Short description:

Now more than ever, the criminal justice system, and the programs, policies, and practices within it, are subject to increased public scrutiny, due to well-founded concerns over effectiveness, fairness, and potential unintended consequences.

Long description:

Now more than ever, the criminal justice system, and the programs, policies, and practices within it, are subject to increased public scrutiny, due to well-founded concerns over effectiveness, fairness, and potential unintended consequences. One of the best means to address these concerns is to draw upon evidence-based approaches demonstrated to be effective through empirical research, rather than through anecdote, standard practice, or professional experience alone (National Institute of Justice, 2011).

The goal of this book is to describe the most useful, actionable, and evidence-based solutions to many of the most pressing questions in the criminal justice system today. Specifically, this edited volume contains brief and accessible summaries of the best available research, alongside detailed descriptions of evidence-based practices, across different areas of the criminal justice system. It is written so that practitioners and researchers alike can use the text as reference tool in their work and in training the new generation of individuals working to improve the system. Researchers and practitioners in many areas of criminal justice ? crime prevention, policing, courts (prosecution, defendants, judges), corrections, sanctions, and sentencing ? can reference specific chapters in this book to guide their policy and practice decisions. Although theory is a guide for the practices described, the chapters will address practical issues in implementation and action.

This book overcomes the limitations of previous criminal justice practice books in that it is written as a practice resource and reference guide and spans practices and policies across different sectors of the criminal justice system ? from prevention to policing to sanctions and corrections. Each chapter contains a list of action items, based upon the best available scientific research, that can be implemented in practice to address key issues and long standing challenges in the criminal justice system.

?Profs. Verona and Fox have created a volume which deftly connects theory, research evidence and the implications for crime policy. This is the rare handbook that will find a home on the shelves of academics, applied researchers and practitioners alike.?

Thomas Loughran, Professor of Sociology, Criminology, and Public Policy at Penn State University & Co-Lead Editor of Criminology

?Verona and Fox?s volume helps justice practitioners meet the challenge of evidence-based crime policy by providing much-needed actionable translations of high-quality scientific research that are useable and accessible.? 

Cynthia Lum, University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, & Co-Editor in Chief of Criminology and Public Policy

?Criminal justice policy should be driven by evidence and analysis rather than speculation and hunches. This Handbook is an invaluable resource to make our system more effective and our communities safer.?

Andrew Warren, State Attorney for Florida?s 13th Judicial Circuit

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1.      Evidence-Based Approaches and Implementation Challenges and Solutions

Edelyn Verona and Bryanna Fox

PART I: Crime Prevention

2.                  Social Disorganization Theory and Community-Based Interventions

Charis E. Kubrin and Rebecca Tublitz

3.                  Evidence-Based Employment Practices to Reduce Offending

Chae Jaynes, Kelly E. Kortright, and Mateus Rennó Santos

4.                  Mental Health Interventions and Crisis Response Teams

Emily Torres, Kendall Smith, Lauren Fournier, and Edelyn Verona

5.                  Opioid Use Disorder, Infectious Disease, and Coordinated Harm Reduction in a Medical Setting

Jason W. Wilson and Heather Henderson

6.                  Adult Victims of Violence: Outcomes and Services

Jillian Turanovic and Szilvia Biro

7.                  Toward Evidence-Based Human Trafficking Prevention

Joan A. Reid, Klejdis Bilali, Calli M. Cain, and Kaci Crook

PART II:  Juvenile Justice and Early Interventions

8.                  School-Based Prevention and Criminal Justice

Ashley L. White

9.                  Evidence-Based Criminal Justice Practices: Current Status and Strategies for Successful Youth Outreach and Enrichment Programming

McKenzie N. Berezin, Raquel E. Rose, and Shabnam Javdani

10.             Juvenile Residential and Out of Home Placement: Programs & Interventions

Svetlana Yampolskaya

11.             Juvenile Justice Practices

Narim Lee and Jennifer Peck

12.             Youth Decision-Making and Juvenile Justice Policy

Lillian A. Rodriguez Steen and Lindsay C. Malloy

PART III:  Predictors of Crime and Risk Assessment

13.             Adverse Childhood Experiences and Offending: Strategies for Prevention, Intervention, and Building Resiliency

