Title: National Institute of Justice Journal 242
Series: Journal
Author: NIJ
Published: January 2000
Subject: Criminal justice system
78 pages
172,000 bytes

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U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
National Institute of Justice

National Institute of Justice Journal
January 2000

JR 000242

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

National Institute of Justice Journal

National Institute of Justice

Jeremy Travis
Director

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.

For more information about NIJ activities, products, and publications, visit
NIJ on the World Wide Web at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

NIJ Journal Editorial Board

David Boyd
Deputy Director for the Office of Science and Technology

Sally T. Hillsman
Deputy Director for the Office of Research and Evaluation

John L. Schwarz
Deputy Director for the Office of Development and Communications

Christy A. Visher
Science Advisor to the Director

Cheryl A. Crawford
A. Trent DePersia
James O. Finckenauer
Mary G. Graham
Sharla P. Rausch
Gerald P. Soucy
Laura Winterfield

Editors
Jolene Hernon
Judy Reardon

Production by:
Palladian Partners, Inc.

Managing Editor
Brenner Brown

Designer
Martha Maury

Assistant Editors
Catharine Rankin
Joellen Talbot

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Director's Message

As the body of solid, empirically based research and innovative practice
grows quantitatively and qualitatively, forums for presenting it need to
grow accordingly. Thus, with our first issue of the NIJ Journal for the year
2000, we begin presenting more full-length, indepth feature articles.

NIJ has been pleased for the past several years to sponsor Cathy Spatz
Widom's notable research on the implications of child abuse for criminal
behavior later in life. Her most recent work, profiled here, indicates that
this type of crime can also adversely affect the victim's long-term
cognitive and psychological development. Bureau of Justice Statistics
Director Jan Chaiken looks at some recent major trends in crime and the
justice system response, suggesting that researchers set themselves to the
task of exploring what lies behind these phenomena, the better to sustain
the decline in crime and, as the case may be, to find out if the decline is
real. 

The new century is likely to see globalization continue apace in every
aspect of human endeavor, crime included. Jan Van Dijk's and Kristiina
Kangaspunta's comparison of crime in different parts of the world shows
the progress being made in understanding cross-national trends. But as the
authors note, we are still far from solving the mystery of
country-by-country variation.

If the innovations in dealing with on-the-job stress in policing and in
bringing a community focus to "lawyering" are any indication, the years
ahead hold great promise for effective intervention. Many observers see
stress as a quintessentially 20th century affliction. The review of what
police departments are doing to reduce and prevent stress suggests there is
hope that the 21st century will be the time when solutions are found. As a
member of the "lawyering" profession, I can attest that it is sometimes a
tradition-bound specialty. NIJ visiting fellow Roger Conner shows how,
following the lead of community policing, the profession is shifting from a
case-specific to a problem-solving approach, the better to ensure outcomes
that communities value. 

I think these articles make it abundantly clear that even if crime continues
its welcome decline, there will be no surcease in the century ahead in the
challenges to researchers and to those who devise interventions based on
their findings.

Jeremy Travis Director

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CONTENTS

Features

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

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

On-the-Job Stress in Policing Reducing It, Preventing It Community
Oriented Lawyering: An Emerging Approach to Legal Practice
--Roger Conner

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

At-a-glance

Recent Research Findings:
--Insects as Investigative Tools
--Police Discretion
--Reducing Gun-Related Crime
--Detecting Interpersonal Violence 

Departments

New & Noteworthy Events Solicitations & Awards

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CHILDHOOD VICTIMIZATION: EARLY ADVERSITY, LATER
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY by Cathy Spatz Widom

NCJ 180077

Childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect have both immediate
and long-term effects. Different types of abuse have a range of
consequences for a child's later physical and psychological well-being,
cognitive development, and behavior. But there is another side to the
issue: Because these crimes often occur against a background of more
chronic adversity, in families with multiple problems, it may not be
reasonable to assume that before being victimized the child enjoyed
"well-being." Parental alcoholism, drug problems, and other inadequate
social and family functioning are among the factors affecting the child's
response to victimization. Gender differences add to the complexity.
Disentangling all these factors is difficult, as researchers have found. 

Clearly, more needs to be learned about the long-term consequences of
childhood victimization and the processes linking it to outcomes later in
life. This article discusses what is known from earlier studies and also
presents the findings of more recent research.[1] 

Consequences and What Gives Rise to Them 

Child maltreatment has physical, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral
consequences. Physical consequences range from minor injuries to brain
damage and even death. Psychological consequences range from chronic
low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression to substance abuse and other
self-destructive behavior and suicide attempts. Cognitive effects include
attention problems, learning disorders, and poor school performance.
Behavioral consequences range from poor peer relations to physical
aggression and antisocial behavior to violent behavior. These
consequences are influenced by such factors as gender differences and the
context in which victimization occurs. 

Gender differences. Differences between men and women in manifesting
the effects of childhood victimization have received only limited attention
from scholars. Some researchers, exploring how men and women differ in
showing distress, have suggested there is some conformity to traditional
notions of male and female behavior.[2] Some have noted that differences
between men and women in manifesting the consequences of abuse may
parallel gender differences in the way psychopathology is expressed. Thus,
aggression (in males) and depression (in females) may express the same
underlying distress, perhaps reflecting gender-specific strategies for
maintaining self-esteem in the face of perceived rejection.[3] 

Differences in the way boys and girls react to abuse have been reported in
a few studies. In one, boys were found to have more externalizing and
girls to have more internalizing symptoms.[4] An examination of
depression and conduct disorders in sexually abused children revealed that
girls were more likely than boys to develop depressive disorders and less
likely to develop conduct disorders.[5]

Family and community--the context. The long-term impact of childhood
trauma may depend on the larger--family or community-- context.[6] In a
study of children kidnaped and held underground, preexisting family
pathology was identified as a factor in the victims' long-term adjustment.
Four years after the incident, the children from troubled families were
more maladjusted than those from healthier families.[7] The findings of
other research were not as clear; rather, subsequent maladjustment was
linked more to whether victimized children received appropriate play
materials and maternal involvement than to whether they were abused.[8]
Parental alcoholism is another contextual factor linked to child abuse[9]
and to alcoholism later in life in the offspring.[10]

In the same way, practices of the community and the justice and social
service systems may have long-term effects. Researchers have called
attention to the ways in which children who are members of racial and
ethnic minorities encounter discrimination, which diminishes their
self-esteem and exacerbates the effects of victimization.[11] Elsewhere,
researchers have suggested t hat victimized children are more likely to
develop problem behavior in adolescence partly because of juvenile justice
system practices that disproportionately label them as juvenile offenders
and adjudicate them as such.[12]

Studying the Long-Term Effects in Depth

In a systematic study of the long-term consequences of early childhood
abuse and neglect, the author is examining the experiences of more than
900 people who were victimized in childhood. Begun in 1986, the study
first focused on the extent to which, as the victims grew into adulthood,
they became involved in delinquency and crime, including violent
crime.[13] The current focus is on how their intellectual, behavioral,
social, and psychological development was affected. This second phase
began in 1989, more than 20 years after the victimization. (See "How the
Study Is Being Conducted.")

Intellectual performance. When tested at about age 29, the study subjects
and the comparison group both scored at the lower levels of the IQ scale,
with the majority in both groups below the standard mean of 100 (see
figure 1, next page). Those who were abused or neglected, however,
scored significantly lower than the comparison group, and these lower
levels persisted irrespective of age, sex, race, and criminal history.

Overall, both groups averaged 11.5 years of schooling, but the abused and
neglected group completed significantly fewer years. Thus, the childhood
victims were less likely to have completed high school: Fewer than half, in
contrast to two-thirds of the people in the control group. 

Behavioral and social development. The occupations of both groups
ranged from laborer through professional. In the sample overall, the
median job level was that of semiskilled worker, with fewer than 7 percent
in the two groups holding managerial or professional jobs (see figure 2,
next page). The abused and neglected individuals had not done as well as
the control group: Significantly more of them held menial and semiskilled
jobs. Conversely, a larger proportion of people in the control group held
higher level jobs, ranging from skilled worker through professional.

Unemployment and underemployment disproportionately affected the
abused and neglected group (see figure 3, page 6). In both groups, more
than one-fifth had been unemployed in the 5-year period before they were
interviewed for the study. Not surprisingly, people in the control group
were more likely than the victims to be employed. For underemployment,
the story is similar: Significantly more victims of childhood abuse and
neglect were underemployed in the 5 years before the interview than were
controls. 

The quality of interpersonal relations also is affected by childhood
victimization, and here again there are no surprises (see figure 4, next
page). Using marital stability as the measure of success, child abuse and
neglect victims did not do as well as control group members. Almost 20
percent of the controls reported a stable marriage, compared to only 13
percent of the abuse and neglect group. Frequent divorce and separation
were also more common among abused and neglected people. 

As reported in previous research, childhood victimization also increases
the risk of criminal behavior later in life--as measured by arrests for
delinquency and adult criminality, including violent crime.[14] The
current study confirms these findings. The odds of arrest for a juvenile
offense were 1.9 times higher among abused and neglected individuals
than among controls; for crimes committed as an adult, the odds were 1.6
times higher (see table 1, page 7). Childhood abuse or neglect increases
the risk of being arrested for violent crime, whether in the juvenile or adult
years, as well as for crime in general. It is perhaps most important to note,
however, that a substantial proportion of the abused and neglected children
did not become delinquents or criminals. 

Psychological and emotional fallout. Suicide attempts, diagnosis of
antisocial personality disorder, and alcohol abuse and/or dependence were
some of the measures of psychopathology. The abused and neglected
individuals were significantly more likely than the controls to have
attempted suicide and to have met the criteria for antisocial personality
disorder (see table 2, page 7), findings irrespective of age, sex, race, and
criminal history. High rates of alcohol abuse were found in both groups
(more than 50 percent in each), although the abuse/neglect victims were
not at greater risk than the controls, a finding that departs from other
research but that methodological differences might explain.[15]

As other research has shown, gender can affect the development of
psychopathology in abused and neglected children later in life. The current
study revealed some of these gender-based differences. Females abused
and neglected in childhood were more likely than controls to attempt
suicide, to abuse alcohol or be dependent on it, or to suffer from an
antisocial personality disorder. Like females, male victims were found at
greater risk than controls of attempting suicide and developing an
antisocial personality disorder, but they were not at greater risk of
developing alcohol problems (see table 3, next page). 

The findings of males' higher risk for antisocial personality disorder and
females' higher risk for alcohol problems parallel previous research
revealing conformity to gender roles. However, the finding that females
are, like males, at risk for antisocial personality disorder (as well as
criminal behavior)[16] may call for reconsidering the assumptions of
externalizing and internalizing as the respective pathways of male and
female response. 

The context of victimization. The findings confirmed earlier research
identifying context as a factor influencing the long-term outcome for
victims. This became evident in analyzing the relationships among
childhood victimization, having a parent who had been arrested, and the
likelihood of the offspring's developing antisocial personality disorder.
The analysis revealed that among people who had a parent with a history
of arrest, abuse or neglect in childhood did not increase the likelihood of
their developing an antisocial personality disorder (see table 4, page 8). 

However, where there was no parental criminality, being abused and/or
neglected did increase the risk for this disorder. This complicates attempts
to understand the consequences of childhood victimization and also
suggests multiple factors in the development of antisocial personality
disorder. 

A different picture and set of relationships were found for alcohol abuse.
When parental alcohol/drug abuse, childhood victimization, and
subsequent alcohol problems in offspring were analyzed, the parents'
substance abuse problem emerged as the critical factor in the development
of the same problem in the children, and this held true whether or not the
child had been victimized (see table 5, page 8). The study also showed
that, as a group, the children who were abused or neglected were no more
likely than controls to develop alcohol problems, whether or not the parent
had the same problem.

The strong influence of parental characteristics on the offspring, regardless
of victimization, warrants more careful consideration, but is consistent
with earlier literature on the genetic transmission of alcoholism.

Multiple Mechanisms 

The study generated more--and more systematic--evidence that the
consequences of childhood victimization extend well beyond childhood
and adolescence, persisting into young adulthood. Such victimization
affects many functions later in life, and what was revealed in this study
most likely represents only the tip of the iceberg, which further research
could bring to light. On the other hand, some expected outcomes (such as
increased risk for alcohol problems in abused and neglected children) did
not materialize, raising questions for further study.

Disentangling the pathways. One of the difficulties in assessing risk of
negative consequences is sorting out the children's multiple problems and
those of their parents. As previous research has shown, adverse effects
interact, so that the combined effects of two types of problems may be
greater than their sum.[17] Whether this interaction effect applies to
childhood victimization is not known, although it is likely. 

This study has not yet tried to distinguish among the many mechanisms by
which childhood victimization affects development and psychopathology.
When it comes to the influence of contextual factors, children may simply
be modeling their parents' behavior. But it also is possible that abuse or
neglect may produce immediate effects that then irremediably affect
subsequent development, which in turn may affect still later outcomes.

Direct and indirect pathways. Some pathways may be direct--persisting
into adulthood. Abused and neglected children may show aggressiveness
and behavior problems in childhood, delinquency in adolescence, and
antisocial and criminal behavior in adulthood. It also is likely that this path
leads to abusive behavior in the home, manifested in spouse or child
abuse. In other instances there may be a delayed reaction, occurring years
later. 

Abuse or neglect may encourage certain dysfunctional ways of coping. An
example is impulsive behavior that in turn gives rise to deficiencies in
problem solving or in school performance, less than adequate functioning
on the job, or antisocial personality disorder. Adaptations that might serve
well at one stage of development may no longer do so at a later stage,
placing the person at risk for further unfavorable situations or subsequent
victimization that may trigger psychopathology.

Some early, adverse experiences may be indirect, creating byproducts.
They may change the environment or the family situation, which in turn
may predispose a person to problem behavior. They also may expose the
child to further harmful experiences. In this way, the consequences may be
due not so much to the abuse or neglect, but to the chain of events it
triggers.

No doubt there are many other mechanisms by which abuse and neglect
affect a child. Hopefully, future models that explain long-term
consequences will examine some of them, because finding a single
mechanism that explains all cases of abuse and neglect is highly unlikely. 

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

Notes 

1. This article summarizes the author's "Childhood Victimization: Early
Adversity and Subsequent Psychopathology," in Adversity, Stress, and
Psychopathology, ed. B.P. Dohrenwend, New York: Oxford University
Press, 1998: 81-95. 

2. Downey, G., et al., "Maltreatment and Childhood Depression," in
Handbook of Depression in Children, ed. W.M. Reynolds and H.F.
Johnson, New York: Plenum, 1994; Dohrenwend, B.P., and B.S.
Dohrenwend, "Sex Differences in Psychiatric Disorders," American
Journal of Sociology 81 (1976):1447-54; Horwitz, A.V., and H.R. White,
"Gender Role Orientations and Styles of Pathology Among Adolescents,"
Journal of Health and Social Behavior 28 (1987):158-170; and Widom,
C.S., "Sex Roles, Criminality, and Psychopathology," in Sex Roles and
Psychopathology, ed. C.S. Widom, New York: Plenum, 1984: 87-213.

3. Downey et al., "Maltreatment and Childhood Depression." 

4. Friedrich, W.H., A.J. Urquiza, and R.L. Beilke, "Behavior Problems in
Sexually Abused Young Children," Journal of Pediatric Psychology 11
(1986):47-57.

5. Livingston, R., "Sexually and Physically Abused Children," Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 26
(1987):413-415. 

6. Briere, J., and M. Runtz, "Symptomatology Associated With Childhood
Sexual Victimization in a Nonclinical Adult Sample," Child Abuse and
Neglect 12 (1988):51-60; Harris, T., G.W. Brown, and A. Bifulco, "Loss
of Parent in Childhood and Adult Psychiatric Disorder: A Tentative
Overall Model," Development and Psychopathology 2 (1990): 311-328;
Terr, L.A., "Chowchilla Revisited: The Effects of Psychiatric Trauma Four
Years After a School-Bus Kidnaping," American Journal of Psychiatry
140 (1983): 1543- 1550.

7. Terr, "Chowchila Revisited." 

8. Gibbin, P.T., R.H. Starr, and S.W. Agronow, "Affective Behavior of
Abused and Controlled Children: Comparison of Parent-Child Interactions
and the Influence of Home Environment Variables," Journal of Genetic
Psychology 144 (1984):69-82. 

