Winter 2006 Featured Resources New Online Stay Connected Home

Agency culture has big effect on police integrity

What factors contribute to—or detract from—police officer integrity, and how can police administrators measure integrity? From a national survey of police officers, researchers identified characteristics of police agency culture that encourage officers to resist or tolerate certain types of misconduct. This NIJ Research for Practice summarizes the survey findings and includes an assessment tool that police chiefs can use to measure integrity within their departments. Enhancing Police Integrity, 16 pages

Survey investigates how colleges address sexual assault on campus

Colleges and universities are not always the safe havens they are thought to be; college women are at higher risk for sexual assault than their non-college-bound peers. Yet, many rapes and attempted rapes are unreported, perhaps because in the majority of these crimes, victim and assailant are acquainted. Schools vary widely in how they comply with Federal requirements to report and respond to sexual victimization. These are among the findings from the first major survey of the Nation’s colleges and universities to inquire about sexual assault on campus and how schools are reporting and handling the problem. Many schools need guidance on how to comply with Federal requirements to disclose security procedures, report crime data, and ensure victims’ rights. Promising practices in prevention, policy, victim support services, and other areas are discussed. Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Are Doing About It, 24 pages

Acquaintance rape of college students

This COPS Office guide addresses the scope, causes, and factors contributing to the acquaintance rape of college students. It describes methods for analyzing the problem on a particular campus, tested responses, and measures for assessing the effectiveness of various responses. With this information, police and public safety officers can more effectively prevent the problem. Acquaintance Rape of College Students, Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, Problem-Specific Guides Series, No.17, 54 pages

Public Law 280 in Indian Country

Passed in 1953, Public Law 83–280 (PL 280) gave certain States jurisdiction over criminal offenses involving Indians in Indian Country and allowed other States to assume that jurisdiction. Subsequent legislation allowed States to retrocede jurisdiction, which has occurred in some States or portions of States. Some PL 280 reservations have experienced jurisdictional confusion, tribal discontent, and litigation, compounded by the lack of data on crime rates and law enforcement response. This NIJ Research in Brief summarizes the current status of PL 280 jurisdiction, identifies the key issues, and lists areas for further research and action. Public Law 280 and Law Enforcement in Indian Country—Research Priorities, 24 pages

Implementing the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants

Congress created the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) in 1997 to encourage States and localities to strengthen prosecution and adjudication of juvenile offenders, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention began awarding JAIBG funds in 1998. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) authorized Abt Associates Inc. to conduct a process evaluation to determine how block grant funds were spent in the initial years of the grants and how States and localities carried out five policy objectives envisioned by Congress—using graduated sanctions for subsequent offenses, prosecuting serious juvenile offenders as adults, developing comparable juvenile records systems with those of adult systems, establishing appropriate juvenile substance abuse testing, and promoting parental responsibility for juvenile supervision. This Research for Policy, based on a more extensive final report to NIJ, discusses the key evaluation findings. Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants: Assessing Initial Implementation, 16 pages

Juvenile co-offending increases risks of recidivism and violence

Juveniles often commit crimes in pairs or groups, which is known as co-offending. An NIJ-sponsored study of delinquents in Philadelphia found several patterns related to juvenile co-offending. The researchers linked co-offending with increased risks for recidivism and violence. Interaction among delinquent peers seems to instigate crimes and escalate their severity. The youngest offenders were more likely to co-offend and to become violent if their earliest crimes were committed with violent offenders, even if those crimes were not violent. The researchers recommend early intervention targeting very young offenders, especially co-offenders, although more research is needed. But, they caution that some interventions may exacerbate the effects of co-offending by placing youths in groups that unintentionally provide negative peer learning. Co-Offending and Patterns of Juvenile Crime, 24 pages

How the justice system responds to juvenile victims

The justice system handles thousands of cases involving juvenile victims each year. These victims are served by a complex set of agencies and institutions, including police, prosecutors, criminal and civil courts, child protection agencies, children’s advocacy centers, and victim services and mental health agencies. This OJJDP bulletin identifies the major elements of the juvenile victim justice system by delineating how cases move through the system. It reviews each step in the case flow process for the child protection and criminal justice systems and describes the interaction of the agencies and individuals involved. How the Justice System Responds to Juvenile Victims: A Comprehensive Model (Crimes against Children Bulletin), 12 pages

New ‘Major Cities’ guide to reducing substance abuse

This booklet is intended to be a valuable resource for cities working to develop strategies for combating illegal drugs on their streets and in their neighborhoods. It is organized into sections that detail the necessary steps for laying the groundwork, mobilizing community stakeholders, setting upsteering committees and task forces, reaching out to the community, and creating a threat analysis database to better identify the drug problem. Appendixes include sample documents, checklists, action steps, and tips to help implement a local program. Cities Without Drugs: The ‘Major Cities’ Guide to Reducing Substance Abuse in Your Community, 62 pages

Jail exit surveys

The use of jail exit surveys is an effective data collection tool for understanding the characteristics of women in jail, the current detention and arrest practices in local jurisdictions, and better methods of preventing the return of former women offenders to jail. Sections of this bulletin cover the reasons for conducting a jail exit survey, tips for getting started, how to design a jail exit survey, understanding the information elicited from jail exit surveys, and lessons learned. A questionnaire is also included. Using Jail Exit Surveys To Improve Community Responses to Women Offenders, 20 pages

Improving responses to women offenders in Hamilton County, Ohio

This bulletin describes how Hamilton County, Ohio, used systemic criminal justice planning to improve services and programming for women offenders. By modifying its jail intake and pretrial services process, Hamilton County was able to identify women offenders with mental health and substance abuse issues and to better relay information about these disorders to judges at arraignment. These changes eventually led to improvements in policy and programming for women with co-occurring mental health disorders and reduced recidivism. Systemic Criminal Justice Planning: Improving Responses to Women Offenders in Hamilton County, Ohio, 16 pages