Consider the Evidence Blog Archive

Welcome to “Consider the Evidence,” the official blog of the OJP Diagnostic Center. Through this blog you’ll hear directly from OJP staff and advisors, as well as leaders from across criminal justice communities about their experiences with evidence-based strategies. We hope your posts and commentaries will spur a richer dialogue around this issue. If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger, please contact us for more information.

Most Recent Blog Posts

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Hidden in Plain Sight
Using Offender Profiling to Affect Burglary Arrest Rates
Impacting Police Legitimacy through Strategic Community Engagement
Creating a Culture of Officer Safety
Collective Efficacy: Giving More Depth to the Police Role within the Community
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Shielding Against Police Stress: Integration of Individual and Organizational Resiliency

By: John M. Violanti, PhD, Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health & Health Professions, University at Buffalo, NY, SUNY

June 2, 2015

Stress (noun): a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

Chronic and intense stress are inherent to police work. Split second judgment is critical for officers to avoid or reduce harm to the public, their coworkers and to him/herself. Officers know their instant decision-making may lead to litigation, second-guessing by their employer and the public as well as the loss of personal property in court settlements. These realities further compound the stressful milieu.

Procedural Justice: Increasing Trust to Decrease Crime

By: Megan Quattlebaum, Associate Research Scholar in Law, Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law, Supervising Attorney, and Program Director of the Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School

May 26, 2015

Police leaders watching the news unfold in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and North Charleston are doing a great deal of soul searching about how to repair strained relationships with the communities they protect. While problems so complex and longstanding will not have an easy solution, the concept of “procedural justice” is one police departments should take seriously.

Collaboration and Law Enforcement – Improving the Outcome

By: Chip Coldren, Managing Director, CNA Institute for Public Research

May 13, 2015

The collaborative approach to policing and to problem-solving in the justice system is not a new idea. Multi-agency, multi-dimensional, community-oriented programs have been stressed for the past several decades. Yet the consequences of law enforcement not collaborating effectively with communities are being seen across the country in persistent pockets of violent crime, and more recently in protests against the police.

Learning from What Didn’t Happen: LEO Near Miss

By: Deborah L. Spence, Supervisory Social Science Analyst, U.S. Department of Justice

April 20, 2015

Cyberbullying: Understanding Online Cruelty among Youth

By: Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja, Co-Directors, Cyberbullying Research Center

April 8, 2015

Technology is expanding the reach and harm of the age-old bully. Defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices,” cyberbullying is done to harass, threaten, humiliate or otherwise hassle a peer via text, on social media, in gaming networks or other online environments.

Mending Justice Through Actionable Wisdom

By: Robert Lipman

January 16, 2015

In the 1950s Japanese car manufacturers had a reputation for poor quality, but by 2014 Toyota attained podium-topping stature in resale value, according to Kelley Blue Book. What caused this transformation? Rabbi Dr. Dov Peretz Elkins’ parable on How We Become Wise, How We Change suggests that it depends on whether there is commitment to embrace mistakes as opportunities to learn:

Identifying Victims when Limited Data Exists

By: Detective Deb Flatness, Albert Lea Police Department, MN; Detective James McBride Clearwater Police Department, FL; and Patty Dobbs Hodges, Senior Diagnostic Specialist, OJP Diagnostic Center

January 5, 2015

How do communities know if a certain crime is occurring? Most look for traditional data indicators such as calls for service and arrests by law enforcement. However, what if those traditional actions don’t occur? This is often the case with human trafficking.

New Resources to Confront Human Trafficking

By: Jean Bruggeman, Human Trafficking Fellow, DOJ Office for Victims of Crime

January 5, 2015

Human trafficking is a repugnant crime impacting communities across America. Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in October, 2000, law enforcement, victim service providers and communities have developed new approaches to identify and support victims and prosecute traffickers.

Preventing Gang Activity and Its Associated Violence

By: Dennis Mondoro, Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Justice

December 11, 2014

Despite the historically low crime rates across the United States, violent crime continues to be a challenge for many communities. Research indicates gang members are responsible for a disproportionate share of violent juvenile offenses. According to the 2012 National Youth Gang Survey, there are an estimated 30,700 gangs and 850,000 gang members throughout 3,100 jurisdictions in the United States.

Animal Cruelty Data: A Defining Moment

By: Katherine Darke Schmitt, Policy Advisor, Office of the Assistant Attorney General , Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and facilitator of DOJ’s Animal Cruelty Working Group

November 3, 2014

For decades, researchers and law enforcement practitioners have had an interest in understanding the links between cruelty to animals and violent, delinquent and criminal behavior. A national estimate of the incidence or prevalence of animal cruelty did not exist, nor were local studies aggregated or compared with statistical confidence…until now.

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