Research methods and their applications in academic inquiry

Criminal Justice - Research Methods

Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics Online

http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t200282010.pdf

Respondents' concern over effects of illegal immigrants

Gallup, Inc., The Gallup Poll [Online]. Available: http://www.gallup.com/poll/

127649/Americans-Value-Aspects-Immigration-Reform.aspx [June 16, 2010].

Table adapted by SOURCEBOOK staff.

Overall, the survey respondents indicate substantive concerns with the presence of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Three items relate to the overall question: (1) Unfair burden on U.S. schools, hospitals, and government; (2) Encourages other immigrants to move here illegally; (3) Low wages earned by illegal immigrants reduces overall wages paid to American workers. The overarching question is how concerned respondents are for each of the items, and the highest ranking item was related to the unfair burden immigrants place on schools, hospitals, and government. For all three items, there is significant difference in the percentage of responses under very concerned vs. under somewhat concerned. A majority of U.S. citizens are very concerned about the impact of illegal immigrants on budgets for U.S. services, U.S. jobs, and attractiveness of U.S. To further illegal immigrants.

The data source is from primary research conducted by the Gallup Poll. Just over a thousand randomly selected people were interviewed over the phone, which, as Gallup indicates is adequate for assessing effects. The refusals and don't know responses were not included in the data. The data are weighted using statistical procedures to reduce the impact of possible sampling bias. Weighting of data improves the validity of the results since it reduces the threat of contamination of data due to bias or non-representative samples. In addition, a split sample technique is used to measure the impact of different working in the questions. Split sample technique improves reliability.

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/studies/22600/detail

The Global Terrorism Database II (GTD2) project is intended to provide a basis for empirical analysis of terrorism. The barriers to compilation have been restricted public availability of terrorism data, and "insufficient temporal and spatial coverage of available data." The researchers set out to code and verify data that was previously unavailable from a data set covering world terrorism activity from 1998 through 2004. The data set is sufficiently robust as to permit methodologically derived insights into the phenomenon of terrorism and counter-terrorism.

A unique attribute of the data set is that the researchers have not classified the data into categories by definitions of terrorism. Rather, they leave that to users of the data set through the application of filters -- which can be described for others who may wish to replicate as study -- and coding that meets the researcher's definitions of terrorism. This is an elegant solution that permits analysis of data based on changes made to the definitions used, and provides a "work-around" for the theoretical issues that have surrounded study of the terrorism phenomenon.

Drug-related Arrests of Adults and Juveniles and Types of Crimes (Property and Violent)

1980 through 2006

The main website for includes the following sections: BJA Center for Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement; Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Data Resource Center, JABG Technical Support Center; National Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center; Native American Pass-Through Calculation, and Weed & Seed Data Center.

The JRSA webpages contain links to publications, such as the JRSA Forum, the JRP-Justice Research and Policy Journal, the JRP Digest, and the SAC/State Publication Library.

National Evaluation of Weed and Seed Impact, June 1999

http://www.weedandseed.info/docs/studies_national/nij-research-impact.pdf

New York

There are lists of community resources, law enforcement pages and links, a reference section, and a newsroom. The website includes banners with news items about crime reports and crime reduction programs. News blurbs include topics of high interest, such as, a report that the overall crime rate in New York has dropped while the incidence of hate crimes has increased.

Hate Crimes in New York State Annual Report

http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/criment/ojsa/hate-crime-in-nys-2010-annual-report.pdf

Connecticut

The State of Connecticut Statistical Analysis Center (CT-SAC) is located at the OPM, which is under the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Grants are awarded on an annual basis. The Research, Analysis & Evaluation Unit applied for grant funds to support the research and administration of the Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) for the State of Connecticut. The relocation of the CT-SAC was an effort to build in-house resources for knowledge sharing, to streamline operations, and to provide agency cross-training in order to improve coordination and support for the CJPAC Research Workgroup.

Between 1970 and 2010, there were 554 incidents of terrorism in Germany. The incidents hit a definitive peak between the years 1990 and 1997. Most of the incidents targeted business, with military and police targets accruing the second and third highest numbers of incidents of terrorism, respectively. The two main types of weapons were incendiary and melee. Fatalities were rare, the intent may have been to destroy property and disrupt. The list of perpetrators is very long and very specific. It was not possible to start with the incidences and find the perpetrator. Rather, the perpetrator had to be selected and then related incidents would be shown. In August 29, 1995, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) was responsible for attacks on businesses, private citizens, and private property in Ulm in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, injuring four people and killing two people.

http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?start_yearonly=1990&end_yearonly=1997&start_year=&start_month=&start_day=&end_year=&end_month=&end_day=&asmSelect0=&country=75&perpetrator=100024&perpetrator=20271&perpetrator=20272&perpetrator=2556&perpetrator=449&dtp2=all&success=yes&casualties_type=b&casualties_max=

Source: Framework for Program Evaluation, CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/eval/framework.htm

For a community mobilization effort against youth violence, I would begin by talking to community leaders. Who these people are is highly dependent upon the dominant cultural or ethnic groups in a community, but it is safe to say that a community mobilization effort would be "dead in the water" if it did not engage these community influencers. Initial meetings with community leaders / influencers will help to direct the first formal, organized, and visible activities in the community. Once the community leaders have agreed on the primary tenets of the program, they will act as champions of the program, telling key stakeholders about the program plans. In this way, by the time the initial meeting occurs, a group of community influencers will be ready to evangelize the program within the community.