John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center - Page 2 of 51 - Building the Evidence Base for Justice and Safety

Articles, Eric Piza, Evaluation, Jay Szkola, Policy & Practice Reforms

Risk Terrain Modeling: Seasonality and Predictive Validity

June 26, 2019August 14, 2019by JohnJayREC

This study focuses on crimes involving firearms in Baltimore, Maryland to answer three research questions concerning the effect of seasonality: (1) Do changes in the seasons affect which spatial factors are significantly related to crime?; (2) Does risk terrain modeling have predictive validity on a short-term basis?; and (3) Are the same areas high-risk throughout the year? To accomplish this, the authors ran twelve monthly risk terrain models and one yearly risk terrain model. The study found that risk factors vary by month and that monthly and yearly spatial risk factors do not necessarily overlap. The study also found that risk terrain models retain their predictive validity on a short-term basis. The results are further discussed in relation to whether the same areas are high-risk throughout the course of the year.

Press Coverage

What We Fight About When We Fight About Parking

May 22, 2019May 23, 2019by JohnJayREC

A quick Google search of parking spot violence will turn up an alarming quantity of such incidents. Sociologists and criminologists theorize as to why violence can erupt from such seemingly inconsequential concerns.

2 after slider, Articles, Corrections, Jeffrey Butts, Policy & Practice Reforms

It’s About Quality: Private Confinement Facilities in Juvenile Justice

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019by JohnJayREC

Quality youth justice systems (a) limit the use of confinement to cases where it is objectively necessary, (b) ensure the health and safety of all confined youth, (c) provide effective treatments and developmentally appropriate programming, and (d) continually monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. These goals apply to all forms of secure confinement regardless of financing or organizational configuration.

1 slider, Evaluation, Gina Moreno, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products, Monographs, NYC Mayor's Action Plan, Richard Espinobarros, Sheyla Delgado

Public Safety Trends in MAP Communities and Matched Comparison Areas

May 10, 2019December 4, 2019by JohnJayREC

Was the presence of the MAP initiative in some NYCHA developments associated with greater improvements in crime and victimization outcomes compared with the same outcomes in NYCHA developments not involved in MAP? The results presented here do not answer the question in full, but they offer an early look at efforts by the research team to generate more precise answers. Additional analyses are needed to rule out competing explanations and to examine the complex series of relationships among all the study’s variables. Based on the preliminary findings in this report, however, the results of MAP to date may be considered promising.

2 after slider, Articles, Corrections, Douglas Evans, Jay Szkola, Policy & Practice Reforms, Victor St.John

Going Back to College? Criminal Stigma in Higher Education Admissions in Northeastern U.S.

April 25, 2019August 14, 2019by JohnJayREC

Access to education is a constant theme in discussions germane to correctional reform, particularly to reduce rule breaking while incarcerated and re-offending after release from prison. Focusing on the latter, we examine the extent to which education is accessible for individuals who have felonious non-violent records in the United States (US). We generated a stratified random sample of 85 institutions of higher education (IHE) in the northeastern US and analyzed emails from admission departments in response to inquiries about how a felony record would affect admissions decisions. Results from multivariate models indicate that the institution type (public vs. private) significantly predicts how an IHE would use an individual’s criminal history in admissions decisions. Public IHEs are less likely to consider criminal history when reviewing an individual’s application and IHEs with higher proportions of minority students are associated with reduced consideration of an applicant’s criminal history in admissions decisions.

Articles, Douglas Evans

Full Disclosure: Experimental Analysis of Female Online Dating on Parole

March 20, 2019August 14, 2019by JohnJayREC

The stigma of a criminal record is damaging for Blacks and Latinas who disclose parole in online dating bios, but for White females, disclosure of parole does not hinder and may even help their online dating match success. The stigma of being minority appears to compound criminal stigma in online dating. This has crucial implications for the relationships of formerly incarcerated because prosocial romantic relationships reduce recidivism.

Press Coverage, Uncategorized

ABQ Area Homicides Down Slightly, but Concerns Remain

January 21, 2019July 4, 2019by JohnJayREC

...while the drop in crime is welcome news to Albuquerque residents, Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, warns that Albuquerque police and local leaders should be cautious and not take the decrease for granted.

Angela Silletti, Anthony Vega, Community Interventions, Evaluation, Jeffrey Butts, John Roman, JohnJayREC Products, Monographs, NYC Mayor's Action Plan, Violence, Wogod Alawlaqi

Measurement Plan and Analytic Strategies for Evaluating the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety

January 11, 2019December 4, 2019by JohnJayREC

This second in a series of reports about the evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). This Evaluation Update: summarizes the goals and methods used to evaluate the Mayor’s Action Plan; describes the quasi-experimental design used to test the outcomes and impacts of MAP as well as the data sources assembled by the research team and how they are used; and portrays a logical framework the research team used initially to identify causal pathways through which various elements of MAP were intended to achieve their desired effect.