Michael T. Baglivio

14.             Early Psychosocial Risk Factors and Implications for Prevention

David P. Farrington

15.             Revisiting the Role of Sanction Risk Perceptions in Deterrence Policy

Timothy C. Barnum and Greg Pogarsky

16.             Sexual Offence Recidivism and Risk Assessment

L. Maaike Helmus

17.             Implementation Science and Evidence-Based Violence Risk Assessment

Kevin Douglas

PART IV: Policing

18.             Evidence-Based Police Patrol Practices at Crime Hotspots

Cory P. Haberman and Bradley J. O?Guinn

19.             Police Technology

Silas Patterson and Kenneth J. Novak

20.             Drug Enforcement and Its Effectiveness

Ojmarrh Mitchell and Alexander G. Toth

21.             Evidence-Based Practices for Policing Domestic Violence

Tara N. Richards, Gillian M. Pinchevsky, and Justin Nix

22.             Interviewing and Interrogations: From the Third Degree to Science-Based Approaches

Amelia Mindthoff and Christian A. Meissner

23.             Evidence-Based Policing Reform and Building Community Relations

Lexi Gill and Bryanna Fox

PART V: The Courts

24.             Evidence-Based Practices in Prosecution

Raquel A. Hernandez, Sean Houlihan, and Brian D. Johnson

25.             Defense Decision-Making and Practices

Kelsey S. Henderson and Jacqueline G. Lee

26.             Competence to Stand Trial: Evaluation and Restoration and Services

Daniel C. Murrie, Neil Gowensmith, and Marcus T. Boccacicini

27.             Eyewitness Identification

Margaret Bull Kovera and Eliana Aronson

28.             Implicit and Ingrained? Reducing Unconscious Bias among Jurors

Angela Jones and Christine L. Ruva

29.             Judicial Considerations in Sentencing: A Call for Evidence-Based Reform

Judge John L. Badalamenti and Lindsay Holcomb

30.             Problem-Solving Courts: A Brief Overview of Judicial Interventions

Kathleen A. Moore, Melissa Carlson, and Kelsey Greenfield

PART VI: Corrections

31.             Correctional Programming: Evidence-Based Programs, Policies, and Practices

Mark E. Olver and Keira C. Stockdale

32.             Incarceration: Rehabilitative Versus Iatrogenic Effects

Meghan A. Novisky and Meghan M. Mitchell

33.             What Works in Improving Reentry Outcomes?: Effective Programs and Recommendations

Edelyn Verona, Kendall Smith, Michelle Hua, and Bryanna Fox

34.             Supporting Healing and Wholeness: Evidence-Based Practices in Community Supervision

Alexander M. Holsinger

35.             Justice-Involved Persons with Opioid Use Disorder: Reducing Overdose and Criminal Recidivism

Khary Rigg

PART VII: Considerations for Policy Change

36.             Criminal Justice Interventions Against Drug Use and Harms

Greg Midgette, Jacob Scocca, and Anna Newell

37.             Effective Bail Reform Strategies Drawn from a Limited Evidence Base

Evan M. Lowder, Ashley Rodriguez, and Carmen Diaz

38.             Examining Dilemmas about the State of America?s Death Penalty

Anna R. Dixon and Ali Shakoor

39.             Firearm Policy and Regulation in America: Promising Avenues for Future Research

Emma E. Fridel

40.             Mass Incarceration

Bryan L. Sykes and J. Amanda Sharry

41.             Anti-Racism & Racial Justice in the Criminal Justice System

Micah E. Johnson and Skye C. Bristol

Conclusion & Integration

42.             Toward Policy Refinement: Multi-Systemic and Evidence-Based Approaches

Edelyn Verona, Emily Torres, and Bryanna Fox