 9. Famularo, R., et al., "Alcoholism and Severe Child Maltreatment,"
American Journal of Orthopschiatry 56 (1986):481-485; Reider, E.E., et
al., "Alcohol Involvement and Violence Toward Children Among
High-Risk Families," Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, August
11-15, 1989.

10. Goodwin, D.W., et al., "Alcohol Problems in Adoptees Raised Apart
From Alcoholic Biological Parents," Archives of General Psychiatry 28
(1973):238- 243; Goodwin, D.W., et al., "Alcoholism and Depression in
Adopted-Out Daughters of Alcoholics," Archives of General Psychiatry 34
(1977):751-755; Cloninger, C.R., et al., "Psychopathology in Adopted-Out
Children of Alcoholics: The Stockholm Adoption Study," in Recent
Developments in Alcoholism, Vol. 3, M. Galanter, ed., New York:
Plenum, 1985.

11.Wyatt, G.E., "Sexual Abuse of Ethnic Minority Children: Identifying
Dimensions of Victimization," Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice 21 (1990):338-343. 

12.Smith, C.P., D.J. Berkman, and W.M. Fraser, A Preliminary National
Assessment of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Juvenile Justice System:
The Shadows of Distress, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice:
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1980.

13. Widom, C.S., "The Cycle of Violence," Science 244 (1989):160-166.

14. These findings, based on the study of 1,196 of the original 1,575
subjects (the 908 abuse/neglect victims plus the 667 in the control group),
should not be confused with findings from studies published previously
(Widom, "Cycle of Violence," and Maxfield, M.G., and C.S. Widom, "The
Cycle of Violence: Revisited Six Years Later," Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine 150 [1996]:390-395), which report on the entire
original sample of 1,575. 

15. See Widom, C.S., T. Ireland, and P.J. Glynn, "Alcohol Abuse in
Abused and Neglected Children Followed-Up: Are They at Increased
Risk?" Journal of Studies on Alcohol 56 (1995):207-217. 

16. These findings are not shown here. See Maxfield and Widom, "The
Cycle of Violence: Revisited." 

17. Rutter, M., "Protective Factors in Children's Response to Stress and
Disadvantage," in Primary Prevention of Psychopathology: Social
Competence in Children, Vol. 3, ed. M.V. Kent and J.E. Rolf, Hanover,
NH: New England Press, 1979: 49-74 . 

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

About the author

Cathy Spatz Widom is a professor of criminal justice and psychology at
the State University of New York at Albany. She is widely recognized for
her work on the cycle of violence.

The author wishes to thank Patricia J. Glynn and Suzanne Luu for their
help in the preparation of this article. 

The research described in this article was supported by grants from the
U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (86-IJ-CX-0033,
89-IJ- CX-0007, and 94-IJ-CX-0031), and the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(AA09238) and National Institute of Mental Health (MH49467).

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

How the Study Is Being Conducted 

The study is based on a "prospective cohorts design," so-called because it
follows a group of people (a cohort) for an extended period, enabling
researchers to examine sequences of development over time. In the case of
this study, the design helps sort out the effects of childhood victimization
from other, potentially confounding effects traceable to different causes.
The subjects were told they were part of a study of the characteristics of
people who had grown up in the area in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

The cases of children who were abused and/or neglected were drawn from
county juvenile and adult criminal court records in a metropolitan area of
the Midwest between 1967 and 1971. The children were young--age 11 or
younger--at the time of the incident.

The comparison group. To create a control group against which to
compare the abused and neglected children, a group of children who had
not been reported as victimized but who were similar in other respects to
the study subjects were identified. To match children younger than school
age at the time of the incident, county birth records were used. To match
school-age children, records of more than 100 elementary schools were
used.

Sample size and characteristics. The original sample consisted of 1,575
people, of whom 908 were study subjects and 667 were controls. Of these,
1,196 were interviewed for the study. Just under half the interviewees
were female, about two-thirds were white, and the mean age at the time of
the interview was 28.7. There were no differences between the
abused/neglected group and the controls in gender, race/ethnicity, or age. 

Some caveats. Because the study findings were based on court cases, they
most likely represent the most extreme incidents of childhood abuse and
neglect. What is more, they were processed before enactment of child
abuse laws, when many cases went unreported and thus never came to the
attention of the authorities. The findings are therefore not generalizable to
unreported or unsubstantiated cases of abuse and neglect. 

Because cases brought before the courts disproportionately represent
people at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum, the study's
subjects and controls were drawn from that stratum. For this reason, it
would be inappropriate to generalize to cases involving people from other
socioeconomic strata. 

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

CRUNCHING NUMBERS: CRIME AND INCARCERATION AT THE
END OF THE MILLENNIUM by Jan M. Chaiken

NCJ 180078

This article is based on a presentation made by Dr. Chaiken on July 20,
1999, at the Office of Justice Programs' Annual Conference on Criminal
Justice Research and Evaluation in Washington D.C.

As we approach January 2000, the impulse to think about the future is
nearly irresistible. At the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS), we compulsive statisticians know that the year 2000 is still part of
the twentieth century, so we are more relaxed than most people about the
arrival of a new millennium.

Our attitude toward the future may also be shaped by the fact that we
statisticians are more oriented to the past: We know that the only data
available are data from the past. This article, therefore, explores some of
the complex trends in property crime, rape, and violence among intimates,
all of which raise important questions for new re-search. It also highlights
some of the implications of the high rates of incarceration, which are
attracting researchers' attention.[1] Conclusions are left for the reader to
draw.

Decline in Property Crime--Does the U.S. Stand Alone? 

As measured by the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS),
property crime has been declining in this country for at least 25 years[2]
(see figure 1[3]). This type of crime, which includes larceny, burglary,
theft in general, and motor vehicle theft, has fallen 58 percent since 1975.
Burglary rates closely resemble property crime rates overall in their steep
decline (see figure 2, next page).

This pattern has not been duplicated in other countries. In Canada, for
example, although property crime has declined steadily since 1992, the
decline is not nearly as steep as in the United States, and the longer term
pattern in Canada is essentially flat--or has not changed.[4]

England and Wales use a victimization survey quite similar to the NCVS,
which facilitates comparison of crime data with the United States. Not
only has property crime been increasing in England and Wales, but the
rates--once much lower than in the United States--now exceed ours.[5] For
most of the period since 1981, burglary in England and Wales has been
increasing, not declining, with a turnaround starting in 1992 or 1993 (see
figure 3), a situation approximately the same as in Canada. In rates of
motor vehicle theft, the patterns in the United States much more closely
resemble those of England and Wales (see figure 4, next page).

What is going on here? First, it is important to note that national trends are
an aggregate of State and local trends, which may be moving in entirely
different directions in some parts of the country than the overall numbers.
So it is possible that in a particular State or community the trends are quite
a bit different from the national trend. But on a nationwide basis, the
differences among countries are palpable. In London, burglaries are a
high-priority focus of the police and are frequent topics of newspaper
articles and even announcements on public transit. 

The downward shift in burglary and theft in the United States has attracted
very little attention from researchers--especially compared to that given to
trends in violent crime. To be sure, the reason for the downturn is difficult
to understand if we accept the idea that it is not possible to find a valid
explanation by pointing to something that happened in the United States
but also happened in other countries. 

What comes to mind as possible explanations? On the side of potential
victims: More window and door alarms and more secure windows and
doors; better illumination in yards and driveways and inside homes when
no one is present; more private security and gated communities; less cash
being carried because of greater use of credit cards and ATM cards for
financial transactions. On the side of potential perpetrators: More drug
dealers in prison; more criminals turning to robbery and lucrative Internet
crime instead of burglary. And, of course, better research and evaluation! 

When U.S. News and World Report examined these patterns, it favored
this explanation for the drop in crime: People are more likely now than in
the past to be home watching cable TV and videotapes, rather than being
out on the town, so the nighttime burglar has fewer opportunities.[6]

Rape: Is It Really Declining? 

People generally have two different reactions when they see the data on
rape trends. Some say, when they see the decline reported by the NCVS
(see figure 5), obviously our policies concerning violence against women
are working-- women are learning how to handle threatening situations or
are aware of the alternatives for avoiding them.

Others disagree, believing that the downward trend is illusory, that it
means only that women are becoming less willing to report rape and even
more reluctant to mention it to the NCVS interviewers. The NCVS data
are based on interviews, not police reports, and the respondents also are
asked if they reported the crime to the police. We know that rape continues
to be the crime reported least often, especially among women in their teens
and early twenties, as well as college students.

BJS, the National Institute of Justice, and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) sponsor research to examine whether other methods
of inquiring about sexual assault and rape yield better estimates of the true
extent of victimization.[7] Whenever BJS compares the results of its
NCVS surveys with those of the more explicit and reassuring methods
used in surveys conducted by NIJ, CDC, and in other BJS research, it
becomes clear that many of these crimes remain uncounted by the NCVS. 

This is particularly true of rape by intimates, which women may mention
to an interviewer in the context of fights with their partners or spouses but
are less likely to mention in the NCVS context of crime. That may be
either because they may not think it is a crime or because they may not
want to contemplate the implications of their partner's behavior amounting
to a violent crime.

BJS is working closely with NIJ, CDC, and the National Center for Health
Statistics to better understand the incidence of domestic violence,
including sexual assault, and to develop better ways to measure the extent
of violence against women.[8] Particularly because sexual assault, unlike
property crime, may not actually be dwindling, it requires continued
research and intervention--and improved measurement systems!

Declining Violence Among Intimates--The Gender Gap

The story of trends in violence among intimates is a remarkable one. The
past decade has seen a real change in perceptions of the seriousness of
violence against women, especially by a husband or partner. Legislation
has been enacted at the State and Federal levels, the Violence Against
Women Office was established in the U.S. Department of Justice, and
funding has flowed to all the States for programs intended to reduce the
occurrence of violence against women and assist victims. Although we are
beginning to see numerous indications of the effectiveness of these
programs in a broad sense, the trends in serious violence are not at all what
might be expected given the recent strong emphasis on violence against
women.

The overall decrease in serious, violent crime (by about 31 percent since
1994) has benefited men much more than women (see figure 6). For
women, the victimization rate declined less than 15 percent in this period
and overall is still slightly above the levels of the 1970's. When we
examine particular population subgroups, we find some categories of
women who are more likely than men to be victims of crime. Women
college students, for example, are at greater risk of victimization than
women of the same age who are not in college.[9] On the whole, the
victimization of college women by crimes other than sexual assault is
approximately the same as that for men, but women are in addition the
primary victims of sexual assault. This is a form of gender equity that no
one was hoping for.

When we examine homicide committed by intimates, we detect the
possibility that a downward trend for women victims began around 1994.
However, the long-term downward shift in the number of men killed by
their intimate partners is much steeper (see figure 7, next page). A
reasonable interpretation of this disparity is that women who find
themselves in situations so devastating that they might consider killing
their partners increasingly have options such as shelters, protection orders,
and police arrest policies that allow them, at the moment they feel
compelled to kill, to resist that compulsion.[10] Men, on the other hand,
continue to kill their intimate partners at about the same rate as a quarter of
a century ago.

Looking in more detail at the circumstances in which this steep reduction
in the number of men killed by intimates has occurred, we see a long-term
downtrend in the use of guns. Then, in the past few years, the use of other
kinds of weapons also has declined (see figure 8, next page). It should be
noted that not all the men killed by intimates are killed by a woman: The
data also include male intimates who kill men.

High Incarceration Rate--Problem or Solution? 

Another major trend for researchers' consideration is the literally
incredible increase in incarceration rates in the United States since 1975.
Like the decrease in violent crime, this fact is fairly well known, although
the details and the implications may not be. Not only has the incarceration
rate more than quadrupled--after holding more or less steady for
decades--but it has disproportionately affected minority racial and ethnic
groups (see figure 9, next page). This is so much the case in some
communities that incarceration is becoming almost a normative life
experience. 

Such a high level of incarceration has grave implications for the body
politic. For one thing, it fosters disrespect for legitimate authority among
people who begin to feel that everyone they know is being put in prison.
For another, because felons typically are not eligible to vote, they are
likely to have no interest or role in elections and thus may be alienated
from the political process. We are disenfranchising a group of people who
currently are minorities, but--if current demographic trends continue--will
become a majority of the population.

The latest figures, for 1996, show that on any given day, approximately 30
percent of black men ages 20 to 29 were under correctional
supervision--either in jail or prison or on probation or parole in the
community (see tables 1 and 2, page 16). Examining the numbers for State
and Federal prisoners only (that is, omitting people who are on probation
and parole), we find that 8.3 percent of black men ages 25 to 29 were in
prison at the end of 1996. This figure is more than three times higher than
the 2.6 percent of Hispanic men who are in prison and more than 10 times
higher than the rate for white men. 

BJS has developed a statistical model that predicts the lifetime chances of
going to prison if current patterns of imprisonment continue at the same
levels. The model indicates that a young black man age 16 in 1996 had a
28.5 percent chance of spending time in prison during his life (see table 3,
page 16). This figure does not include being arrested and spending a night
or so in jail. It reflects actual prison sentences, which ordinarily are for at
least a year and follow a conviction for a felony.

This does not seem to be the kind of trend that can be sustained very long,
both because of its monetary costs and because of its corrosive effects on
heavily affected communities. On the other side of the equation, however,
there are those who believe that the dramatic decrease in violent crime that
this country has experienced in the recent past can be attributed to the very
fact that large numbers of people are behind bars. They see the investment
as paying off in lower crime.

A Window of Opportunity

This unanticipated period of rapidly declining crime may be unique in our
Nation's history. Indeed, there are those who warn that it surely must be a
passing phenomenon. Whether or not that is the case, it would seem
opportune for criminal justice researchers to seize the moment and learn as
much as they can about the underlying causes of the decline. For the
purpose of developing public policy, we are most interested in uncovering
strong evidence about what has been done at the State, city, county, and
Federal levels that helped make the decline happen. It also would be of
interest to shed light on pockets where the overall national data are not
borne out. Such efforts on the part of researchers may turn out to be vital
in sustaining the decline of crime in the United States. At the same time,
we know that even effective policies for crime reduction that unfairly
affect any segment of the population should not be tolerated.

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

Notes

1. See, for example, Clear, Todd, and Dina R. Rose, When Neighbors Go
to Jail: Impact on Attitudes About Formal and Informal Social Control,
Research Preview, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Justice,
National Institute of Justice, July 1999.

2. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the Nation's
primary source of information about criminal victimization. Information is
obtained annually from a nationally representative sample of roughly
43,000 households comprising more than 80,000 people who are asked
about the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of their
victimization by crime. The survey reports the extent of victimization from
rape, sexual assault, robbery, assault, theft, household burglary, and motor
vehicle theft for the population as a whole and for subpopulations such as
women, the elderly, members of various racial groups, and city dwellers.
NCVS data collection began in 1973; data from the redesigned survey
were reported beginning in 1993.

3. This figure and the others accompanying this article are drawn from
charts on the BJS Web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj. gov/bjs). The data
presented in the figures are also on the Web site and are updated from time
to time. 

4. Tremblay, Sylvain, Crime Statistics in Canada, 1998, Ottawa, Ontario:
Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1999. 

5. Langan, Patrick A., and David P. Farrington, Crime and Justice in the
United States and in England and Wales, 1981-96, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 1998 (NCJ
169284). 

6. Witkin, Gordon, "The Crime Bust," U.S. News and World Report, May
25, 1998: 28-40. 

7. NIJ and CDC sponsored the research conducted for the National
Violence Against Women Survey. Among the publications based on
findings from that survey is Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of
Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against
Women Survey, by Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, Research in
Brief, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of
Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 1998
(NCJ 172837). NIJ and BJS sponsored research on the sexual
victimization of college women, conducted by Bonnie S. Fisher, Francis
T. Cullen, and Michael G. Turner. The final report of the study, "The
Sexual Victimization of College Women: Findings From Two National
Level Surveys," submitted December 1999 (NIJ grant 95- WT-NX-001
and BJS grant 97-MU-MU-001), will be made available by NIJ. 

8. NIJ, CDC, and BJS addressed the issue of building data systems for
monitoring and responding to violence against women in a jointly
sponsored workshop. The proceedings and papers of the October 1998
workshop will be published by CDC.

