Criminal Justice Faculty Book Series

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  Police Science: Key Readings

  John DeCarlo (Editor)

  Police Science: Key Readings provides students with a collection of carefully curated articles that present a broad overview of the academic study of the field. The readings equip students with the knowledge they need to become consumers of information on policing and prepare them to make informed decisions on police policy and operational efficiency.
  
  The book is organized into four units, which address the overarching concepts of policing history, the criminology of policing, police and education, and public policy and policing. Individual topics addressed include the evolution of contemporary policing, crime prevention through environmental design, new perspectives on police education and training, factors affecting the supply of police recruits, the militarization of American police, and more. Each unit includes an introduction, pre-reading questions, and post-reading questions to support the student learning experience and inspire critical thought.
  
  A highly timely and relevant resource, Police Science is an exemplary textbook for courses in law enforcement, policing, and criminal justice.

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  Evaluating Research in Academic Journals: A Practical Guide to Realistic Evaluation

  Fred Pyrczak and Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo

  Evaluating Research in Academic Journals is a guide for students who are learning how to evaluate reports of empirical research published in academic journals. It breaks down the process of evaluating a journal article into easy-to-understand steps, and emphasizes the practical aspects of evaluating research – not just how to apply a list of technical terms from textbooks. The book avoids oversimplification in the evaluation process by describing the nuances that may make an article publishable even when it has serious methodological flaws. Students learn when and why certain types of flaws may be tolerated, and why evaluation should not be performed mechanically. Each chapter is organized around evaluation questions. For each question, there is a concise explanation of how to apply it in the evaluation of research reports. Numerous examples from journals in the social and behavioral sciences illustrate the application of the evaluation questions, and demonstrate actual examples of strong and weak features of published reports. Common-sense models for evaluation combined with a lack of jargon make it possible for students to start evaluating research articles the first week of class.

  New to this edition: New chapters on: - evaluating mixed methods research - evaluating systematic reviews and meta-analyses - program evaluation research.

  Updated chapters and appendices that provide more comprehensive information and recent examples

  Full new online resources: test bank questions and PowerPoint slides for instructors, and self-test chapter quizzes, further readings and additional journal examples for students.

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  Labor Unions, Management Innovation, and Organizational Change in Police Departments

  John DeCarlo and Michael J. Jenkins

  This Brief examines the role of Police Unions in law enforcement policy development. It provides an overview of the historical and political background of police labor unions, and takes a critical look at the shifting perception of labor unions from generally positive to somewhat negative, to compare this perception with their real impact. It examines the perceived role that unions play, whether positive, negative, or neutral in the development and advancement of contemporary law enforcement agencies and their respective policies.

  This work provides a multisite survey of police administrators’ views and opinions on police union impact on a variety of police functions including: delivery of services, prevention of crime and disorder, and interaction with the public. The results of this research provide a comprehensive look at ways to improve the ways police departments operate and how they improve and enhance legitimacy in their communities.It provides a context for the current state of the public sector labor relations environment. It will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, police science, and public policy.

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  Police Leaders in the New Community Problem-Solving Era

  John DeCarlo and Michael J. Jenkins

  After 40 years of research championing the police profession's move into the Community Problem-Solving era, there are police practitioners and scholars who argue that the police profession has entered a new, intelligence-led, anti-terrorism era. Police Leaders in the New Community Problem-Solving Era demonstrates that these innovations are simply ways of more finely applying the elements of a community problem-solving strategy within a technologically savvy, post-9/11, and economically downgraded United States.

  This book chronicles what are arguably some of the nation's most capable police executives as they assist in moving their police departments into this New Community Problem-Solving Era. Given unprecedented access to the Boston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Newark (NJ) police departments, the cases are built using observations of police activities, in-depth interviews, surveys, and archival reviews. The reader will see how, rather than moving into a distinct era, even the most progressive police executives within rather forward-thinking settings are still on the road to fully realizing the community-based, crime and disorder reduction, and quality-of-life enhancing function of the police.

  The authors illuminate the undeniable role that police executives can play in bringing their departments into the New Community Problem-Solving era and discuss the facilitators and inhibitors that will undoubtedly influence the police profession's move in this new era. Students of policing as well as practitioners from varied policing backgrounds will find this book relatable, easy to understand, and relevant to many areas of police research and practice.

