Crime Prevention

This report evaluates the use of cameras to reduce car-related crimes in Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) commuter parking facilities. Using a randomized controlled trial design, digital motion-activated cameras (akin to red light cameras) were installed at the exits of 25 Metro parking facilities, which were matched with 25 parking facilities serving as controls. Findings suggest that the cameras were not effective in reducing crime, and no evidence of displacement was found. Researchers concluded that cameras might have yielded their intended crime control impact if they had real-time surveillance capabilities and were fully employed for investigative purposes.

A promising approach to reducing and preventing crime at the neighborhood level involves addressing both immediate and long-term risk factors for crime. This strategic plan outlines a collaborative Neighborhood-Based Crime Prevention Initiative (NCPI) that combines law enforcement-led crime suppression activities with human and social service efforts to address longer-term risk factors for crime. This plan focuses on the initiative's structure, and data and administrative requirements. Objectives, associated suppression and prevention activities, and performance measures are related to initiative goals and measurable crime outcomes. This sets the stage for an initiative that could be monitored and ultimately evaluated.

In partnership with local agencies, the DC Mayor launched the Focused Improvement Area Initiative in select high-crime areas. The Initiative aimed to reduce crime and increase the quality of life in at-risk communities by combining community policing with human and social services delivery. This report reviews the Initiative's past efforts based on stakeholder interviews, programmatic materials, administrative records, and field observations. While many aspects of the Initiative were implemented as designed, it was not designed in such a way as to ensure sustained interagency, collaborative efforts focused on measuring and addressing outcomes. The report concludes with considerations for next steps.

In Houston, Texas, returning prisoners face many challenges, from securing housing and employment to rebuilding relationships with their families and support networks, while at the same time attempting to avoid old pathways to criminal behavior and substance abuse. The impact of prisoner reentry, however, extends far beyond these individuals and their families and friends. The communities to which former prisoners return and the local government and social service networks that serve these communities have a significant stake in the successful reintegration of returning prisoners. This research brief explores prisoner reentry from the perspective of Houston stakeholders and community members.

A National Academy of Sciences report addresses the science-or lack thereof-in America's crime labs and criminal justice system. John Roman explains why a new era of scientific policing may be at hand.

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. As part of this effort, the National Institute of Justice is funding a five-year evaluation of SVORI programs conducted by RTI International and the Urban Institute. This article, published in the October 2007 issue of the NIJ Journal, is a summary of program participant's demographics as well as information on a control group of non-SVORI participants. This information is the result of interviews just prior to release with incarcerated men and includes their responses to questions about their needs and expectations post-release.

Funded by the Departments of Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. This article, published in the April 2008 issue of Corrections Today, highlighted data on the types of offenders in the programs and their needs. This information, the result of interviews with incarcerated male offenders, focused on what adult men believe they will need after their release from prison. Also included in the article are initial findings on reentry outcomes for SVORI participants.

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) supports innovative reentry programs at the state and community level. Because fully implemented SVORI programs incorporate assessment, services, and programming for offenders while incarcerated, under supervision in the community, and once released from supervision, measuring their success is a challenge for researchers. In this paper, published in the August 2006 issue of Western Criminology Review, researchers from RTI International and the Urban Institute suggest an approach for categorizing the types of services being provided to program participants so that the extent to which SVORI programs have increased access to services can be determined.