9. Noted in Fisher, Cullen, and Turner, "The Sexual Victimization of
College Women." 

10. Dugan, Laura, Daniel S. Nagin, and Richard Rosenfeld, "Explaining
the Decline in Intimate Partner Homicide," Homicide Studies 3, 3 (August
1999):187-214. 

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

About the author

Jan M. Chaiken is Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a
component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice,
and the Nation's primary source for criminal justice statistics. He was
appointed BJS Director by President Clinton in 1994.

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

Acknowledgments

Dr. Chaiken would like to thank the staff of the BJS victimization
statistics office, under the direction of Michael Rand; the staff of the
corrections statistics office, under the direction of Allen Beck; and Patrick
Langan and visiting fellow David Farrington for their assistance in
preparing this presentation. He also wishes to thank Marianne Zawitz and
visiting fellow James A. Fox for their work in preparing data from the BJS
Web site's subsite on homicide trends. Marianne Zawitz also prepared the
charts, reproduced here, that were part of the author's original presentation.

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

Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice

One of its kind. Full-color introduction to crime mapping. 

Introduces the science of crime mapping to professionals interested in
visualizing crime data through the medium of maps.

Not a technical guide to software, this 193-page book answers questions
about various issues and approaches to crime mapping. Suitable for both
beginner and intermediate crime analysts.

 More than 110 full-color maps illustrate how GIS is used to analyze
problems and suggest solutions. 

Available electronically at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

Hard copies available by contacting the National Criminal Justice
Reference Service at 1-800-851-3420, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD
20849-6000. 

Order document number NCJ 178919.

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

ON-THE-JOB STRESS IN POLICING--REDUCING IT, PREVENTING
IT 

NCJ 180079

Police officers and members of their families consider their job to be one
of the most stressful. It is hard to disagree with that assessment, as officers
themselves report high rates of divorce, alcoholism, suicide, and other
emotional and health problems.[1] No job is immune from stress, but for
the law enforcement officer, the strains and tensions experienced at work
are unique, often extreme, and sometimes unavoidable. 

Fortunately, many law enforcement agencies, recognizing the high toll
exacted by stress on officers and their families, are tackling it with an
array of creative prevention and reduction strategies. Through the CLEFS
(Corrections and Law Enforcement Family Support) program of the
National Institute of Justice, several of these agencies are receiving
support. 

This article summarizes an NIJ report that documented the causes and
effects of job-related stress affecting law enforcement officers and their
families. Much of the information was drawn from interviews, conducted
as part of the study, with officers themselves and their family members.[2]
Also included in this article are highlights of some stress prevention and
reduction programs reported in the study and of some of the CLEFS
projects.

Sources of Stress 

Exposure to violence, suffering, and death is inherent to the profession of
law enforcement officer. There are other sources of stress as well. Officers
who deal with offenders on a daily basis may view some sentences as too
lenient; they may perceive the public's opinion of police performance to be
unfavorable; they often are required to work mandatory, rotating shifts;
and they may not have enough time to spend with their families. Police
officers also face unusual, often highly disturbing, situations, such as
dealing with a child homicide victim or the survivors of vehicle crashes.

The nature of the organizations in which officers work may also be a
source of stress. Police departments historically have been structured along
military lines and as a result often have been rigidly hierarchical and
highly bureaucratic, with management styles that can be inflexible.
Although in many instances police culture is changing, in many others the
leadership remains predominately white and male, opportunities for
advancement are limited, and despite the ubiquity of the personal
computer, a large amount of paperwork still is required. 

Is Stress Getting Worse?

Officers may increasingly view stress as a normal part of their job, but
they also see themselves as being under considerably more pressure than
they or their colleagues were 10 or 20 years ago. They see new sources of
stress in the high level of violent crime and in what they perceive as
greater public scrutiny and adverse publicity. They also feel that police
camaraderie has declined; they fear contracting air- and blood-borne
diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS; and they see themselves as having to
deal with such relatively new issues as cultural diversity and the
imperative of "political correctness."

Even widely accepted changes in law enforcement can lead to more stress
for some officers. Although community policing may mean more job
satisfaction, greater overall departmental efficiency, and higher morale, the
transition to it can cause apprehension on the part of the officers who on a
day-to-day basis must operationalize this fundamental shift in the
philosophy of policing. Performance expectations are new and perhaps not
fully understood by all officers. Whether or not stress is increasing,
identifying the causes is a first step toward reducing and preventing it.
(See "How One Agency Pinpointed Stress.")

Counting the Ways: The Effects of Stress

The physical and emotional effects of stress are numerous and often
severe. Any one of them can impair job performance. The consequences of
job-related stress commonly reported by police officers are: 

--Cynicism and suspiciousness.
--Emotional detachment from various aspects of daily life.
--Reduced efficiency.
--Absenteeism and early retirement.
--Excessive aggressiveness (which may trigger an increase in citizen
complaints).
--Alcoholism and other substance abuse problems.
--Marital or other family problems (for example, extramarital affairs,
divorce, or domestic violence).
--Post-traumatic stress disorder.
--Heart attacks, ulcers, weight gain, and other health problems.
--Suicide. 

According to many counselors who work with police officers, difficulties
with intimate relationships are the most common problem they treat.

Families Feel Stress, Too

If the effects on officers are severe, they can be similarly serious for
officers' family members. In one survey of the spouses of police officers, a
very large percentage said they experienced unusually high levels of stress
because of their spouse's job.[3]

Stress felt by spouses is a concern in and of itself and also because a
stressful home environment can adversely affect the officer's job
performance. Even conditions, situations, or incidents that may not trouble
the officers themselves-- or that they may even enjoy, such as shift work
or undercover work--can mean severe problems for their families. Sources
of stress commonly cited by officers' spouses include: 

--Shift work and overtime.
--Concern over the spouse's cynicism, need to feel in control in the home,
or inability or unwillingness to express feelings.
--Fear that the spouse will be hurt or killed in the line of duty.
--Officers' and others' excessively high expectations of their children.
--Avoidance, teasing, or harassment of the officer's children by other
children because of the parent's job.
--Presence of a gun in the home.
--The officer's 24-hour role as a law enforcer.
--Perception that the officer prefers to spend time with coworkers rather
than with his or her family.
--Too much or too little discussion of the job.
--Family members' perception of the officer as paranoid or excessively
vigilant and overprotective of them.
--Problems in helping the officer cope with work-related problems.
--"Critical incidents," or the officer's injury or death on the job.[4]

Because stress affects family members, they are often the first to recognize
the officer's need for help, and they can play a crucial role by encouraging
him or her to seek assistance before the problem becomes worse. This is
the concept behind the Spousal Academy, a component of the
comprehensive officer and family support program offered by the Collier
County (Florida) Sheriff's Office. 

The Academy offers training to spouses and other domestic partners of
deputies and recruits who are enrolled in the Office's training academy.
The 10-hour program involves an introduction to the nature of law
enforcement work and an opportunity to discuss expectations about the
effect the spouses' occupation will have on family life. Participants learn
about the structure of the Sheriff's Office, about such human resource
issues as employee benefits (health insurance, for example), and about
stress management and conflict resolution. Two related programs in the
development stage are peer support groups for spouses and life partners
and for deputies' adolescent children.[5]

Soliciting feedback from participants is part of the program. Several noted
the program's effectiveness in conveying the reality of what an officer
does on the job. In the words of one spouse, "I now realize some of what
my husband goes through." One of the comments heard most frequently
concerns the value of simply meeting and interacting with other spouses.
As one participant characterized the spouse's role, "Sometimes, this can be
a lonely job."[6]

Countering Domestic Violence 

There is some belief that a relatively large proportion of law enforcement
officers may be involved in domestic violence, in part because of the
stressful nature of the job.[7] Many law enforcement agencies have begun
to turn their attention to the issue and devise ways to respond. 

One agency, the Los Angeles (County) Sheriff's Department (LASD), has
adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward domestic violence, with a full
range of disciplinary actions that could include dismissal from the force.
To reduce the number of domestic violence incidents among the LASD's
8,000 sworn officers, the Department bolstered the policy with a training
program for all supervisory personnel; a vigorous information
dissemination campaign (which included development of an educational
video to be shown to all staff); and counseling services for individuals,
couples, and families. The Department has trained more than 1,200
supervisors to spot signs of stress and domestic violence.[8]

Why Start or Expand a Stress Program? 

Why should law enforcement agencies spend time and money on a law
enforcement stress program and perhaps set aside space for it? The answer
has to do with the implications of stress for the department. Essentially,
stress reduces the quality of departmental performance. 

Stress Affects Agency Performance 

The cumulative negative effects of stress on officers and their families
typically affect the agency through impaired officer performance and the
related problems of tardiness, absenteeism, and low morale. The
consequence for the department is lower productivity. Stress-related
performance inadequacies also may generate labor-management friction
and lead to civil suits. There may be adverse public reaction as a result of
stress-related incidents, such as an officer's suicide or a case of police
brutality. Even problems that are confined to only a few individuals or that
occur rarely can have major repercussions. For instance, a single incident
in which a handful of officers abuse alcohol or other drugs can lower
public confidence in the entire agency.[9]

Though establishing and operating a stress reduction program requires a
financial outlay, it can mean cost savings in the long term. That is because
stress affects the bottom line. Agencies can find it enormously costly when
employee turnover increases as a result of stress-related early retirement or
long-term disability. Robert Peppler, Assistant Sheriff of the San
Bernardino (California) Sheriff's Department noted the cost to his agency:
"We have a tremendous investment in cops," he said, "and if they leave
after one traumatic incident, we have lost a tremendous amount. A dollar
in psychological services now can save us hundreds of thousands down the
road."[10] 

Why Not an EAP?

Many agencies have access to city- or countywide employee assistance
programs (EAP's). Law enforcement staff and their families may be
eligible for services from additional providers. These may include police
chaplains, wellness programs, support groups, and local private service
providers. This prompts the question: Why shouldn't an agency rely on
other existing programs rather than develop its own stress reduction
program? 

The fact that a service is available does not necessarily mean it is
meeting--or can meet--the distinctive needs of police officers. Mental
health practitioners, police administrators, and others, when asked about
city or county EAP's, said police officers do not use them because these
programs do not provide enough confidentiality, because EAP staff
usually do not understand law enforcement, and because the officers
feared the stigma that might be attached to using an EAP.

What Stress Reduction Programs Look Like

Approaches to reduce or prevent stress can take many forms, among them:

--Services provided by a private mental health practice or an individual
therapist working with one or more law enforcement agencies.
--Peer support and referrals from specially trained police officers.
--Psychological services set up in the agency through the union,
chaplaincy, or employee assistance program.
--A combination of these arrangements.

Almost all programs are geared primarily to line officers, because they
constitute the largest group in any law enforcement agency, they deal with
the public on a day-to-day basis, they are widely believed to experience
high levels of stress, and they may have limited means to pay for extended
counseling. Most programs also provide at least minimal services (that is,
referral to other treatment providers) to nonsworn personnel and former
employees, as well as to officers' and other employees' family members
and close friends. 

Services typically include assessment and referral to mental health or other
practitioners; critical incident debriefing; intervention for other types of
crises; short-term counseling for both individuals and families; and
long-term counseling and other services, including treatment for substance
abuse. 

Most mental health practitioners emphasize the importance of involving
family members, when possible, in all these services. To varying extents,
all programs include referrals to outside sources of assistance. For some
programs that operate with limited resources, referral to outside services is
the primary component. That is often the case with programs staffed
largely by peers. (See "A Little Help From Your Friends--Peer Support in
New York City.")

Preventing Stress

The most common method for preventing stress is to train officers to
recognize its signs and sources and to develop individual coping strategies.
Training helps encourage officers and nonsworn personnel to use stress
reduction techniques and services and dispels the stigma frequently
attached to seeking assistance. 

One period during which officers could be taught about stress is when they
are at the academy, according to most of the police officers, program
administrators, and independent mental health practitioners who were
asked about this issue. They felt that the initial training period was a
possibility because recruits are a captive audience and because the
information may remain with them throughout their entire police career.
There is some thinking that "inoculation" during recruit training is not the
best approach, because most recruits are not experienced enough to
recognize that stress comes with the job. The optimal time to reach them
may be 6 to 8 months into the job, after they have experienced on-the-job
stress. Some agencies offer inservice training not only for line officers but
also for midlevel managers and command staff, prospective retirees, and
nonsworn personnel.

Because, as noted above, the structure and management of the agency can
be a significant source of stress, mental health professionals should
consider working with departmental management and unions to plan and
implement organizational change. This can be done in a number of ways,
all of which fall within the domain of management: 

--Training command staff in effective supervision.
--Training field training officers to constructively supervise rookies.
--Eliminating rotating shift work.
--Improving the match between officers' capabilities and the demands of
specific assignments.

What NIJ Is Doing

The issue of job-related stress for law enforcement officers and their
families has received attention at the highest levels of government. In the
1994 Omnibus Crime Act, the President and Congress recognized the
severity of the problem and mandated a Federal Government response.
The National Institute of Justice was assigned the task of sponsoring
research, establishing pilot programs, and conducting program evaluations
that support State and local efforts. 

Research and Development 

Since the start of the Corrections and Law Enforcement Family Support
program, NIJ has sponsored research and program development in some
30 agencies and related organizations (labor unions and employee
professional organizations, for example). These projects include the
development of innovative treatment and training programs as well as
research into the nature and causes of stress. 

In one study now under way, NIJ is exploring the nature and extent of
job-related stress for police in a single geographic region. And to improve
access to service, NIJ provided support to the Metro Nashville Police
Department in creating an online resource of information for the families
of law enforcement officers, particularly those in underserved
communities. Available on the Internet, the resource is a new type of
service delivery system.[11] The Web site contains, among other things,
materials developed by psychologists for preparing workshops on stress,
message boards, a chat room, links to related Web sites, recommended
readings, and postings from police psychologists and consultants. 

From LEFS to CLEFS 

Originally geared solely to law enforcement, the NIJ program has
expanded to include corrections officers. In some cases, corrections
officers experience more intense stress-generating incidents than do law
enforcement officers. They may, for example, encounter violent behavior
by inmates more often and over longer periods of time. 

NIJ support for research and development is given to corrections agencies
as well as law enforcement agencies. A study of programs to reduce and
prevent stress among corrections staff is under development.

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

Notes 

1. Burke, R.J., "Career Stages, Satisfaction, and Well-Being Among Police
Officers," Psychological Reports 65 (1989):3-12; and Delprino, R.P., K.
O'Quin, and C. Kennedy, "Identification of Work and Family Services for
Law Enforcement Personnel," final report submitted to the National
Institute of Justice, 1997(NIJ grant 95-IJ-CX-0113).

2. The NIJ report is Developing a Law Enforcement Stress Program for
Officers and Their Families, by Peter Finn and Julie Esselman Tomz,
Issues and Practices, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice,
National Institute of Justice, March 1997 (NCJ 163175).

3. The survey was conducted as part of a study by Leanor Boulin-Johnson,
professor of African- American Studies and Family Studies at Arizona
State University. See "On the Front Lines: Police Stress and Family
Well-Being," testimony of Leanor Boulin-Johnson before the Select
Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, U.S. House of
Representatives, 102nd Congress, 1st Session, May 20, 1991, Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991:32.

4. Borum, R., and C. Philpot, "Therapy With Law Enforcement Couples:
Clinical Management of the 'High-Risk Lifestyle,'" American Journal of
Family Therapy 21 (1993):122-135.

5. Ferguson, Edward T., and Acey L. Edgemon, "Collier County Sheriff's
Office Law Enforcement Family Support Initiative," draft executive
summary, report submitted to the National Institute of Justice, U.S.
Department of Justice, April 1, 1999.

 6. Unpublished program evaluations by participants in Spousal Academy,
Collier County (Florida) Sheriff's Office, no date.

7. "On the Front Lines: Police Stress and Family Well-Being," testimony
of B.J. Anderson before the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and
Families, U.S. House of Representatives, 102nd Congress, 1st Session,
May 20, 1991, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1991:61-63. 

 8. Unpublished progress report of the Family Violence Prevention and
Recovery Project (FVPRP), Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,
submitted to the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice,
by Audrey L. Honig, Principal Investigator, FVPRP, and Steven E. Sultan,
Project Coordinator, FVPRP, for period September 1, 1998, through
March 3, 1999.