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  Becoming an Evidence-based Organization: Demonstrating Leadership and Organizational Growth

  David Myers

  Evidence-based policies, programs, and practices have emerged as expected (and sometimes required) approaches to processing and treating juvenile and adult offenders. The use of evidence-based interventions, however, must be incorporated effectively into justice system operations and services for successful outcomes to occur. This monograph and subsequent expected publications are meant to aid those persons who work in and around the criminal and juvenile justice systems and are interested in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their individual agencies or court system. This initial offering focuses on demonstrating leadership and understanding organizational culture and growth as key initial aspects of becoming an evidence-based organization. Future publications will examine the topics of strategic planning and action planning; preparing for successful implementation and monitoring; and evaluating and sustaining organizational services and innovations over time. Essentially, this comprehensive strategy is based on the premise that current justice system operations are flawed, but they are redeemable through enhanced leadership, planning, and evaluation approaches that can be integrated effectively with evidence-based policies, programs, and practices.

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  Competence and Policing: A Research Study

  David W. Webb

  Amazon description: "In the United States, competency frameworks are a well-kept secret in the policing sector, with reliance being placed on less adequate traditional processes. Today, considerable investment is being made in the United Kingdom and other countries developing competency frameworks as a management tool to improve police performance. The frameworks support a number of personnel processes for both police officers and police support staff, including recruitment and selection, training and development, performance and development reviews, promotion, leadership development, inefficiency procedures and workforce planning.This book describes the results of an opinion-seeking piece of research with Texas Police Chiefs. They identify the strengths and weaknesses the introduction of competency frameworks into Texas policing arrangements would bring. Their voice sheds some professional light on the issues that will face the city and county governments and their Police Chiefs, especially those contemplating organizational change? This, at a time when doing nothing, is probably not a viable option."

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  Boys Among Men: Trying and Sentencing Juveniles as Adults

  David Myers

  Images of youngsters in handcuffs and prison uniforms have become common on the nightly news in the United States. As America's fascination with crime and justice has grown, so has attention to the ways in which youthful offenders are charged, tried, and sentenced. While they may once have been viewed as misguided youth, more and more juveniles are being charged as adults and sentenced to adult prisons. Myers questions whether doing so is an effective deterrent for young offenders, if rehabilitation is out of the question, and if youth and society are better served by sending children away to adult prisons rather than juvenile detention facilities. These questions and others are addressed in this careful analysis of the history and evolution of transfer laws that are increasingly prevalent throughout the United States.The move toward charging juvenile delinquents as adult criminals initially coincided with an increase in violent crimes committed by youthful offenders. However, as such policies have grown and expanded, the methods by which youth are formally treated as adults in the criminal justice system have changed. Here, Myers examines the demographic, legal, criminal, and social characteristics of those youth who are waived to adult courts, assessing the nature, use, and effectiveness of punishment and rehabilitation efforts in modern juvenile and criminal justice systems. He concludes that as long as separate juvenile and adult justice systems are maintained, there will be a desire and perceived need for transferring some youth to adult court. However, he suggests that such transfers should be facilitated on a much more limited basis, while greater resources and funding for prevention and early intervention should be implemented to prevent youth from offending in the first place. This controversial topic receives a thorough accounting in this volume, which will open readers' eyes to the realities of juvenile delinquency and its treatment by the criminal justice system.

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  Excluding Violent Youths from Juvenile Court: The Effectiveness of Legislative Waiver

  David Myers

  Legislative waivers excluding youths from juvenile court have expanded. Meyers studied data on 557 youths judicially waived in Pennsylvania in 1994. Those sent to adult court were more likely to be released from custody prior to disposition of their cases. Of those released, waived juveniles exhibited greater recidivism during the pre-dispositional time period than did those facing juvenile court. Despite the more severe sanctions of adult court, transferred offenders again displayed greater recidivism during the post-dispositional follow-up period. Finally, qualitative interviews with justice officials corroborated statistical results. The findings suggest a more selective approach to excluding youths from juvenile court.