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CHAPTER 15
Research in Criminal Justice Organizations
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, the student will have achieved the following objectives:
• Know the difference between “basic research” and “applied research”
• Understand the ways in which knowledge is utilized by criminal justice organizations
• Describe the nature of social science research and knowledge utilization
• Describe the limitations of data within criminal justice organizations
KEY TERMS
action research
basic research
conceptual usage
in-house research
instrumental usage
homicide review
knowledge as power
knowledge as truth
knowledge as understanding
National Council on Crime and Delinquency
National Institute of Corrections
National Institute of Justice
normative-re–educative strategies
power-coercive strategies
symbolic uses
Total Quality Management
Uniform Crime Reports
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. “Knowledge for What?”
A. The debate over the appropriate relationship between social science research and
public policy continues.
B. Basic research seeks to understand fundamental issues of process and structure in
ways that may not immediately be useful to practitioners.
C. Applied research seeks to develop knowledge that is directly useful to practitioners.
D. Managers and, ultimately, frontline workers must appreciate the value of research.
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G. Managers and, ultimately, frontline workers must appreciate the value of research,
and social scientists must be able to respond to the needs of practitioners.
H. Many researchers view criminal justice as an applied field in which studies should be
designed in a way to influence practice.
I. The National Institute of Justice has begun emphasizing the importance of
partnerships between academics and criminal justice agencies.
II. Criminal Justice Organizations and Knowledge Utilization
A. Types of research data use include:
1. Instrumental: Studies seldom directly influenced decision making.
3. Conceptual: Studies inform and enlighten managers, but are not used in decision
making.
B. Lovell found that:
1. absence of coordinated research utilization efforts combined with organizations’
functional division to limit use of research information
2. research was perceived as a luxury the organization didn’t have time for
C. Organizational structure and management influence the use of research in
organizations.
D. Practitioners must be convinced first of all that research findings are relevant to the
problems they face. National studies or research done in other jurisdictions may seem
too distant to them, despite the soundness of the methods.
2. Researchers must come to appreciate that the outlier is more than a statistical
anomaly in the real world. And practitioners must appreciate that the unusual case
cannot be allowed.
III. The Researcher and Knowledge Utilization
A. Researchers also contribute to problems in the research/practice relationship.
1. Many practitioners may never be exposed to the available research. Managers’
2. Researchers commonly disseminate results of social science research in criminal
justice and other fields through the specialized journal literature of the field.
B. The writing style and narrow dissemination of academic research are major reasons
some administrators report that research findings are of little use in their decision-
making process.
C. Organizational decision makers may have little time or ability to directly digest
research findings; instead, they may rely on people with whom they have direct
relationships.
D. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that practitioners and researchers may emphasize
different aspects of data.
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E. Some effective uses of research can be found:
1. The National Institute of Corrections has successfully used academics and
practitioners in providing technical assistance for prisons and jails.
2. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency has formed effective
relationships between researchers and practitioners as states have struggled with
how to project prison population growth and address crowding.
IV. The Nature of Social Science Research and Knowledge Utilization
A. Some academics question whether social science research has reached a level of
sophistication sufficient to merit influencing public policy.
B. Elliot contends that:
2. little data on criminal justice have been collected over a long enough period of
1. Data take policy out of the realm of simple preferences or untested assumptions.
2. A commitment to research is a commitment to defending policy choices as
rational.
V. Data and the Utilization of Knowledge
A. Another obstacle to applying knowledge in the context of organizations, researchers,
and the research process may arise from the nature of the data themselves.
B. Data that may be useful for describing national trends are often much less useful for
management purposes.
VI. In-House Research
A. In-house research is the development of the capacity within organizations to address
their own data and research needs, typically through separate units or research offices
within the organizations.
B. In-house research units can:
2. gain the support of managers to overcome organizational resistance to research
3. integrate researchers into the fabric of organizations, thus overcoming the
limitations associated with outside researchers and the research process
2. Claims that, in many agencies, a primary function of research may be to justify
program budgets.
E. The “quality” movement in industry today emphasizes the importance of in-house
research. Although he disliked the term, W. Edwards Deming has been seen as the
founder of total quality management (TQM).
1. The heart of that process has been reliance on data-based analysis and teamwork
2. Total quality management with an emphasis on customer orientation, research,
and participation has been a significant movement in major companies, including
AT&T, Kodak, and many others.
VII. Knowledge as Truth
A. Models of rational planning are based on the assumption that planners are rational.
B. Data, however, may not be the only rational influence on decision makers, who may
be influenced by a myriad of other considerations, from budget to politics.
C. Underneath all information lie the beliefs and assumptions of those who collect and
analyze it.
1. The claim of fact or truth, then, is not a neutral claim but rather is a claim to a
kind of power, the power of knowledge.
2. This can include the power to define the situation and to say what is and is not
important.
VIII. Knowledge as Power
A. The power of knowledge may contribute to rational processes within organizations,
allowing promotion of or resistance to change based on empirical evidence.
B. That power may also be used in change strategies described as power-coercive
strategies.
C. Under these strategies, research is a source of coercive power.
IX. Knowledge as Understanding
A. Normative-re-educative strategies emphasize that:
1. understanding is a transactional process in which information is taken in,
2. the impetus for change comes not from the expert’s analysis but rather from
collaboration and experience-based learning
B. Action research is the term applied to normative-re-educative strategies based on the
collection and analysis of data.
