When someone tells you "what the research says" about how to reduce crime and violence, try to remember they're describing the research base as it was created by people and organizations with opinions, values, and self-interest.
How Train Stations Help to Explain a Public Health Approach to Violence Prevention
Violence reduction strategies vary in their emphasis on individual characteristics versus structural incentives. Train stations do as well.
How to Survive Your Research Partner
Good researchers want to know a lot about the program or policy they are evaluating before expressing a preference for a particular research design. If your research partner tries to convince you to support a particular evaluation design before you are sure they understand your situation and your information needs, you are probably working with someone in sales, not research. Get a new partner.
No More Science Advisory Board at OJP
On December 5, 2018, the Department of Justice officially abolished its Science Advisory Board (SAB) for the Office of Justice Programs.
Tips for a First-Time Flyer
Recently, I offered to help a young man who was about to take his first flight. I knew he would be traveling alone, so I thought I could prepare him for the experience since I've been flying commercial airlines for more than 40 years.
It’s Not About the Art; It’s About the Artist
We actually need young people who are bold, willing to challenge conventional thinking, and to break rules, but we also need them to respect others, to rely on logic rather than force, and to appreciate the corrosive effects of violence and exploitation. In short, our communities need powerful and creative young people who want to improve us and not simply to fight us. These should seem like obvious concepts to anyone working around the youth justice system, but it is often surprisingly difficult to implement them in practice.
The Recidivism Trap
Rather than asking “what’s the recidivism rate?” we should ask an entirely different set of questions about justice interventions. Are we really helping people convicted of crimes to form better relationships with their families and their law-abiding friends? Are we helping them to advance their educational goals? Are they more likely to develop the skills and abilities required for stable employment? Are we helping them to respect others and to participate positively in the civic and cultural life of their communities?
NIJ Meeting Minutes
Dr. Jeffrey Butts said that evaluation should play a large role in policy and practice. Human development is not finished at some “magic birthday.” Prosecutors and judges need to know that extending the developmental frame beyond age 18 will not endanger them politically and public safety will not be harmed
Tallahassee Democrat—Data Does Not Support State Attorneys’ Argument
No credible study ever located the source of the crime drop in the power of prosecutors to send youth to adult courts and adult prisons. There is just no compelling evidence to suggest that prosecutors may rightfully claim the credit for falling rates of violent youth crime. Not even in Florida.
Gainesville Sun—Prosecutorial Power Unrelated to Drop in Crime
Despite a sustained effort to study these policies over the last two decades, researchers have not found that increasing prosecutorial power reduces crime, and the practice of putting young people in the adult criminal justice system is not only ineffective, it has many negative side effects.
Cursing the Darkness
Researching the effectiveness of social policies is like pointing a flashlight inside a dark room. You can can only see what passes through the beam of light.
Aiming Your Research for Effect
All researchers want their studies to have an impact on policy and practice, but few do. It's often the researcher's own fault -- at least in part. Here are some basic strategies for increasing the chances that your research will have an effect.
Adulthood Doesn’t Happen Overnight
Adolescence does not end with a single birthday and it lasts well beyond the point of legal adulthood. Our science-blind courts have yet to accept this fact.
20 Questions (and Answers) About Juvenile Justice
Jeffrey Butts answers 20 key questions about the U.S. juvenile justice system.
NCCD Blog
If our goal is to mitigate whatever factors are most likely to draw young people into contact with the justice system, the interventions we provide should reflect what we know about adolescents and the conditions facing young people in the United States today.
JJIE—There is More than One ‘System’ in Juvenile Justice
Equating the deepest end of juvenile justice with “the system” distorts the significance of whatever problems affect the youth in secure care. Young people in secure facilities represent a small proportion of the entire youthful offender population.
JJIE—Interpreting the Juvenile Incarceration Drop
Even if we observe a number of instances when state reforms are followed by lower incarceration, we have to test whether the causal hypothesis holds up in the absence of reform? If we lined up all the states according to whether they had enacted meaningful reforms in their juvenile justice systems, would their incarceration trends line up in the same way, with high reform states showing more decline and low reform states showing less? Moreover, does the relationship persist over time and under varying circumstances?
JJIE—Are We Too Quick to Claim Credit for Falling Juvenile Incarceration Rates?
As we celebrate falling incarceration numbers, those of us who work in juvenile justice should take a few moments to contemplate the true origins of the decline. We venture onto thin ice — empirically — if we conclude that incarceration is down because of changes in practice and policy.
Stuff I wish journalists would NOT do when covering juvenile crime and juvenile justice …
by Jeffrey A. Butts May 16, 2015 1. use the word “jail” as a synonym for juvenile incarceration, or use the word “detention” as a synonym for all forms of juvenile incarceration 2. use the words “juvenile justice system” when what they mean is juvenile corrections or incarceration facilities 3. assume that because someone says … Continue reading Stuff I wish journalists would NOT do when covering juvenile crime and juvenile justice …
Orlando Sentinel—Transfers to Adult Court don’t Explain Drop in Youth Crime
If Florida transfers far more juveniles to criminal court than any other state and yet the state’s crime decline is about average, then it is simply wrong to credit criminal-court transfer for recent reductions in youth violence.
How Prevalent are Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in Juvenile Justice? The Answer May Surprise You
When you look at their findings, it is clear that mental health and substance abuse issues are not the main reasons youth come into contact with the justice system, but both problems increase in prevalence as youth are processed more deeply into the system.
The Bond Market and Public Safety
At least 40 states face swelling budget deficits. Likely targets for reductions include the discretionary social programs that protect public safety. Rather than jeopardize the public's safety and well-being with imprudent cuts, a different and better way out of the financing crunch is explained by two criminologists: the social impact bond.
Teen Courts – Do They Work and Why?
Despite their popularity, there are many unanswered questions about the effectiveness of teen courts. The overall impression one gets from the evaluation literature is positive, but researchers have yet to identify exactly why teen courts work. Most important, studies have not yet investigated whether some teen court models are better than others.
Where are Juvenile Crime Trends Headed?
Jeffrey A. Butts and Howard N. Snyder (2007). Where are Juvenile Crime Trends Headed? Juvenile and Family Justice Today. Spring 2007. After 10 years of stunning decreases in violent crime, fretting over a 3 percent increase is like phoning your doctor in the middle of the night because your child's temperature has reached 99.1 F.
The Oklahoman – Youth System isn’t Broken
Sending juveniles to adult prison is not guaranteed to reduce crime. Research shows that an aggressive system of juvenile treatment may prevent more crime than prosecuting youths as adults and giving them lengthy prison sentences.
Jeffrey Butts 