9. Springer, K., "When the Helper Needs Help: Stress and the Law
Enforcement Employee," EAP Association Exchange 25 (1995): 6-11.

10. Finn and Tomz, Developing a Law Enforcement Stress Program for
Officers and Their Families: 3.

11. The site address is http://policefamilies.com.

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

How One Agency Pinpointed Stress

When the Baltimore Police Department decided to seek out the sources of
stress in the agency, they turned for assistance to public health researchers
at nearby Johns Hopkins University. With the Fraternal Order of Police as
the third partner, the Department created Project SHIELDS to take on this
task as well as to develop response strategies. 

The sources of stress were identified by means of a survey, conducted by
the researchers, among line officers and spouses/life partners. Some of the
results were surprising. For example, fully two-thirds of the officers said
they considered media reports of alleged police wrongdoing to be stressful
to them. The same proportion said that what they view as lack of
administrative support for officers in trouble was a major source of stress.
Almost one-fourth reported low energy or chronic back pain, which they
believed was related to job stress.

After the Hopkins researchers complete their analysis of the survey data,
they and the project's advisory board (officers and family members) will
help the Department develop a response. Total quality management
(TQM) teams will be established to focus on selected issues drawn from
the research findings. Consisting of officers from all ranks, the TQM
teams will develop strategies to address aspects of organizational stress
identified in the survey as particularly problematic.*

* Unpublished progress report of "Law Enforcement Work Stress and
Family Support (Project SHIELDS)," Johns Hopkins University School of
Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, submitted to the National Institute
of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, by Robyn Gershon, Principal
Investigator, March 31, 1999. 

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

A Little Help From Your Friends--Peer Support in New York City

Sometimes it takes a tragedy or critical incident to prompt a law
enforcement agency or related organization to develop or expand a stress
reduction program for police officers. 

That was the case in New York City, where 26 police officers committed
suicide in the 2-year period from 1994 through 1995. The unusually high
number was the result of such factors as perceived pressure from the
media and allegations of corruption. The crisis spurred the Patrolmen's
Benevolent Association, supported by the city council, to establish a peer
support program by officers for officers. The Members Assistance
Program (MAP) trained 150 officer volunteers to aid fellow officers and
an additional 26 to aid their families. The peer support officers staff a
24-hour hotline, serve as a point of first contact and screening for officers
who report stress-related difficulties, and encourage individuals who need
more intensive help to seek it.

MAP also trained 60 mental health practitioners in law enforcement stress,
and these practitioners began taking referrals from the peer support
officers. Between 1996, the year the program started, and 1998, the hotline
received some 1,500 calls, resulting in more than 650 referrals.*

* "NYC Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Members Assistance
Program: Program for the Reduction of Stress for New York City Police
Officers and Their Families," final report submitted to the National
Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, grant 96-FS-VX-007,
December 1998. 

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

For More Information 

Law Enforcement Officer Stress

--Visit the CLEFS page on the NIJ Web site:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/clefs.

--Visit http://policefamilies.com, a Web site developed by the
Metropolitan Police Department of Nashville and Davidson County with
funding from the National Institute of Justice. 

--See Developing a Law Enforcement Stress Program for Officers and
Their Families, by Peter Finn and Julie Esselman Tomz, Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, March
1997 (NCJ 163175).

Corrections Officer Stress

--"Fighting the Enemy Within: Helping Officers Deal With Stress," by
Rebecca Childress, Vincent Talucci, and Jenifer Wood, Corrections
Today, December 1999: 70.

--Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies, by
Peter Finn, in process, forthcoming in 2000 from the National Institute of
Justice.

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

Acknowledgments

Peter Finn, coauthor of the report on which this summary is based,
contributed to the preparation of this article. Mr. Finn is an Associate with
Abt Associates Inc., a public-policy and business research and consulting
firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also serves as a
special police officer with the Belmont, Massachusetts, Police
Department. Vincent Talucci, manager of the CLEFS portfolio of grants at
NIJ, and Jenifer Wood, a former manager of CLEFS grants, also
contributed.

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

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COMMUNITY ORIENTED LAWYERING: AN EMERGING
APPROACH TO LEGAL PRACTICE By Roger Conner 

Community Law Center Lawyers for Baltimore Neighborhoods

NCJ 180080

In the 1980's, a number of police departments began to experiment with a
new approach that shifted away from the traditional reactive response and
toward proactive problem solving in partnership with the community. In
the 1990's, a strikingly similar development has appeared among lawyers
whose work affects public safety. Innovative practitioners have begun to
move from an exclusive focus on case processing toward addressing
problems in concert with neighborhood residents. There are now enough
of these attorneys, and their work is so distinctive, that it appears a new
form of legal practice is emerging: community oriented lawyering. Thus
far, however, there has been little public or scholarly awareness of their
work and the breadth of the changes under way. 

The Trinidad Story

Wilhelmina Lawson, a neighborhood activist in Washington, D.C.'s
Trinidad neighborhood, has been at ground zero in one of the new
lawyering experiments. She is convinced that lawyers hold a key to
restoring hope and health to troubled neighborhoods. 

The War for the Neighborhood 

To those who have traced the course of the crack crisis, Ms. Lawson is a
familiar figure: An African-American grandmother with the courage of a
warrior and the moral authority of a priest, battling drug dealers with a
broom and a telephone. For years she and her allies fought against
open-air drug markets, sweeping up beer cans and drug debris by night
and deluging public officials with phone calls and letters by day. As she
tells it, these efforts were going nowhere until prosecutors began to see
their work through the eyes of Trinidad residents. Building on lessons
learned from experiments in Portland, Oregon, New York City,[1] Kansas
City, Missouri, and other places,[2] U.S. Attorney Eric Holder[3] created a
"community prosecution" pilot project in 1996. He assigned a team of
prosecutors responsible for developing crime-fighting strategies in
partnership with the neighborhood and the police, in addition to screening
and prosecuting cases from the police district that included Trinidad.[4]
Police reorganization--along the neighborhood lines based on the
Compstat model[5]--came shortly thereafter. 

Enter Reinforcements

Veteran homicide prosecutor Stephanie Miller, reassigned to work in
Holder's community prosecution unit, recalls her response to early
meetings with Trinidad residents. "They couldn't see much effect from
what we were doing. At first I thought they didn't understand. My office
downtown was filled with lawyers working incredibly long hours to get
dangerous criminals off the street. But I came to realize there was a
disconnect between the problems that made neighborhoods unsafe and the
decisions we were making as prosecutors."

Community lawyering transformed the day-to-day work of line attorneys.
Individual prosecutors began to discover how various actors, groups of
actors, and places in the neighborhood were linked to crime. For example,
while interviewing a witness to a crime, one of Miller's colleagues
discovered that the leader of a violent gang, who had eluded police for
years, had lured several 12- and 13-year-old girls into sexual liaisons.
Soon the gang leader found himself in prison for unlawful sexual relations
with a minor. Violence in Trinidad plummeted.

New Weapons and Tactics 

Prosecutors also began to evaluate cases differently. Their charging
decisions began to be influenced by the potential to solve neighborhood
problems in addition to the potential years of incarceration. On learning
that a chronic inebriate was intimidating two entire city blocks, the
community prosecutor went to work and unearthed a pending charge on
the verge of dismissal and an outstanding probation violation. Faced with
the prospect of time behind bars, the defendant agreed to enter treatment.
For the affected blocks, the results were immediate and noticeable.

Working with city agencies, prosecutors became advocates on
neighborhood problems that lay beyond their jurisdiction, such as
trash-filled lots, nuisance properties, and a park without lighting or play
equipment. Trinidad's next big break, according to Lawson, came when
one of the city's largest law firms "adopted" the neighborhood's civic
group. In just 2 years, the firm, Shaw Pittman, helped Trinidad Concerned
Citizens for Reform close 17 crack houses, prevent the licensing of a night
club, negotiate a lease for a new neighborhood center, obtain nonprofit
status, and persuade the parks department to pick up trash and repair lights
in the local park. "Now, people listen to us because we can make things
happen," Lawson said. "And I thank these attorneys from Shaw Pittman
and the prosecutors' office for that." 

Crime has declined markedly in and around Trinidad.[6] Murders fell from
12 in 1995 to 3 in 1999. Captain Ross Swope, the local Patrol Sector
Commander, thinks he knows why: "There is a level of commitment and
cooperation that was never there in the past" among police, prosecutors,
and the community, he said. "Without community prosecution these
relationships rarely develop." Researcher Barbara Boland, who has studied
community prosecution in several cities, including Washington, D.C.,
agrees. She notes that the partners worked together so closely that it is
impossible to separate the lawyers' contribution to this outcome--lower
crime--from that of the police officers and the community.

Integrating Old and New

Community oriented lawyering is distinctive in integrating a new approach
with the conventional advocate's role. (For a summary, see "Traditional
Practice and Community Lawyering Compared.") 

The basic unit of work is different. Community oriented lawyers think in
terms of the problems of particular people and places, not just crimes and
cases. They think beyond the individual drug sale to the drug market itself;
be-yond the civil action for termination of parental rights to the woman
who seems trapped in a cycle of abusive relationships. 

The definition of success has changed. Previously, success was a simple
concept: Win the case, secure the benefit, resolve the complaint in a way
favorable to the client. For community oriented lawyers the bottom line is
solving problems, increasing neighborhood safety, preventing crime,
improving the quality of life, and fostering economic development. 

The relationship to the community is different. In the new paradigm, the
community helps define what is important, what constitutes success. The
new breed of lawyers are, however, not so much controlled by the
community as oriented to it, listening actively to victims, service
providers, criminal justice researchers, offenders (and skeptics). And they
see the community as a potential partner in solutions, not merely a passive
complainant. 

Collaboration with other groups is frequent and intense. In more
conventional practice, lawyers work alone or in small groups (of lawyers).
Once they shift to solving problems and generating outcomes, they
discover that success depends on educating, persuading, cajoling, meeting,
sharing information, and even sharing power with other agencies and
organizations, public and private. 

The tool kit is larger. The new breed of lawyers treats conventional case
processing as a tool, not an end in itself. They use civil remedies, invent
new forms of action, create new organizations (community courts, for
example), mobilize neighborhood residents, educate victims, use
nonadversarial remedies; in other words, whatever it takes. They are much
more likely than their peers to rely on negotiated, voluntary compliance.

The key question is different. The lawyer in conventional practice asks,
"What happened?" Community oriented lawyers ask, "What's happening?"
In other words, the angle of vision is profoundly different: One is trying to
assign responsibility for what has happened, the other to reshape what will
happen. 

Why Now? 

Perhaps the most important single factor setting community lawyering in
motion is a growing sense of futility among lawyers who could not help
noticing the enthusiasm generated by community policing. The lawyers
involved note the convergence of several other forces as well: The crack
crisis and the ensuing, more rigorous drug enforcement produced crushing
case loads, convincing prosecutors, judges, and defenders to change their
strategy. Increased understanding of the need for intervention to break the
cycle of crimes rooted in addiction, childhood sexual abuse, and untreated
mental illness also played a part. 

Important constituencies were pressing for change as well. The continued
hemorrhaging of human and financial resources from our older cities
generated political and even monetary support. The growing demand from
low-income neighborhoods for public safety and economic renewal forced
public- and private-practice lawyers to shift priorities. The widespread
movement to reinvent government has had its effect as well, as have
timely investments of Federal funds for such locally based initiatives as
the Office of Justice Programs' Weed and Seed program and the Bureau of
Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Communities Program and
Community Prosecution Program.

Who Are the Practitioners?

The new approach is not confined to prosecutors and pro bono attorneys.
The settings are remarkably diverse, but what all these lawyers have in
common is a conscious effort to generate outcomes the community values,
in ways consistent with their roles and professional ethics.

Prosecutors.[7] Developments in two cities exemplify the work of the
community prosecutor. In Portland, Oregon, "neighborhood district
attorneys" work on quality-of-life problems in the neighborhoods where
they are assigned. The problems have ranged from a sudden rash of car
thefts near the downtown to chronic drug markets to street prostitution.
For each, they have come up with innovative solutions. The drug markets,
for example, were handled through stay-away orders issued to all dealers
when they were arraigned. In Boston, attorneys working for the district
attorney, the U.S. Attorney, and the State's attorney general all contributed
to the city's dramatic reduction in homicide. They did so by changing their
charging practices to support police and probation officers' warning to
probationers, parolees, and released felons that infractions would mean
certain prosecution and a high probability of a prison sentence if they
persisted.[8]

City/County Attorneys. Seattle city attorney Mark Sidran believes
municipal lawyers are well positioned to be advocates for solutions where
police need cooperation from city agencies or when the law does not equip
police with the tools they need. For example, Seattle police found that
issuing criminal citations to people who violate alcohol and noise
restrictions in parks was not effective, since arrest warrants would not be
issued until months later. Sidran came up with a solution that worked:
Drafting an ordinance allowing officers to issue civil orders banning rule
violators from all nearby parks for up to 7 days.

Police Legal Advisors. Most larger police departments have staff attorneys
whose time is spent on such matters as union issues and abuse of force
lawsuits. But in a handful of departments, they are being assigned to help
officers with problem solving. In New York City, the police department
now boasts more than 50 precinct-level lawyers who develop civil
remedies to tackle problems ranging from noisy establishments to car theft
rings to consumer fraud. The Charlotte and San Diego police departments
have added lawyers to fashion civil remedies when properties such as
liquor stores, nightclubs, and multifamily dwellings are not well managed.

Lawyers in Other City Agencies. In other municipal agencies there are
lawyers who can choose to address neighborhood problems strategically.
In Baltimore, civil and criminal housing code enforcement is the province
of lawyers in the city's Housing Department who are cross-designated as
city solicitors and State's attorneys. Staff Director Denise Duval has
reorganized her staff along geographic lines, requiring that they get to
know neighborhood leaders face-to-face. With more than 10,000
outstanding code violations, she has developed a simple priority system:
The office's every action must be part of an overall strategy for
neighborhood improvement that has the support of both residents and
relevant city agencies.

Public-Interest Law Groups. In Baltimore, a new kind of public interest
law firm has emerged that represents neighborhood organizations rather
than individual residents of low-income areas. The Community Law
Center has used civil actions to close down hundreds of heroin shooting
galleries and board up vacant houses, helped numerous neighborhood
groups to incorporate and to develop comprehensive crime control
strategies, and developed such new legal tools as nuisance abatement and
receivership.[9]

Legal Services. Legal aid lawyers frequently are faulted for protecting
drug dealers, but in North Carolina, Piedmont Legal Services has taken a
new route. They represent community groups that bring civil suits
demanding responsible behavior from owners of properties that harbor
drug dealing and spawn violence. One defendant was a community
development corporation that had allowed its shopping center to fall into
disrepair.

Pro Bono Lawyers. Lawyers are expected to volunteer a certain number of
hours of service, and most of this pro bono work involves representing
individual indigent clients. But some law firms in Washington, D.C., are
taking entire neighborhoods as clients. The Shaw Pittman firm, noted
earlier for its work in the Trinidad neighborhood, is an example. The
District of Columbia Bar Association's Community Economic
Development Project recruits lawyers to represent community
development corporations and small, nonprofit developers.

Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, New York City's oldest law firm,
wrote a 500-page manual on civil remedies for attacking open-air drug
markets. Davis, Polk and Wardwell, another major New York law firm,
represented public housing resident associations in their struggle to tighten
rules for evicting drug dealers. Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering has
represented neighborhood groups throughout the country in upholding
ordinances on crime and quality-of-life issues. The Los Angeles office of
Latham and Watkins conducted the research for a precedent-setting civil
suit to control gangs.

Law School Clinics. Here too, lawyers are finding ways to advance the
interests of the community as well as those of individual clients. Harvard
Law School's Community Enterprise Project helps small businesses as
well as nonprofits to restore the economic health of low-income
neighborhoods. At the University of Maryland, the Law School's Housing
and Development Clinic represents community organizations in
Baltimore's empowerment zone. Twenty percent of law schools have
clinical programs that promote neighborhood economic development.[10]
The Community Legal Resource Network, a consortium of four law
schools, is developing models for private, fee-paid attorneys to help meet
community needs. 