C. Lewin stressed the need for strengthening the relationships between research, training
and action through collaborative relationships in organizations in which managers,
workers and researchers came together to understand the need for change.
D. Methods to support collaborative research efforts include:
2. the use of employee and client surveys
E. Involvement in research can enhance the meaningfulness and sense of ownership of
F. Such self-study allows participants to supplement their intuition and unsystematic
experience-based knowledge with externally gathered facts.
X. Knowledge and Research Partnerships
A. There is a growing body of evidence of the value of local research partnerships in
1. the development of strategic interventions
2. in criminal justice planning
2. separate university- or research center-affiliated models
3. hybrid models between these extremes
D. Increases in the sophistication of criminal justice leaders and databases and leaders
have dramatically increased the interest in research
XI. Knowledge and Failure
A. It may seem rather intuitive that organizations seek knowledge and conduct research
to, in part, not commit mistakes.
2. Organizations need to realize that through the knowledge creation process we
may learn from our mistakes, and as such, failure, in the long run, may actually be
beneficial to an organization.
B. Failure is typically viewed as unacceptable, No one wants to be viewed as ineffective,
or at least told that they are ineffective, since such revelations are costly to the long–
term future of administrators and even their agencies.
1. However, knowledge creation, and even failure as a result of acquiring
knowledge, may actually be very beneficial to criminal justice administration.
3. Anyone who has been around long enough in criminal justice organizations
4. Knowledge creation through acceptable research regimens can be very valuable,
5. Berman and Fox offer the following suggestions to help administrators learn from
their failures:
a. Criminal justice administrators need to be self-reflective and introspective
regarding their practices and activities.
d. Modesty regarding program impact can be virtuous within criminal justice
organizations.
e. Politics and criminal justice reform and practices cannot be separated.
f. Planning in isolation is a mistake.
XII. Advances in Research in Criminal Justice
A. Evidence of increased interest in research-guided policy in criminal justice includes:
1. Growing use of data in the field
3. Increased academic interest in the methods used to evaluate the efficacy of that
research
4. Federal, and some state, support for data-based decision making
B. There is also growing interest among social scientists in the process of documenting
the effects and outcomes of crime reduction efforts.
XIII. Knowledge and the Future of Criminal Justice Administration
A. Complex systems of data collection, data analysis, and strategic assessment will
become the norm for administrative actions and behaviors.
B. Knowledge, data, and information will become critical and essential for effective
criminal justice administration.
C. We believe that:
2. Public groups, private concerns, and the government itself will expect criminal
justice administrators to do things in a different way.
3. Concerns about accountability will become more pronounced, and criminal justice
5. Twenty-first century criminal justice administrator will function under:
a. greater expectations
b. fewer resources
c. recurrent questions of effectiveness and efficiency
CHAPTER SUMMARY
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atypical in understanding organizational responses to crime.
The nature of social science research and knowledge utilization is such that researchers
must be careful in how they influence criminal justice policy, as definitive answers to crime
issues may be ambiguous and not readily apparent. For the practitioner, research must inform
policy but not be totally driven by it.
then, is all of the information, beliefs and assumptions of those who collect and analyze data.
The claim of fact or truth, then, is not a neutral claim but rather is a claim to a kind of power, the
power of knowledge. The power of knowledge may contribute to rational processes within
organizations, allowing promotion of or resistance to change based on empirical evidence. That
power may also be used in change strategies described as power-coercive strategies.
Our final chapter on research has also examined the relationship of knowledge and
power. It may seem rather intuitive that organizations seek knowledge and conduct research to,
in part, not commit mistakes. However, all organizations make mistakes and those mistakes may
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How do you think research has influenced the criminal justice system since the
President’s Commission in 1967 on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice?
2. Critique the major sources of data about crime in the United States: the Uniform Crime
Reports, the National Incident-Based Reporting System, and the National Crime
Victimization Survey. Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of each. How
should data from these sources be used in research, and how should that research
influence management and policy decisions? What cautions would you suggest?
3. How has research been used in your own experience studying criminal justice? In your
education, has research generally been viewed as offering facts and truth? Have you seen
4. Follow your local paper or talk with criminal justice officials in your community to
identify a problem area facing criminal justice. Now design a research project to address
it. In fact, design three: one reflecting a rational–empirical approach, one based on
power–coercive uses of data, and one based on normative-re-educative self-study
methods. Which strategy do you think would be most effective, and why?
5. Discuss why you think police officers and/or their supervisors may be skeptical of
researchers asking questions in and around their department. Why would officers be
inclined to cooperate or not cooperate? If you were the police chief how would handle
this situation?
DISCUSSION TOPICS/STUDENT ACTIVITIES
1. Form the students into four groups. Give the groups 20 minutes to analyze the case study
2. Have the students describe a traditional organizational paradigm in a police department
and discuss how this behavior might be changed successfully.
4. Have the students list and briefly discuss five significant elements contributing to
problems in the research-practice relationship.
5. Have the students design a 5 question survey regarding students’ perception of safety on
their college campus. Give them a week to return as many questionnaires as possible. Use
part a class session to discuss the results and gauge what the campus police response
might be to such research.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS
2. Access the Total Quality Management Free Article Library at
3. Access the Wickersham Commission Report on Alcohol Prohibition at http://www.u-s-
history.com/pages/h1524.html
4. Navigate to the Police Foundation web site and access Cynthia Lum’s paper on
5. Visit the National Institute of Justice’s web page and read about Nancy Ritter’s paper on