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Research Related to the Correlates and Determinants of Crime - A Study of Ten Federal Agencies

NCJ Number
88702
Author(s)
L B Otten
Date Published
1978
Length
124 pages
Annotation
This survey of 10 Federal agencies to determine funding for research on the correlates and determinants of criminal behavior found that only a few are involved in such research, and most do not have clear ideas of future work in this area.
Abstract
The agencies surveyed were the Administration on Aging, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Labor, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Corrections, the National Institute of Mental Health/Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Education/National Institute of Education. The following agencies appear to have almost no involvement in research on correlates and determinants of criminal behavior: the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Institute of Corrections, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The range of research supported covers the spectrum from the more focused projects that examine some facet of the correlates or determinants of crime, such as genetic anomalies and criminal behavior, to those less concerned with criminal behavior per se and more interested in some other phenomenon, such as criminal behavior as one of many contributors to drug addiction. The research efforts that do target criminal behavior can be divided into two groups: those concerned with the antecedents of original criminal/deviant behavior and those that focus on the causes of recidivism. Most of the agencies have not been involved in multiagency cooperative research ventures. The appendix contains abstracts of selected relevant research from seven of the agencies surveyed.