Defense Lawyers. A growing group of public defenders is beginning to
view their job differently.[11] Jim Hennings, director of the Metropolitan
Defender Service in Portland, Oregon, explains why: "The same people
kept cycling through my office, and the only change was the sentences got
longer. My goal now is for the client to be better off after he leaves than
when he came in, independent of the disposition of the criminal case." In
recent years he has chosen to spend precious budget dollars on addiction
and education specialists rather than lawyers, and an evaluation of the
client's assets and social service needs begins with the first interview. The
public defender's office in Nashville, Tennessee, operates its own drug
treatment program in jail and has a case manager to assist mentally ill
clients after their release.

Judges. Generating outcomes the community values might seem at odds
with the notion of having an impartial third party. By tradition, judges try
to be insulated from community pressure. But in community courts, drug
courts, and many family courts, judges maintain contact with offenders
and sometimes victims over an extended period, taking on the roles of
coach, parent, and mentor as well as impartial jurist. 

In drug courts, for example, judges measure success by the number of
recovered addicts, not by the number of cases processed. Such changes in
judges' behavior are not confined to specialty courts. One trial judge in
New York routinely delays felony drug distribution cases for nonviolent
offenders when she is convinced the defendant is making a commitment to
drug rehabilitation. California Chief Justice Ronald M. George concedes
that court-community collaboration "is not risk-free." On the other hand,
he said, it can give citizens "a sense of ownership...that will help ensure
that the independence of the courts is maintained."[12]

The Risks

Community oriented lawyering is not without its pitfalls. The very
attributes that distinguish it--the focus on outcomes, the collaborative
approach, the flexibility- -introduce new difficulties. 

New Outcome Measures Needed 

The new lawyering plays havoc with standard tools of evaluation. It is
easy to count cases won, lost, and processed as a measure of success, but
there is no common language to describe what community oriented
lawyers do, no taxonomy to classify problems. Research has produced
some detailed descriptions of community prosecutors' work, but neither
researchers nor practitioners have developed a metric for the increments of
progress to be expected from good community oriented lawyering. 

Practitioners need and want help from researchers to develop tools for
answering hard questions about resource allocation: What proportion of
the lawyers in an office should spend time on problem solving or strategic
thinking in place of, or in addition to, case processing? Should a police
department spend its discretionary budget dollars for an additional lawyer,
another officer, or new technology? Should the housing agency add more
inspectors or more attorneys? If a drug court is half as "efficient" at
processing cases, is it worth the expenditure if another judge must be
added to handle the case load? Is community oriented lawyering a
specialty practice for a few or an approach that should transform entire
offices? And so on. 

Ensuring Equity

At what point might a community focus threaten fairness and equal
treatment? These lawyers have enormous discretion. Prosecutors decide
whom to charge and for what crime. Municipal lawyers select which
neighborhood problem will be the priority for their attention. Pro bono
lawyers must choose which project will receive their time. When one drug
dealer or nuisance property is given special attention instead of another, on
the basis of community impact rather than existing guidelines, charges of
discrimination may arise.

Confronting Skepticism

The new approach is not without its critics. Some of them contend the
lawyers will not really listen. Others are concerned that communities will
have undue influence. And, as with the introduction of community
policing, there is substantial initial resistance among lawyers. Often
lawyers report that their problem solving is not valued by their offices or
their peers, and they are not recognized by the law schools, by their
profession, or by their key constituents. Some endure ridicule; others are
accused of "selling out." In more than one instance low "stats" have placed
a project or office at risk for funding cuts.

The Opportunities 

Evidence collected to date is entirely anecdotal, but it suggests that
community oriented lawyering could help address some very serious
national problems.

Maintaining Legitimacy

There is a growing concern among some scholars about a loss of
legitimacy for the justice system, felt especially in low-income, minority
communities.[13] Evaluation work by Catherine Coles and George Kelling
indicates that community oriented prosecution in Boston dramatically
enhanced trust in the entire justice system--not just the prosecutors--on the
part of residents in minority neighborhoods.[14] It may be that the system
appears arbitrary when the choices lawyers make are not oriented to
outcomes the community values. 

Restoring Morale

There has been much hand-wringing by lawyers and academics in recent
years about lawyers' un-happiness with their work. This is especially
pronounced in offices where lawyers feel like cogs in an assembly line. By
contrast, the single most common observation of those involved in
community oriented lawyering is that they like their job. Salt Lake City
prosecutor Cheryl Luke reports that before she adopted a community
prosecution approach the typical line attorney left after 18 months. Now
she cannot persuade her staff to accept promotions to more conventional
lawyering jobs. 

Harvard Law professor Mary Ann Glendon is not surprised. Lawyers face
constant pressure to be "hardball litigators," but, she writes, "many of the
most rewarding moments of law practice occur when a lawyer devises a
viable solution to a problem that has brought a client to wit's end, or when
[lawyers] resolve a conflict --in a way that expands the pie for all
concerned."[15] 

Ultimate Goals?

During a focus group session, one participant ventured that the goal of
community oriented lawyering is "something like peace for troubled
neighborhoods."[16] Wilhelmina Lawson agrees. She longs for the peace
of mind that comes from having a safe place to live, worship, work, and
play. "The big change in Trinidad," she said, "is that now we have hope
that we can get there." 

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

Notes

1. Boland, Barbara, "Community Prosecution: The Portland Experiment,"
in Community Justice, ed. David Karp, Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield, 1998; and Boland, Barbara, "The Manhattan Experiment:
Community Prosecution," in Crime and Place: Plenary Papers of the 1997
Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation, NIJ Research
Forum, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute
of Justice, July 1998:51-67 (NCJ 168618). 

2. For experiments in Kansas City and elsewhere, see Coles, Catherine M.,
and George Kelling, with Mark Moore, "Prosecution in the Community: A
Study of Emergent Strategies--A Cross-Site Analysis," final report
submitted to the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice,
September 1998 (grant 95-IJ-CX-0096). Copies can be obtained either
from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service or by e-mailing
edward_Gomeau@harvard.edu.

3. In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Attorney serves as the city's district
attorney. 

4. An evaluation of the Washing-ton, D.C., experiment was conducted by
Barbara Boland. See her report, "Community Prosecution in Washington,
D.C.: The U.S. Attorney's Fifth District Pilot Project," final report
submitted to the National Institute of Justice, August 1999 (grant
97-IJ-CX-0058).

5. The Compstat (computer statistics) model of crime control was
pioneered in New York City. A special police department unit compiles
and analyzes crime statistics by area, tracks crime patterns, and meets
regularly with precinct commanders to devise responses tailored to
area-specific patterns.

6. Boland, "Community Prosecution in Washington, D.C."

7. Two panels on community prosecution were presented at NIJ's 1999
conference on criminal justice research and evaluation. To obtain a
transcript, e-mail RLConner@aol.com or visit http://www.community
lawyering.org. 

8. See Kennedy, David, "Pulling Levers: Getting Deterrence Right,"
National Institute of Justice Journal 236 (July 1998): 2-8. Some
prosecutors are becoming more community oriented without significant
reorganization or additional resources. See Glazer, Elizabeth, "Thinking
Strategically: How Federal Prosecutors Can Reduce Violent Crime,"
Fordham Urban Law Journal 26, 3 (March 1999):573.

9. Blumenberg, Anne, and Brenda Bratton Blom, "A Co-Production
Model of Code Enforcement and Nuisance Abatement," in Civil Remedies
and Crime Prevention (Crime Prevention Studies, Vol. IX), ed. Lorraine
Green Mazzerolle and Jan Roehl, Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press,
1998:261; and Artigiani, Erin, Revitalizing Baltimore's Neighborhoods:
The Community Association's Guide to Civil Legal Remedies, Baltimore,
MD: Community Law Center, 1996. The guide is available at
http://www.communitylaw.org.

10. This finding is from a survey conducted by the author as part of his
fellowship project. 

11. Taylor-Thompson, Kim, "Effective Assistance: Reconceiving the Role
of the Chief Public Defender," Journal of the Institute for the Study of
Legal Ethics 2 (1999):199. An example of innovative defense work, the
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, is described in Anderson,
D.C., Public Defenders in the Neighborhood: A Harlem Law Stresses
Teamwork, Early Investigation, Program Focus, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 1997 (NCJ 163061).

12. Open letter to court leaders, April 15, 1999, in Dialogues: Courts
Reaching Out to Their Communities--A Handbook for Creating and
Enhancing Court and Community Collaboration (includes video), by the
Judicial Council of California, San Francisco, CA, 1999. 

13. See American Bar Association, Justice Initiatives: The Courts, the Bar,
and the Public Working to Improve the Justice System, Chicago, 1999;
Cole, David, "Race, Policing, and the Future of the Criminal Law,"
Human Rights (summer 1999); and Moore, Mark H., "The Legitimation of
Criminal Justice Policies and Practices," in Perspectives on Crime and
Justice: 1996-1997 Lecture Series, Volume I, Research Forum,
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of
Justice, 1997:47-74 (NCJ 166609). 

14. Coles, Catherine M., and George Kelling, "New Approaches to
Fighting Crime: Prevention Through Community Prosecution," The Public
Interest (summer 1999):69.

15. Glendon, Mary Ann, A Nation Under Lawyers (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1994):106.

16. The focus group session was conducted by the author as part of his
fellowship project.

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

About the author

Roger Conner, J.D., is a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Justice
and former Executive Director of the Center for the Community Interest. 

This article was adapted from a presentation made before the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) at a symposium sponsored by the NAS
Commission on Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Law and
Justice, held July 15, 1999. The author invites comments, which can be
sent to RLConner@aol.com, or mailed to Roger Conner, National Institute
of Justice, 810 7th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531. Support for this
work was provided by NIJ grant 99-IJ-CX-0002.

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

For More Information 

The following organizations can be contacted for information about their
involvement in community problem solving:

Community Prosecution

National District Attorneys Association
99 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 510
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-549-9222
http://www.NDAA-APRI.org

Courts and Judges

Center for Court Innovation
351 W. 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
212-373-8099
http://www.courtinnovation.org

Judicial Council of California Special Task Force on Court/Community
Outreach
455 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102-3660
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/community

National Association of Drug Court Professionals
901 N. Pitt Street, Suite 370
Alexandria, VA 22314 888-31NADCP
http://www.drugcourt.org

National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue
Williamsburg, VA 23185
757-253-2000
http://www.ncsc.dni.us 

Defender Programs

Project for the Future of Equal Justice Holistic Services Project
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
625 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.equaljustice.org

Nongovernmental Community Oriented Law Projects

Community Law Center
2500 Maryland Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-366-0922
http://www.communitylaw.org

Community Legal Resource Network
CUNY School of Law
65-21 Main Street, Room 009
Flushing, NY 11367
718-340-4451

National Association for Public Interest Law
2120 L Street, NW, Fourth Floor
Washington, DC 20037
202-466-3686
http://www.napil.org

David Castro
Neighborhood Legal Defense Project
Center for the Community Interest
115 Petrie Avenue
Rosemont, PA 19010
610-581-0143
e-mail: dc@communityinterest.org.

Community Lawyering

As part of his fellowship project, the author created a Web site to gather
resources and encourage communication among specialties. Visit
http://www.communitylawyering.org.

Publications

Center for Court Innovation, Overcoming Obstacles to Community
Courts: A Summary of Workshop Proceedings, Bureau of Justice
Assistance Monograph, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1998 (NCJ 173400).

Judicial Council of California, Dialogues: Courts Reaching Out to Their
Communities--A Handbook for Creating and Enhancing Court and
Community Collaboration (includes video), San Francisco, CA, 1999.
Copies are available by calling 415-865-7654, or by e-mailing
jack.urquhart@jud.ca.gov.

Sigmon, Jane N., et al., Adjudication Partnerships: A Guide to Successful
Cooperation, National Center for State Courts, National Legal Aid and
Defender Association, and American Prosecutors Research Institute,
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Assistance, 1997 (NCJ 178405).

Spangenberg, R.L., and M.L. Beeman, Improving State and Local
Criminal Justice Systems: A Report on How Public Defenders,
Prosecutors, and Other Criminal Justice System Practitioners Are
Collaborating Across the Country, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, October 1998 (NCJ 173391).

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

PIECING TOGETHER THE CROSS-NATIONAL CRIME PUZZLE by
Jan van Dijk and Kristiina Kangaspunta

NCJ 180081

Understanding national crime levels has proven to be a difficult task. In
the United States, for example, cities that have experienced dramatic
declines in their crime rates in recent years may link those declines to
increased enforcement, a decrease in crack markets, and better job
opportunities. On the other hand, cities with similar social and economic
developments experience no commensurate decline in their crime rates.

Uncovering the mystery of why and how crime varies cross-nationally is
even more difficult: Why, for example, is serious violent crime more
prevalent in certain Central and Eastern European countries and the United
States than in the European Union countries and Canada? Understanding
the variation in crime rates across countries can help policymakers put
crime in their own countries into perspective.

To develop a deeper understanding of how crime varies across countries, a
team of researchers at HEUNI, the European Institute for Crime
Prevention and Control affiliated with the United Nations,[1] regularly
analyzes criminal justice data collected by the UN from its member
states.[2]

HEUNI's latest analysis focuses on the differences among European and
North American countries and is based on the Fifth United Nations Survey
on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems 1990-1994,
as well as on data from the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS). 

The HEUNI study is the first ever attempt to construct multisource
measures of crime that do not suffer from the well known difficulties of
measures based on the number of crimes reported to the police in various
countries. (See "The Difficulties of Analyzing Crime Data Across
Countries.") The study may signify a breakthrough in comparative crime
statistics.

This article focuses on three of the eight crimes HEUNI researchers
studied: Property crime, violence, and corruption in Central and Eastern
Europe, Western Europe, and North America.[3] Before considering these
findings, however, it is important to be aware of the pitfalls related to
statistical comparisons of crime in different countries.

The Pitfalls of Using International Statistics

The dangers of using official reported statistics as a reflection of crime
within one's own country are well documented. Reported crime is not the
same as actual crime, and statistics are collected for administrative
purposes, not to satisfy research interests. The vagaries of changing laws
and statistical practice and the idiosyncrasies of defining criminal
incidents make it difficult to draw conclusions when comparing statistics
from different areas or different times. In addition, the "traditional"
offenses (those usually noted in the statistics) may not necessarily have the
greatest economic and social consequences for society. 

International comparisons are even more rife with misunderstandings, as
has been repeated throughout discussions about the UN surveys. The
major problems with comparing international crime data are differences in
laws and in definitions of legal terms, improper statistical classifications,
procedural differences among countries, ambiguous coding structures, and
differences in the units of count used. 

HEUNI researchers have attempted to lessen any misinterpretation by
using data from different sources to see if they point in the same direction
and by measuring different dimensions of the same phenomenon.
HEUNI's cross-national analysis is based on more than the official
reported crime statistics of countries responding to the Fifth UN Survey. It
also is based on results of the ICVS--fully standardized victimization
surveys on the general public's experiences with crime, which were carried
out in more than 60 countries. Added to these data are data from
organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and Transparency International, an
organization that collects data on corruption.[4] 

The use of different data sources yielded a measure of crime that is more
scientifically robust than those previously available. This measure can be
used reliably for comparative purposes across countries in Europe and
North America. 

Sociological and Behavioral Factors Related to Crime

Crime levels can be interpreted as the convergence of sufficient numbers
of motivated offenders, relatively weak mechanisms of social control, and
the presence of suitable targets of crime.[5] For this study, the researchers
analyzed data related to: (1) motivational factors, including level of
affluence, alcohol consumption (both beer and strong alcohol), and a
concept referred to as strain, or a person's reaction to a shortfall in the
achievement of goals (usually socioeconomic goals); and (2) opportunity
factors, including vehicle ownership, handgun ownership, patterns of
outdoor recreation, proportion of single-person households, and strength
of informal social control. 

Motivational Factors. According to conventional criminological theories,
crime is related to economic and/or social deprivation or inequalities. A
key concept is strain, which the HEUNI team defined as the number of
people in a country for whom criminal activities might be economically
rewarding and for whom the involvement in criminal activities is a viable
option. As a measure of strain, the team used the rate of young people (16
to 29 years) who are dissatisfied with their income and/or who are
unemployed (per 100,000 inhabitants). 

