerousness, new
identification procedures, and case study and forensic evidence presentation for
court.

For more information about the Science and Law conference, contact Anjali
Swienton, Senior Forensic Analyst, NIJ, 202-305-9076,
swienton@ojp.usdoj.gov. You can also visit the conference's Web site 
at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/more_slcall.htm.

Practice and Research Team Up at VAW Conference

A recent conference marked the first opportunity for NIJ to discuss with both
researchers and practitioners findings from NIJ's violence against women and
family violence research portfolio. 

The conference drew almost 200 participants and promoted
researcher-practitioner interaction by having practitioners serve as discussants
on the various research panels. 

Keynote speaker Beth Richie challenged participants to question the
effectiveness of their efforts to conduct research that serves all women in all
situations and populations. 

Dr. Richie, associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, stressed
the importance of conducting studies of and providing services for all kinds of
women, especially those in hard-to-reach populations. In particular, she
highlighted the domestic violence experiences of women in prison and women
on the street, noting that these populations are the ones most often forgotten
and perhaps in need of the most attention.

For more information about NIJ's portfolio on family violence, including funding
opportunities, visit the Violence Against Women and Family Violence Program's 
Web page at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/vawprog. For information about
other violence against women and family violence projects within the Office of
Justice Programs, visit the Violence Against Women Office Web site 
at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo.

Top Thinkers Speak at Free Lecture Series

As part of the fifth annual "Perspectives on Crime and Justice" lecture series,
NIJ has invited four of the top thinkers in the criminal justice field to speak
about this year's hot topics.

The well-attended breakfast series gives policymakers a chance to talk candidly
with leading thinkers in a question-and-answer session that follows each lecture.

The scholars, their topics, and dates for the 2001 series are:

--Alfred Blumstein, J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems
and Operations Research, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and
Management, Carnegie Mellon University, "Why Is Crime Falling--or Is It?"
February 14, 2001.

--Laurence Steinberg, Distinguished Professor, Psychology Department,
Temple University, "The Juvenile Psychopath: Fads, Fictions, and Facts About
the Identification and Treatment of Serious Juvenile Offenders," March 20,
2001.

--Carl Bell, President and CEO, Community Mental Health Council and
Foundation, Inc., "Violence Prevention 101: Implications for Policy
Development," April 20, 2001.

--Margaret Berger, Suzanne J. and Norman Miles Professor of Law,
Brooklyn Law School, "Raising the Bar: The Impact of DNA Testing on the
Field of Forensics," May 9, 2001.

This year the series moves from Capitol Hill to the JW Marriott Hotel on
Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.

The lectures are free and include a continental breakfast, but because 
of limited space, reservations are required. For more information or to register,
visit the Institute for Law and Justice's (ILJ) Web site at
http://nijpcs.org/upcoming/perspectives.htm, contact ILJ at 703-684-5300, or
email ILJ at nijpcs@ilj.org.

Videotapes and the collected papers have been published for the last 3 years.
Call NCJRS at 1-800-851-3420 for more information or to obtain copies of the
videotapes or books.

---------------------------

Index 2000

This index lists all the features and At-A-Glance articles published in the NIJ
Journal during 2000.

January (JR 000242)

Feature Articles

--Childhood Victimization: Early Adversity, Later Psychopathology 
by Cathy Spatz Widom

--Crunching Numbers: Crime and Incarceration at the End of the Millennium by
Jan M. Chaiken

--On-the-Job Stress in Policing--Reducing It, Preventing It

--Community Oriented Lawyering: An Emerging Approach to Legal Practice by
Roger Conner

--Piecing Together the Cross-National Crime Puzzle by Jan van Dijk and
Kristiina Kangaspunta

At-A-Glance: Recent Research Findings

--Using Insects as "Tools" in Criminal Investigations

--Police Discretion in Fixing "Broken Windows" by George Kelling

--Reducing Gun-Related Crime by Terrence Dunworth

--Restraining Orders May Be Key to Uncovering Current Violence 
by L. Oriana Linares

April (JR 000243)

Feature Articles

--Clearing Up Homicide Clearance Rates by Charles Wellford and James
Cronin

--Drug-Facilitated Rape: Looking for the Missing Pieces by Nora Fitzgerald and 
K. Jack Riley

--Can We Talk? Public Safety and the Interoperability Challenge by Brenna
Smith and Tom Tolman

--Departing Thoughts From an NIJ Director by Jeremy Travis and Alfred
Blumstein

--Youth Violence: Do Parents and Families Make a Difference? 
by Laurence Steinberg

At-A-Glance: Recent Research Findings

--A New Look at Neighborhood Disorder by Robert J. Sampson and
Stephen W. Raudenbush

--Effectiveness of Residential Drug Treatment for Florida Probationers by
Pamela Lattimore and Richard Linster

--Juveniles in Adult Prisons by Robert B. Levinson and John J. Greene

--Alcohol, Drugs, and Battered Women's Calls to the Police 
by Ira W. Hutchison

--The Declining Rate of Intimate Partner Homicide by Laura Dugan, Daniel
Nagin, and Richard Rosenfeld

July (JR 000244)

Feature Articles

--Meeting the Challenge of Transnational Crime by James O. Finckenauer

--Keeping the Peace: Police Discretion and Mentally Ill Persons by Linda A.
Teplin

--Getting Smarter: Making Guns Safer for Law Enforcement and Consumers by
Lauren R. Taylor

--Reducing Offender Drug Use Through Prison-Based Treatment

At-A-Glance: Recent Research Findings

--Effective Police Management Affects Citizen Perceptions by Robert C. Davis
and Pedro Mateu-Gelabert

--Victim Services Programs for Women Evaluated by Barbara E. Smith,
Robert C. Davis, and Laura B. Nickles

--Performance Measures Shape Officer Actions by Geoffrey P. Alpert, D.J.
Kenney, and T.M. Oettemier

--Profiling the Needs of Young Female Offenders by Barbara Owen and B.
Bloom

--Does Drug Testing Matter? by Rudy Haapanen

October (JR 000245)

Feature Articles

--Harnessing Information in a Prosecutor's Office by Elizabeth Glazer

--Methamphetamine: An Update on an Emerging Problem

--Getting to Know Neighborhoods by G. Thomas Kingsley and 
Kathryn L.S. Pettit

--Measuring Violence Against Women: Recommendations From an
Interagency Workshop

--Toward the Ideal of Community Justice by Todd R. Clear and David R.
Karp

At-A-Glance: Recent Research Findings

--Connecting Crack Markets, Guns, and Youth Homicide by Daniel Cork

--Turning Points That Lead Away From Delinquency by John H. Laub

--Psychiatric Disorders of Youthful Offenders by Linda A. Teplin

--Testing, Treatment, and Sanction to Reduce Drug Use by Faye S. Taxman

---------------------------

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh Street, NW.
Washington, DC 20531

John Ashcroft
Attorney General

Office of Justice Programs
World Wide Web Site
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov

National Institute of Justice
World Wide Web Site
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), a centralized
national clearinghouse of criminal justice information, is sponsored by the Office
of Justice Programs agencies and the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Registered users of NCJRS receive the NIJ Journal and NCJRS Catalog free.
To become a registered user, write NCJRS User Services, P.O. Box 6000,
Rockville, MD 20849-6000, call 800-851-3420, or email askncjrs@ncjrs.org.
Visit the NCJRS World Wide Web site at http://www.ncjrs.org.

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice
Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of
Justice Statistics, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and
the Office for Victims of Crime. 

JR 000246