Opportunity Factors. According to opportunity theory, the level of crime
also is determined by the presence of suitable targets of crime and the
extent of informal social control. A well documented example is the
relationship between vehicle ownership and vehicle-related crime.
Included in HEUNI's recent analyses were known risk factors, such as the
frequency of outdoor visits for recreational purposes, number of
one-person households, composition of housing (apartment buildings or
detached houses), and ownership rates of motor vehicles, motorcycles, and
bicycles. In addition to these factors, the researchers studied the
prevalence of the possession of handguns as a possible facilitator of
violent crime and the prevalence of antiburglary device use.

Urbanization and modernization have been linked to high crime rates due
to lower levels of social control in urban areas.[6] In previous analyses of
ICVS data, the level of victimization by crime was strongly related to the
proportion of the population living in a large city. For its study, HEUNI
used data on urbanization taken from the UN Compendium on Human
Settlement, which reflect the proportion of the national population living
in settlements of 20,000 inhabitants or more.

The Interplay of Motivational and Opportunity Factors. Crime in societies
is determined by the interplay between motivational and opportunity
factors. 

Motivational factors can be seen as determinants of the "demand side" of
national crime markets. To the extent that motivational factors are more
prevalent in a country, there will be more potential offenders looking for
opportunities to offend. Structural characteristics that provide viable
opportunities for crime can be seen as the "supply side" of the crime
market. Owners of expensive cars and consumer goods are the reluctant
"suppliers" of opportunities for crime. In countries where suitable targets
of crime are plenty and the level of social control is reduced, there are
more potential victims of crime.

Affluence can be considered both a motivational and an opportunity
factor. It acts as both an important inhibiting factor of certain forms of
crime as well as a catalyst of others. In more affluent countries, there is
less "demand" for crime-- there are proportionately fewer individuals who
are motivated to commit crimes or who are looking for criminal
opportunities. Important motivational factors, such as income inequalities,
dissatisfaction with income, and unemployment, tend to be lower in more
affluent countries. If levels of affluence rise--and if the newly acquired
wealth is evenly spread--the pool of motivated offenders in a given society
decreases. This trend will contribute to a reduction in the level of crime.
At the same time, affluence goes together with the ownership of
commodities that can be stolen with relative ease, and also with a more
outgoing lifestyle, which increases exposure to criminal victimization by
strangers. Higher prosperity will invite higher levels of opportunistic
forms of crime.

However, there are no straightforward, linear relationships between
affluence and crime. The dynamics of crime in the big picture are further
complicated by the increased use of sophisticated security measures by
potential victims in more affluent, high-crime nations. These measures
reduce opportunities for crime and, therefore, inhibit the occurrence of
certain types of property crime.

Comparing Crime in Three Regions

To understand how and why crime varies across countries, researchers
examined data from 49 countries in three regions--Central and Eastern
Europe, Western Europe, and North America. The researchers found that
the most important predictor of high crime rates was the percentage of the
population who were young males, ages 16 to 29, who were dissatisfied
with their income or were unemployed. The results of the HEUNI team's
analysis concerning the three regions can be summed up as follows. 

Crime in Central and Eastern Europe. The motivation to offend appears
greater in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which are in
transition to a market-based economy, than in Western Europe. In Central
and Eastern Europe, there are more male adolescents experiencing strain,
and socioeconomic deprivation and alcohol abuse appear to help in the
formation of a breeding ground for different forms of violent crime.
Assaults, homicides, and robberies appear to be more prevalent in
countries where many young males experience the strain of unfulfilled
aspirations. Also, alcohol use is endemic in these countries. 

Corruption also appears to be much more common in Central and Eastern
European countries than in North America and Northern Europe.
Corruption is related to a lack of transparency and accountability in the
public domain, characteristics that are common among the developing
countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Corruption in government circles
appears to be lower in the countries where economic and political
restructuring is relatively advanced--for example, in Estonia, Hungary,
Poland, and Slovenia. In fact, the level of corruption in some of these
countries is lower than in some Western countries. These findings are
encouraging. If the restructuring in other countries in the region continues,
the long-term prospects for decreasing levels of corruption seem fairly
good.

In the short term, the economic crisis in the Russian Federation and in
some other countries in the region may exacerbate existing economic and
social problems. In the long term, the overall economic prospects might be
better, but this probably will not reduce the prevalence of strain among the
lower social strata. Socioeconomic inequality is growing, and the rates of
unemployment will probably remain high for many years to come.

In most of the countries in transition, people in urban areas typically live
in apartments and car ownership is still relatively rare. These factors may
have so far inhibited further increases of property crimes. During the past
10 years, affluence has increased in most Central and Eastern European
countries, particularly in Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and the Baltic states.
If the gross national product of these countries, which are among the first
candidates for entry into the European Union, continues to increase,
vehicle-related crimes and some forms of petty crimes are likely to
increase. Household burglary rates also are likely to increase if households
start to possess more expensive commodities but do not invest in
antiburglary devices. 

Eventually, investments in self protection against car theft and burglary
will increase and the rates of property crimes will stabilize. 

However, if strain among adolescents remains prevalent due to high
unemployment, some of the offenders prevented by improved security
from committing less serious property crime may be desperate enough to
switch to more risky, violent forms of property crime (street robbery, car
jacking, and household robbery). The easy availability of firearms in many
countries in the region will facilitate this. The crime profile of the
countries in transition may start to resemble that of South Africa or the
more affluent Latin American countries, where property is relatively well
protected but robbery rates are high.

To sum up, the level of crime in the countries in transition is relatively
high, and the overall criminological outlook is fairly bleak. Even if they
overcome their current economic problems, the rates of violent crimes
probably will remain high due to high levels of unemployment among
young males and the high consumption of strong alcohol. 

Crime in Western Europe. The crime situation in the more industrialized
and affluent nations of Western Europe must be understood in terms of
special opportunity structures. Countries such as England and Wales that
rely largely on cars for transportation experience high rates of
vehicle-related crimes. Countries such as The Netherlands and Sweden,
where bicycles are common, experience high rates of bicycle theft.
Countries where more people live in homes rather than apartments
experience high burglary rates. As protection against car theft, theft from
cars, bicycle theft, and household burglaries has increased, the overall
level of property crimes has declined. Since the level of self-protection
continues to increase, crime rates are likely to continue to fall.

Paradoxically, crimes of violence--particularly violent juvenile
crime--show an upward trend in several member states of the European
Union. Street robberies might be increasing as a result of displacement due
to improved protection of property. The emergence of an ethnic underclass
in the larger cities of Western Europe also might be contributing to
violence because strain among some ethnic parts of the urban population
might be rising. The main challenge for Western European countries
seems to be the social and economic integration of young immigrants in
the urban areas.

The outgoing lifestyle of young people and their use of alcohol and drugs
might also be a causal factor behind juvenile violent crime. One of
Western Europe's main assets is the relatively low level of handgun
ownership, which probably is an important factor inhibiting homicides. 

Relatively low levels of manifest corruption by public officials appear to
be typical of affluent nations with stable democratic traditions. This
relationship also can be understood in terms of criminal opportunities and
motivations. In open democracies with relatively unregulated markets,
there are fewer opportunities for public officials to require bribes for their
services. In such societies, public officials receive better salaries than
those in countries in transition, and the norms against corruption are
stronger and more generally shared.

Crime in North America. Since 1988, the level of crime in the United
States and Canada has declined, according to both ICVS and police data.
The level of self-protection against crime is high, and the level of strain
appears to be relatively low. 

Crime in the United States differs less from Canada, the United Kingdom,
and The Netherlands than is commonly assumed.[7] Both the United
States and Canada have relatively high levels of burglaries and car-related
crimes in urban settings, but conventional crime and corruption in the
United States are not exceptionally high. The most important difference
appears to be the high level of homicides and robberies, which in the
United States often involve guns. The most probable cause of this
deviation from the European pattern is the exceptionally high rate of gun
ownership in the United States.

Framing the International Debate on Crime Reduction

Despite the cautions needed when working with the available international
data, the HEUNI team's analyses indicate that we are beginning to piece
together some important parts of the intricate international puzzle of
crime. 

Crime indicators based on a combination of police statistics and survey
findings proved to be useful for analyzing the determinants of crime.
National crime profiles can be understood as the outcome of the dynamic
interplay between motivational and opportunity factors. 

High levels of crime are found in both poor and rich countries. However,
the factors responsible for high crime rates differ across regions. 

In Central and Eastern Europe, much crime is demand-driven--crimes are
committed by young males as a means to survive in dire economic
situations. 

In Western Europe and North America, much crime is supply-driven--the
prevalence and shape of crime are related to special opportunity-structures
(the availability of targets and levels of social control and self-protection).
This conclusion has important implications for criminal justice policy. 

Policies that have worked in one country or region may be less useful or
even counterproductive in countries where crime is determined by another
set of factors. In the international debate on best practices in crime
reduction, whether in the framework of the United Nations crime program
or elsewhere, differentiations in policies ought to be made on the basis of
criminologically informed crime profiles.

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

Notes

1. HEUNI is the European link in the network of institutes operating
within the framework of the United Nations Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice Programme. HEUNI, which is based in Helsinki, Finland,
was established through an agreement between the United Nations and the
government of Finland, signed December 23, 1981.

2. The UN has gathered information on crime and criminal justice from its
member states since 1975. The first survey covered the period 1970
through 1975. In these surveys the information on crime is based on
national police statistics and reflects the numbers of offenses recorded by
the police. HEUNI has carried out the European and North American
analysis of the second, third, fourth, and fifth United Nations Survey on
Crime Trends and the Operation of Criminal Justice Systems.

3. For its most recent analysis, HEUNI used crime data on 40 Western,
Central, and Eastern European countries as well as on Canada and the
United States. Researchers studied eight different types of crime: nonfatal
violence (assaults and robberies), homicides, serious violence (a
combination of nonfatal violence and homicides), burglary, violence
against women (sexual violence and assaults), vehicle crimes (theft of and
from cars), corruption, and petty crimes (bicycle theft, motorcycle theft,
noncontact personal theft, car vandalism, nonviolent sexual incidents, and
threats). 

4. Previous UN surveys relied almost exclusively on UN survey data. The
analyses of the Fifth Survey differ considerably from previous ones
because additional sources of comparative data were used. The HEUNI
research team relied on a database called the Crime Guide, which consists
of data from various sources, including the Fifth UN Survey, the
International Crime Victim Survey, health and mortality statistics
collected by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and data on corruption from Transparency
International and the International Institute for Management Development,
which collects information on improper practices in the public sector and
in the workplace. 

The Crime Guide database draws data from studies of firearm ownership,
alcohol consumption, substance abuse, gender equality, urbanization, and
employment and compensation.

5. Cohen and Felson, "Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine
Activity Approach," American Sociological Review, 44(1979): 588-608;
van Dijk, J.J.M., "Opportunities for Crime: A Test of the
Rational-Interactionist Model," report at the Eleventh Criminological
Colloquium of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, November 28-30, 1994.

6. Shelley, Louise, Crime and Modernisation: The Impact of
Industrialisation and Urbanisation on Crime, Carbondale, IL: Southern
Illinois University Press, 1981.

7. Editor's Note: Other research based on victim surveys and police
statistics has concluded that crime rates are much higher in England than
in the United States. (See Langan, Patrick A., and Farrington, David P.,
Crime and Justice in the United States and in England and Wales,
1981-96, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1998, NCJ 169284.) These seemingly contradictory findings
provide at least suggestive reinforcement for the authors' argument for the
use of multiple sources of data when making cross-country comparisons.

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

About the authors

Jan van Dijk, a former professor of criminology at the University of
Leiden, The Netherlands, is currently the officer in charge of the United
Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention (UNCICP) in Vienna.
Kristiina Kangaspunta, formerly Programme Officer at HEUNI, is
currently a senior officer at UNCICP.

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

The Difficulties of Analyzing Crime Data Across Countries

Researchers face some well known and frequently rehearsed difficulties
when analyzing the data on reported crime for different countries, cultures,
or jurisdictions. Cross-national comparisons present their own problems. 

--One such problem is varying definitions. Different legal codes define
crimes in different ways, so that the set of acts that constitute a given
crime type in one country may not be identical to the set of acts to which
the same label is applied in another.

--Recording practices are another problem. Different police forces, in
particular, have different rules for when an event should be recorded as a
crime and when it should not. For example, in some countries the police
are said to be very careful about recording every theft of a bicycle,
whereas in other countries, the police may not record every bicycle theft
because the department has a higher workload of more serious crimes, has
fewer resources, and may be less organized.

--A third difficulty is that of operating practices. In some countries, the
main decisions regarding a case are made at the prosecution stage, so that
many cases, especially trivial ones, do not appear in the records of those
countries until that stage. Countries also vary with respect to common law
and codified, civil law; therefore, comparisons between the raw numbers
of different systems can be risky unless the person making the comparison
is familiar with the details of the operations of the system and their
implications for statistical recording.

--There also are large factual inequalities among countries as to their
population size, population makeup (for example, percent urban and rural,
and percent older than 60 and younger than 25), and the size of the crime
problem. Even in comparisons that take these differences into account,
hidden factors will affect the outcome.

--Finally, there are a set of problems specifically associated with recorded
crime. The numbers provided by governments are regarded as indicators
of the input into, and therefore the workload of, the criminal justice
system. They are not regarded as accurate statements as to the actual
prevalence and incidence of a given crime type in a given jurisdiction,
although they may be that. Further information would be needed to
validate the figures. It is general criminological wisdom that the less
serious the crime type, the more questionable the officially recorded
figures. It also is widely accepted that victim surveys provide more valid
data in regard to the incidence of most types of crime.

All of these issues are good reasons to construct measures of crime that are
based on multiple sources of data.

Source: Burnham, R.W., "A First Analysis of the United Nations Data Set
on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems,"
unpublished final report for NIJ grant 97-MU-CX-0002.

HEUNI's full report also contains an in-depth discussion of these topics.
See Kangaspunta K., Joutsen M., and Ollus N. (ed.), Crime and Criminal
Justice in Europe and North America, 1990-1994, HEUNI Publication No.
32, (Helsinki, 1998).

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

Selected Country-Specific Findings

Property Crimes. The United States, Canada, and the Czech Republic rank
among the highest in burglary, motor vehicle theft, and petty crimes.*
Other countries with relatively high levels of these types of crimes are
Bulgaria, Estonia, and Slovakia.

Countries with relatively low levels of property crimes are Belarus,
Norway, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Violence. Serious violent crimes tend to be relatively more prevalent in
the countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Estonia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and the Russian Federation.

The United States stands out with a high score on serious violence, which
contrasts with much lower levels in Canada and the Western European
countries.

Countries with low levels of violence tend to be found in Western Europe.
Hungary and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia also have
relatively low levels.

Corruption. High levels of corruption tend to be concentrated in Central,
Eastern, and Southern Europe. 

* Editor's Note: Another study based on victim surveys and police
statistics has concluded that crime rates are much higher in England than
in the United States. The authors of the study report that in 1995, the
results of a victim survey indicated that England's burglary rate was almost
double America's and its motor vehicle theft rate was more than double
America's. See Langan, Patrick A., and Farrington, David P., Crime and
Justice in the United States and in England and Wales, 1981-96,
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1998, NCJ 169284.

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

For More Information

This article is based on Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe and North
America, 1990-1994, edited by Kristiina Kangaspunta, Matti Joutsen, and
Natalia Ollus (Helsinki, 1998). The report provides a full discussion of the
HEUNI team's research and methodology, including background on the
Fifth UN Survey and analyses of different countries' types of crime; a
description of criminal justice system resources, case flow, and
performance; and a review of sanctions. 

HEUNI also has published a volume of criminal justice profiles of all
European and North American countries with an independent criminal
justice system. HEUNI research reports are available on its Web site at
http://www.vn.fi/om/suomi/heuni/.

For more information on the UN Survey and the International Crime
Victim Survey see also: Graeme Newman (ed.), Global Report on Crime
and Justice, United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention,
Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 1999. 

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

Acknowledgments

HEUNI's analyses of the Fifth UN Survey were carried out by an
international expert working group consisting of Jan van Dijk, Kristiina
Kangaspunta, Carolyn Block of the United States, Matti Joutsen of
HEUNI, Andre Kuhn of Switzerland, and Ineke Haen Marshall of The
Netherlands and United States. Adam Bouloukos of the UN's Centre for
International Crime Prevention and Ugljesa Zvekic of the UN's
Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute assisted the group in its
work. 

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

AT-A-GLANCE: RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS

Using Insects as "Tools" in Criminal Investigations

NIJ final report, research report, and journal article. Available from
NCJRS.

When a death occurs under suspicious circumstances, knowing the time of
death can be important to the criminal investigation. One way for
investigators to pinpoint the time is to use insects as "tools" to deduce how
long the body has been decomposing. In the decomposition process,
certain insects infest the remains at predictable times after death. 

Investigators need a body of information about the types of insects and
their times of arrival, departure, and replacement by others to determine
time of death with precision. Building this body of knowledge requires
intensive experiments on human cadavers, but because most States require
embalming and burial or cremation very soon after a person dies, animals
are substituted. An NIJ-funded study currently is examining the critical
question: How comparable are animals to humans for these types of
experiments? 

The goal of the study is to determine whether pigs, the type of animal most
often used in the experiments, are appropriate test animals. At a facility in
Tennessee, where State law regarding burial requirements differs from
most other States, researchers use human and pig cadavers and compare
insect infestation on each. 

Pigs Are a Useful Model

Among the study's findings are that:

--The human and pig cadavers attract virtually the same types of insects.

--As decomposition progresses, the sequence in which different types of
insects infest the bodies is the same in the human and pig cadavers.

--Insects important to forensic testing were abundant and easy to see on
and around the cadavers. The implications are that even people who have
little training should be able to recognize and collect the insects that are
important to the investigation.

--Collecting by hand, rather than by netting or trapping, yields the largest
number of forensically important insects in both the pig and human
cadavers.

Overall, pigs were found to be comparable to humans for testing purposes.
However, as the period of time of exposure to the elements lengthened, the
similarities in the decomposition process between the two cadavers
decreased. The researchers proposed that a pig larger than the 50-pound
test animal--one closer in size to a human adult--might better parallel
human decomposition beyond the first 10 days after death. Preliminary
results of a 1998 follow-up study, in which pigs as large as 200 pounds
were used, suggest that the larger animals are in fact more comparable to
humans than are the smaller ones. 

Using DNA to Identify Insects

In a complimentary study, NIJ-sponsored researchers are using DNA
analysis to identify insect species. The need for this research arises from
the difficulty of distinguishing among certain types of insects in their
immature stages (for example, eggs or larvae). 

The researchers' aim is to develop a DNA typing system that will confirm
standard identification methods. 

The researchers also note the need to determine whether some species
newly introduced to North America, which in appearance are similar to
certain native species, can be identified by DNA analysis.

For more information, see:

--Schoenly, Kenneth G., and Neal H. Haskell, "Testing Reliability of
Animal Models in Research and Training Programs in Forensic
Entomology," final report submitted to NIJ, September 30, 1996. This
report is available from NCJRS. Refer to ACCN 173045.

--Wells, Jeffrey D., and Felix A. H. Sperling, "Molecular Phylogeny of
Chrysomya albiceps and C. rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae)," Journal of
Medical Entomology 36(2):1-4. This article is available from NCJRS
through paper reproduction for a fee or through interlibrary loan. Refer to
NCJ 177410.

--National Guidelines for Death Investigation, Research Report,
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of
Justice, December 1997. This report is available on the NIJ Web site or
from NCJRS. Refer to NCJ 167568. 

Police Discretion in Fixing "Broken Windows"

NIJ Research Report, "Broken Windows" and Police Discretion, George
Kelling, October 1999, NCJ 178259. Available on the NIJ Web site and
from NCJRS.

The past two decades have seen growing awareness of the complexity of
police work, an examination of the use of discretion in officers' daily
policing activities, and a better understanding of the critical role
community leaders play in the vitality of neighborhoods. 

Noted criminologist George L. Kelling has been involved in practical
police work since the 1970's, working day-to-day with officers in
numerous agencies in all parts of the country and serving as an advisor to
communities, large and small, looking for better ways to integrate police
work into the lives of citizens.

In a new NIJ Research Report, "Broken Windows" and Police Discretion,
Kelling discusses the issues of policing guidelines, rules, and the use of
discretion in the maintenance of public order and safety. In the context of
the "broken windows" metaphor, proposed by James Q. Wilson and
Kelling in 1982 in the Atlantic Monthly, this Research Report details how
an officer's sensitive role in order maintenance and crime prevention
extends far beyond just arresting lawbreakers--officer discretion exists at
every level of the police organization. 

Historically, police have asserted authority in many ways, often having
nothing to do with arrest. Kelling takes a special interest in the use of
discretion to exercise the core police authority, enforcement of the law. He
wants to better understand why officers make arrests in some
circumstances and not others, especially when they are dealing with the
more mundane aspects of policing-- such as handling alcoholics and
panhandlers and resolving disputes between neighbors. 

Kelling notes that police officers themselves often are unable to articulate
the precise characteristics of an event that led them to act as they did. He
maintains that officers must exercise discretion in such situations. 

But giving police officers permission to use their professional judgment is
not the same as endorsing random or arbitrary policing. In Kelling's view,
policing that reflects a neighborhood's values and sense of justice and that
is sensitive to residents' concerns is more likely to do justice than policing
that strictly follows a rule book. 

The report outlines several key principles policymakers can consider as
they develop and implement policies and guidelines for police practices,
emphasizing that an important starting point is a recognition of the
complexity of police work and an acknowledgment that officers must use
their own judgment and that rules must allow for flexibility.

Kelling advises involving both practicing police officers and citizens in
developing policy statements, guidelines, and rules of conduct. 

Reducing Gun-Related Crime 

NIJ Research in Progress Seminar, "Tailoring Law Enforcement
Responses to Youth Firearm Violence," Terrence Dunworth (NCJ
173958). Available on videotape from NCJRS

A project to assess the effectiveness of strategies to reduce firearms
violence among youth is nearing completion. The Youth Firearms
Violence Initiative was created in 1995 by the Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services to support targeted, focused community
policing enforcement aimed at reducing firearms violence committed by
young people. 

In conjunction with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,
NIJ is supporting an evaluation of the Initiative. 

Terrence Dunworth and his colleagues at Abt Associates Inc. are in the
final phases of completing the evaluation in 10 cities. 

The evaluation focused on implementation and operation in five of the
cities (Birmingham, Alabama; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Milwaukee,
Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; and Seattle, Washington) and on crime
impact and process issues in another five (Baltimore, Maryland;
Cleveland, Ohio; Inglewood, California; Salinas, California; and San
Antonio, Texas).

Variation in Sites

The researchers found that a number of factors vary considerably from site
to site:

--The strategic emphasis (traditional enforcement or prevention and
education).

--The tactical approach to enforcement (saturation or directed patrol,
search warrants, probation stops and searches, knock and talk, bar checks,
use of informants).

--Police organizational structure (dedicated full-time units or staffing by
rotation with overtime).

--The geographic focus (citywide or defined target areas).

--The population targeted (general population, gangs, or identified
individuals).

The evaluation found considerable variation in the number of arrests made
(less than 100 to more than 250). To a large extent, the choices the sites
made in strategy and tactics influenced the number of arrests and seizures.
A city that emphasized prevention and education, for example, had fewer
arrests and seizures than one that emphasized traditional enforcement
techniques, such as patrol and stop and search.

Can Intervention Reduce Gun Crime?

In half of the cities where an impact evaluation was conducted, a
relationship between the intervention and gun-crime trends was evident. In
the remainder, changes in the target area did not differ much from trends
in the city at large. 

Using data from Salinas, California, the researchers examined the 2-year
relationship between gun-related arrest rates and subsequent gun-related
crimes, taking into account the total level of crime (the crime index) in the
surrounding county. 

The researchers found that gun crimes, the general crime index, and
gun-related arrests were related as follows: A 10-percentage point increase
in the crime index was associated with one additional gun crime in
Salinas, California, and an increase of five gun-related arrests was
associated with one less subsequent gun crime in that town.

Restraining Orders May Be Key to Uncovering Current Violence

Journal article, "Restraining Orders" A Frequent Marker of Adverse
Maternal Health," Pediatrics, L. Oriana Linares, ACCN 179865. Available
from NCJRS interlibrary loan.

Knowing a woman's past use of restraining orders may be a clue to
understanding her current experiences with interpersonal violence. In a
study conducted by a team at the Boston University School of Medicine,
the researchers found that inquiring about past use of restraining orders
(RO's) may be an effective method for pediatric care providers to assess a
woman's risk for current interpersonal violence and may be a first step
toward offering assistance and safety to the mothers and their children. 

L. Oriana Linares and her colleagues Marilyn Augustyn, Elisa Bronfman,
Joshua Greenberg, Betsy McAlister Groves, and Barry Zuckerman of the
Boston University School of Medicine published their findings in
Pediatrics, a scholarly journal published by the American Academy of
Pediatrics. 

Does Past Victimization Reveal Current Victimization?

The authors hypothesized that because interpersonal violence involves
enduring patterns of behaving, rather than isolated interpersonal events, it
is likely that victimized women--or those women in the sample who
reported past use of RO's--may be more likely than nonvictimized
women--those who did not report past use of RO's--to experience current
victimization. Yet victims of interpersonal violence often do not disclose
their victimization for reasons of shame, denial, fear of retaliation, or
financial dependence on an abuser, making it difficult for health care
providers to identify their needs and offer appropriate assistance. 

The researchers studied 160 mothers living in five high-crime
neighborhoods in Boston and found that women who had used an RO in
the past experience higher current partner verbal aggression and physical
violence, poorer health, and a higher number of post-traumatic
stress-related symptoms compared to women who have not filed RO's in
the past. 

The researchers drew their sample from participants in a larger study about
the impact of community violence on mother-child relations. These
women were selected from patients who received pediatric primary care at
a large urban teaching hospital from 1996 to 1998. 

Mothers Were Asked About RO's and Violence

The mothers were interviewed in their homes, alone and face-to-face, by
one of two female interviewers. In 89 percent of the cases, the partner was
not home at the time of the interview. 

The women were asked the following information:

--If they had ever filed an RO.

--The nature of their relationship with the defendant.

--The number of times they had filed an RO and the year or years of filing.

--Whether the defendant in the RO was the current partner.

To obtain information about the types of abuse the women may have
experienced, the interviewers asked the women their reason or reasons for
obtaining an RO. The researchers coded the answers to this question for
four different types of abuse: Verbal harassment, verbal threats or
intimidation, physical assault, and destruction of property.

Findings

Among the 160 women, 64 (40 percent) reported having used an RO.
Among the defendants in these RO's, 43 percent were ex-boyfriends or
ex-husbands, 38 percent were boyfriends or husbands, 13 percent were
friends or relatives, and 7 percent were someone known to the woman.
Twenty percent of the women had filed more than one RO. Among the 52
women who had filed an RO against a partner, 20 (38 percent) reported
that this person was their current partner.

The women reported filing RO's for the following reasons:

--57 percent for physical assault.

--39 percent for verbal harassment.

--37 percent for verbal threats or intimidation.

--4 percent for destruction of property.

Reasons for filing involved single types of abuse in 72 percent of the cases
and multiple types of abuse in 28 percent of the cases.

Mothers in the RO group reported higher partner verbal aggression, higher
physical violence, and more symptoms related to post-traumatic stress
disorder than non-RO mothers. 

Among children, the researchers found slightly higher rates of current
partner verbal aggression toward the children of women in the RO group.
There was no difference between the two groups in the percentage of
women who reported that their children had been physically abused by a
current partner. 

The authors conclude that inquiring about past use of an RO may be an
efficient tool for pediatric care providers in identifying and referring
women who are at risk for poor health and for an array of psychological
symptoms, particularly those related to post-traumatic stress disorder.
However, the authors note that it is likely that the results may not apply to
mothers who, although experiencing interpersonal violence, presently or in
the past, did not file an RO. These women may be at a different stage of
confronting the violence in their lives, say the authors, and may be in
greater need of identification and clinical intervention. 

The full text of the article "Restraining Orders: A Frequent Marker of
Adverse Maternal Health," appeared in Pediatrics 104(2) (August 1999):
249-57.

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

How to Get At-A-Glance Materials

Materials are available at:

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

--NCJRS, 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). 

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 at 1-800-851-3420.

Publications. Some of the information here is summarized from recent NIJ
publications, which are available from the NIJ Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj. gov/nij, or by contacting NCJRS at 1-800-851-3420
and referring to the documents' accession (ACCN) or NCJ numbers.

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

NEW & NOTEWOTHY

Global Meeting to Discuss Prevention and Treatment 

Since 1955, the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders has met once every 5 years so that world delegates
from all criminal justice fields can learn from one another and formulate
recommendations and strategies. The Congress will convene its 10th
international meeting in Vienna on April 10-17, 2000. 

Previous meetings of the UN Crime Congress have had important impacts
on the policies and practices of the member nations by sharing and
disseminating relevant expertise and experience, formulating international
guidelines, facilitating collaboration among States and practitioners,
fostering innovative and viable approaches to criminal justice problems,
and paving the way for more humane and effective methods of crime
prevention and management. 

Planned activities for the April meeting of the Congress include four
workshops:

--Combating Corruption,

--Crimes Related to the Computer Network,

--Women in the Criminal Justice System, and

--Community Involvement in Crime Prevention. 

NIJ is assisting in preparations in several ways. Staff from NIJ's
International Center are coordinating a panel presentation entitled
"Women as Victims and Survivors" as part of the third workshop, Women
in the Criminal Justice System. Panel members, who will come from
India, the Philippines, and the United States, will discuss the issue of
women as victims within the larger context of transnational crime. The
presentations will focus on local solutions, or "best practices," for dealing
with women who are victims of trafficking and forced prostitution. The
goal will be to formulate model strategies, recommendations, and policy
guidelines. 

NIJ also is assisting with planning for the workshop on Community
Involvement in Crime Prevention, by helping to formulate a set of
guidelines for handling new and emerging issues such as organized and
transnational crime, and participating in plans for the computer crimes
workshop. 

The globalization of crime has made international cooperation against it,
especially against transnational organized crime, an urgent priority. NIJ is
pleased to contribute to the UN Crime Congress. Its efforts promote the
formal linkages and informal networking that provide the groundwork for
strengthened international collaboration against expanding crime. 

New Crime and Justice Volumes Released 

The University of Chicago Press, with NIJ support, has just published two
new volumes in the Crime and Justice series. Volume 25, an annual
review of research, contains five essays on legal and philosophical issues. 

Volume 26, a special theme volume, focuses on prisons. 

Titles in Volume 25, the Annual Review of Research, are: 

--"Restorative Justice: Assessing Optimistic and Pessimistic Accounts," by
John Braithwaite

--"Cosa Nostra: The Final Chapter?" by James B. Jacobs and Lauryn P.
Gouldin

--"Murder in America: A Historian's Perspective," by Roger Lane

--"Crime and Work," by Jeffrey Fagan and Richard B. Freeman

--"The Self-Report Methodology in Crime Research," by Josine
Junger-Tas and Ineke Haen Marshall

Titles in Volume 26, Special Issue on Prisons, are:

--"American Prisons at the Beginning of the 21st Century," by Michael
Tonry and Joan Petersilia

--"Population Growth in U.S. Prisons, 1980-1996," by Alfred Blumstein
and Allen J. Beck

--"Understanding Prison Policy and Population Trends," by Theodore
Caplow and Jonathan Simon

--"Collateral Consequences of Imprisonment for Children, Communities,
and Prisoners," by John Hagan and Ronit Dinovitzer

--"Prison Management Trends, 1975-2025," by Chase Riveland

--"Interpersonal Violence and Social Order in Prisons," by Anthony E.
Bottoms

--"Prison Suicide and Prisoner Coping," by Alison Liebling

--"Adult Correctional Treatment," by Gerald G. Gaes, Timothy J.
Flanagan, Laurence L. Motiuk, and Lynn Stewart

--"Medical Care in Prisons," by Douglas C. McDonald

--"Parole and Prisoner Reentry in the United States," by Joan Petersilia

To order copies, contact the publisher, the University of Chicago Press,
Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637; voice:
773-753-3347; fax: 773-753-3347; e-mail: orders@journals.uchicago. edu.

Program to Prevent Domestic Violence in Indian Country Rewarded for
Innovation

Cangleska, Inc., a program that addresses domestic violence among the
Oglala Sioux Tribe of Kyle, South Dakota, captured 1 of the 10
Innovations in American Government Awards sponsored by the Ford
Foundation and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
The program, chosen from 25 finalists in October, 1999, will receive a
grant of $100,000 to replicate and expand its work.

In addition to Cangleska, Inc., three other criminal justice-related
programs were named among the 15 finalists in the competition. Each
received an award of $20,000.

Begun in 1986, the Innovations in American Government Award program
recognizes creative and successful problem solving in local, State, and
Federal government programs across the country. The Kennedy School of
Government administers the program in partnership with the Council for
Excellence in Government. The winners were chosen by a selection
committee chaired by David R. Gergen, editor-at-large of U.S. News and
World Report, and made up of former members of Congress, former
mayors, and public policy specialists.

The 1999 criminal justice winner and finalists are:

--South Dakota's Cangleska, Inc., launched in 1987, provides prevention
and intervention services for domestic violence within the Oglala Sioux
Tribe. One of the program's primary objectives is to provide a path for
abusers to return to traditional tribal beliefs and spirituality, both of which
preach respect of the family. In 1997, Cangleska, Inc., opened a battered
women's shelter that has provided assistance to more than 650 Oglala
women and children and sponsored a domestic violence training workshop
specifically aimed at tribal police officers. Cangleska, Inc., has received
funding in part from the U.S. Department of Justice, Violence Against
Women Office.

--Florida's Domestic Violence Internet Program, which is housed within
the Largo Police Department, provides a venue for quickly disseminating
domestic violence case evidence. This information, which is placed online
the day after it is collected, is available to the State Attorney, the courts,
and the Domestic Violence Center, enabling each of these parties instant
access to information on any domestic violence case.

--California's "No Diploma, No Parole" Program requires all juvenile
wards to complete their high school education or attain a GED before
being recommended for parole. This is the only correctional system in the
Nation to mandate education as a requirement of parole. The basis of the
program, which was organized by the California Department of Youth
Authority, is the belief that education prevents crime.

--Philadelphia's Program Development and Evaluation System, ProDES, is
a database system that helps evaluate Philadelphia's juvenile justice
programs and services while supporting further development of these
services. Created by the Criminal Justice Research Institute, ProDES
monitors the programs available to delinquents, their families, and their
community. Because this is an outcome-based system, it also looks at
recorded new offenses, in-program behavior, attitudinal and perceptual
pre- and postmeasures, and postdischarge self-reports of community
adjustment. 

To learn more about this year's winner and finalists, visit the Innovations
in American Government Web site at http:// www.innovations.harvard.edu 
or call 617-495-0558.

How Much Force Do Police Use? 

In a new report issued by NIJ and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the
authors of Use of Force by Police: Overview of National and Local Data
describe what is known about police use of force and offer suggestions for
future research. 

Based on the research, the authors can say "with substantial confidence"
that police use force infrequently, that relatively minor types of force
dominate statistics on police use of force, and that use of force typically
occurs when police are attempting an arrest and the suspect is resisting. 

It is known "with modest confidence" that use of force appears to be
unrelated to an officer's personal characteristics, such as age, gender, or
ethnicity, and that a small proportion of officers are disproportionately
involved in use-of-force incidents. 

The authors found that use of force typically occurs at the lower end of the
force spectrum, involving grabbing, pushing, or shoving, but research still
is critically needed to determine how often police use force in ways that
can be judged as wrongful.

Copies of Use of Force by Police (NCJ 176330) are available online at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij or by calling NCJRS at 1-800-851-3420.

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

New & Noteworthy Science & Technology

Paint Database Helps Identify Cars Used in Crimes

Through an international collaboration, the U.S. Department of Justice,
Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory soon will acquire the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP's) paint database of automotive
finishes, called Paint Data Query (PDQ).

Acquisition of the database will improve the capabilities of the FBI and
other U.S. crime laboratories to conduct forensic analyses on paint from
cars involved in crimes. The database allows forensics examiners
potentially to differentiate vehicles based on the chemistry, color, and
number sequence of the paint layers and thereby to identify the make,
model, and year of vehicles used in the commission of a crime, such as a
hit-and-run fatality. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Office of Law
Enforcement Standards (OLES) is working, with NIJ funding, on a 5-year
effort that began in 1995 to formalize the forensic paint analysis protocols
and accreditation requirements of the FBI Laboratory. 

The goals of the 5-year effort include making PDQ current with the
production year of the North American automotive industry and training
national law enforcement agencies to use the database.

The database, which was worth approximately $7 million in 1995, has
become an important forensic trace evidence tool in North America.
RCMP has worked closely with automotive manufacturers to obtain their
specifications and has collected thousands of actual paint samples per year
to verify the manufacturers' data. 

PDQ is a searchable database that contains analytical data on more than
30,000 paint layer samples from more than 9,000 domestic and foreign
vehicles marketed in North America from 1973 to the present. In January
1998, RCMP agreed to share the database with the European Economic
Community and the Japanese National Police Agency in exchange for data
and samples collected from those countries' automotive manufacturers. As
a result, an additional 1,500 samples per year will be added to PDQ.

For more information about this project, contact Wendy Howe at NIJ at
202- 616-9794 or Al Fatah at OLES at 301-975-2757.

CrimeStat Spatial Analysis Program Now Available

CrimeStat, a spatial statistics program to assist in computerized crime
mapping applications, is now available. CrimeStat has a collection of
statistical tools for the analysis of point/incident locations and includes a
range of diagnostic spatial statistics, including statistics for measuring
spatial distribution, examining distances between incident locations,
detecting hot spots, and interpolating smooth one-variable and
two-variable density surfaces using kernel density estimation. 

Among the many applications for which CrimeStat is useful are:

--Detecting changes in crime incidents by time periods. --Examining the
distribution of crimes in particular areas or along particular roads.

--Identifying concentrations of incidents within small areas (hot spots).

--Assessing where crime incidents are high relative to a baseline
population (risk analysis).

In addition, CrimeStat can write various graphical objects to ArcView
[registered trademark], MapInfo [registered trademark], Atlas*GIS
[trademark], Surfer [registered trademark] for Windows, and ArcView
Spatial Analyst [copyright]. The program is designed to run on Windows
NT/9x, can interface with most desktop Geographic Information Systems
packages, and can read 'dbf,' ASCII, and 'shp' files. 

The program's manual explains the background of the statistics and
provides examples. The program, the manual, and a sample dataset can be
downloaded from NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc. 

CrimeStat was developed by Ned Levine and Associates of Annandale,
Virginia, with the support of an NIJ grant. For questions or additional
information, contact the Crime Mapping Research Center at
cmrc@ojp.usdoj.gov.

Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement

Last fall, NIJ released Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide For Law
Enforcement, the second in its series of investigative guides. Developed
by a technical working group composed of law enforcement professionals,
prosecutors, defense lawyers, and psychology researchers from the United
States and Canada, the new guide recommends practices for law
enforcement use in eyewitness interviewing and administration of
identification procedures, including photo and live lineups, showups, mug
books, and composites. 

The guide's procedures draw upon the overlap between social science
research and current law enforcement practices in an effort to provide the
criminal justice system with a means of obtaining more reliable and
accurate information from eyewitnesses. 

An important goal of the guide is to help reduce the number of
misidentifications while ensuring that reliable eyewitness evidence is
afforded the weight it deserves in legal proceedings.

To obtain copies of this guide or the first publication, National Guidelines
for Death Investigation (NCJ 178240), contact the National Criminal
Justice Reference Service at 1-800-851-3420, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville,
MD, 20849-6000, or visit the NIJ Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

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

EVENTS

Capitol Hill Lecture Series Underway

For the fourth consecutive year, NIJ has invited some of the country's
leading scholars to Capitol Hill to discuss major crime and justice issues
for the lecture series, "Perspectives on Crime and Justice." 

Franklin Zimring, Professor of Law at the University of California at
Berkeley, kicked off this year's series on December 8 with his lecture "The
New Politics of Criminal Punishment." 

The remaining lectures in this year's series are:

--Richard Freeman, Professor, National Bureau of Economic Research,
Harvard University, "Crime and the Job Market: Do Rising Wages and
Full Employment Reduce Crime?" February 23, 2000.

--William Vega, Associate Director of the Institute for Quality, Research,
and Training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, "A Profile of
Crime, Violence, and Drug Use Among Mexican Immigrants," March 15,
2000.

--John DiIulio, Fredrick Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion,
and Civil Society, University of Pennsylvania, "The Case for Zero Prison
Growth," April 5, 2000.

--Heather Weiss, Director, Harvard University Family Research Project,
"Reinventing Evaluation to Build High Performance Child and Family
Interventions," May 3, 2000.

For more information or to register for the Perspectives lectures, contact
the Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ) at 703-684-5300 or e-mail ILJ at
nijpcs@ilj.org. There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required,
as space is limited. 

Technologies for Public Safety 

NIJ will sponsor the third annual Public Safety Technology Conference
and Exhibit, called "Technologies for Public Safety in Critical Incident
Response Conference 2000," in Denver, Colorado, June 7-10. 

The conference will bring together representatives of law enforcement
agencies, fire departments, emergency medical services, and other first
responders to see and hear about the latest tools and technologies available
for incident response and management. 

In addition, practitioners will share lessons learned and discuss how
technology has helped with critical incident response, such as terrorist
incidences and natural disasters. 

The conference will take place at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. For
more information, visit NIJ's Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij
(click on "What's New") or contact Lisa Hecker at the Center for
Tech-nology Commercialization at 703-625-1489. 

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

New "Perspectives" Volume Now Available

NIJ recently published the third volume of the collected lectures from the
"Perspectives on Crime and Justice" series, including lectures by Sissela
Bok on violence, free speech, and the media; Felton Earls on men, fathers,
and community; James Jacobs on corruption control; and Mark Kleiman
on deterrence. 

Previous volumes feature lectures by Randall Kennedy, Joan Petersilia,
Cathy Spatz Widom, James Q. Wilson, and others. 

The three volumes are available instantly at the NIJ Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij or from the National Criminal Justice
Reference Service at 1-800-851-3420, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD
20849-6000. 

--Perspectives on Crime and Justice: 1996-1997 Lecture Series, vol. I
(NCJ 166609).

--Perspectives on Crime and Justice: 1997-1998 Lecture Series, vol. II
(NCJ 178851).

--Perspectives on Crime and Justice: 1998-1999 Lecture Series, vol. III
(NCJ 178244).

For more information about the lectures, visit NIJ's Professional
Conference Series home page at http://www.nijpcs.org and click on "Past
Conference Materials."

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

SOLICITATIONS & AWARDS

NIJ to Seek Proposals on Violence Against Women

NIJ's Office of Research and Evaluation late this winter expects to release
the solicitation "Research and Evaluation on Violence Against Women" to
request proposals for research in a number of specific issue areas and
investigator-initiated research.

NIJ's Violence Against Women program provides funds for research,
including research fellowships, in the area of violence against women. The
program's objectives are to estimate the scope of violence against women
and family violence, identify their causes and consequences, evaluate
promising prevention and intervention programs, disseminate research
results to the field, and build partnerships among a wide variety of
disciplines to accomplish these objectives. 

Be sure to visit the NIJ Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij for more
information about the solicitation and other NIJ funding opportunities.
Click on "Programs" then on "Violence Against Women and Family
Violence" to read descriptions of ongoing NIJ-funded research in this area.
The solicitation will be available on the Web site and also from the
National Criminal Justice Reference Service by calling 1-800-851-3420.

Seattle to Pilot Data-Driven Public Safety Initiative

NIJ has announced that Seattle will become the first pilot site for a U.S.
Department of Justice initiative that supports and promotes a
collaborative, strategic approach to analyzing the nature of public safety
problems. NIJ will provide up to $1 million in financial and in-kind
assistance to Seattle for the implementation of the initiative, called
COMPASS (Community Mapping, Planning, and Analysis for Safety
Strategies). The pilot site is coordinated by Seattle Mayor Paul Schell's
office. 

In recent years, local policymakers and practitioners have taken this new
approach to analyzing problems and developing interventions to reduce
them. The approach is supported by timely, accurate, multidisciplinary,
automated data with a geographic reference. Jurisdictions that have used
such data and collaborative partnerships have experienced great success in
reducing crime and addressing public safety problems. 

Through COMPASS, Seattle will gather neighborhood-level data to
examine the nature of local crime problems, develop strategies to reduce
crime, and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies. The effort will be
directed by a strong local advisory committee whose members have the
knowledge and skills necessary to make full use of the available
information. 

COMPASS is a collaborative effort among NIJ and the Justice
Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed. 

For more information about the initiative, contact Laura Winterfield at
winterfi@ojp.usdoj.gov or Erin Dalton at daltona@ojp.usdoj.gov. 

DuBois Fellowships Support Talented Researchers

In 1899, W.E.B. DuBois published the groundbreaking sociological study
"The Philadelphia Negro," one of the first research projects to combine
urban ethnography, social history, and descriptive statistics. 

In honor of the activist and scholar, NIJ recently created the W.E.B.
DuBois Fellowship Program to advance the field of knowledge regarding
the confluence of crime, justice, and culture in various societal contexts. 

The DuBois Fellowship provides talented researchers early in their careers
with the opportunity to elevate independently generated research and ideas
to the level of national discussion. Because the DuBois Fellowship places
particular emphasis on crime, violence, and the administration of justice in
diverse cultural contexts, researchers may choose from, but are not limited
to, the following broad topic areas:

--Immigration, crime, and victimization.

--Transnational crime.

--Ethnographic studies investigating crime, violence, substance abuse, and
justice system interactions in particular cultural settings.

--Police-community relations.

--Courts, sentencing, and corrections.

--Civil rights.

The Institute will review each application for significance and timeliness
of the topic, relevance to NIJ's mission, applicant's research and academic
track record and accomplishments, and the quality and viability of the
projects proposed.

Each year, NIJ will fund as many as two successful applicants from up to
$50,000 each (subject to available appropriations). Because of the focus of
this Fellowship, NIJ strongly encourages applicants from diverse racial
and ethnic backgrounds to apply. 

NIJ will award Fellowships in June for a period of between 6 and 12
months. Applications are due February 1, 2000. To obtain further
information about the W.E.B. DuBois Fellowship Program, prospective
applicants should contact Rhonda Jones at 202-616-3233. A full
description of the application process can be found on the NIJ Web site at
http://www.ojp.usdoj. gov/nij/funding.htm.

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

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

Janet Reno
Attorney General

Daniel Marcus
Acting Associate Attorney General

Laurie Robinson
Assistant Attorney General

Noel Brennan
Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Jeremy Travis
Director, National Institute of Justice

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
Service, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000, call 800-851-3420, or
e-mail 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.

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

NIJ is Changing the Way it Delivers Your Publications . . .

To increase efficiency, NIJ is making the following changes to its
distribution policy:

--The NIJ Journal will continue to be free, but will not be sent
automatically to you. Beginning in January 2000, readers must subscribe.
For a free subscription, contact NCJRS at 1-800-851-3420, P.O. Box
6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Include your name and complete
mailing address.

--NCJRS Catalog. Everyone who is on the NCJRS mailing list will
continue to receive the NCJRS Catalog.

--NIJ Research Review. The new NIJ Research Review (which premieres
in February 2000) will contain summaries of recent research findings.
Everyone who is registered with NCJRS automatically will receive a copy. 

To receive the e-mail version, send an e-mail to puborder@ncjrs.org.

All NIJ publications are free and available instantly by visiting NIJ's Web
site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

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

A Tribute to Mary Graham

On a personal note, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the
contributions to the Journal made by a long-time member of the NIJ staff
who recently retired. 

Mary G. Graham was at the helm of the Journal since its inception,
resurrected it when other priorities eclipsed it, and then guided it toward
the look it has today. 

In a career that spanned the history of NIJ, Mary applied her prodigious
talents in communications to serve NIJ and to expand the agency's
constituency. Meeting the needs of criminal justice practitioners, in
particular, was for her the primary consideration. She succeeded admirably
in doing so by using her mastery of the written word to cast research
findings in lucid, elegant prose that (sometimes miraculously) retained all
the depth and texture of the initial submission. 

Predictably, retirement for Mary has not meant a slowdown in any sense.
She has begun a new chapter in her distinguished career, working with the
National Academy of Sciences on youth development. As we wish Mary
success and bid her farewell, we are buoyed by the knowledge that her
leadership and example will enable us to build on the foundation for
excellence in communications she laid at NIJ.

Jeremy Travis Director

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JR 000242