Evaluation & Research Literature: the State of Knowledge on BJA

Evaluation & Research Literature: The State of Knowledge on BJA-Funded Programs

March 27, 2015

Overview

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is a leader in developing and implementing evidence-based criminal justice policy and practice. BJA’s mission is to provide leadership in services and grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support local, state, and Tribal justice strategies to achieve safer communities. This is accomplished in many criminal justice topic areas, including adjudication, corrections, counter-terrorism, crime prevention, justice information sharing, law enforcement, justice and mental health, substance abuse, and Tribal justice. Under each topic area, BJA funds numerous programs and initiatives at the Tribal, local, and state level. In partnership with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), other Federal partners, and many other research partners, many of these programs have been evaluated, while others have not. The intent of the following report is to assess the state of knowledge as determined by data collection, research, and evaluation of and related to BJA- funded programs. This report is a resource that can be a reference for both evaluation and research literature on many BJA programs. It also identifies programs and practices for which U.S. Department of Justice resources have played a critical role in generating innovative programs and sound practices. This report identifies programs and practices with a solid foundation of evidence, as well as those that may benefit from further research and evaluation.

Program evaluation is a systematic, objective process for determining the success of a policy or program. Evaluations assess whether and to what extent the program is achieving its goals and objectives. Using this wide-ranging definition, a systemic literature review was conducted on 32 different BJA programs and initiatives. Before program evaluation, strong data collection practices are critical for understanding the scope and nature of an issue. Consequently, where appropriate, certain descriptive reports that are not evaluative in nature were also identified when limited evaluation literature was found. Using keyword searches, program and process evaluations were identified and summarized for each of the 32 programs and initiatives. The National Criminal Justice Reference Services (NCJRS), Federal websites (e.g., NIJ, BJS), Google Scholar, state websites, national associations, research institutions, and training and technical assistance provider websites were searched for evaluations and other reports. Finally, the “Crimesolutions.gov” website was also searched by topic area so that the summaries would include programs and practices that have already been evaluated. When no evaluations on a certain program/initiative were identified, the search criteria were widened to include scholarly research (i.e., research published in scholarly journals). Finally, recent Federal audits were identified and referenced.

The report includes a summary table highlighting the number of evaluations, crimesolutions.gov ratings of programs and practices, and other related research. The summary table is intended to quantify the number of reports, reviews, or articles in each topic area, and it includes a key defining the terms used in the summary table and program sections.

While this report is as comprehensive as possible, it is not intended to be a complete accounting of all research and evaluations completed on a certain program or initiative. BJA will continue to update this report annually (in the fall of each year) as new information is published.

Table of Contents

i

Evaluation Initiative Tracking Key

Crime Solutions: The data in these columns indicate the number of ratings of the reviewed program on the Crimesolutions.gov website. Each program with a rating has been provided by type for review, where available.

Effective: The data in this column represents programs that have been rated as effective according to crimesolutions.gov.

Promising: The data in this column represents programs that have been rated as promising according to crimesolutions.gov.

No Effects: The data in this column represents programs that have been rated as having no effect according to crimesolutions.gov.

Insufficient Evidence: The data in this column represent the total number of evaluations of the program that are found on the insufficient evidence list on the Crimesolutions.gov website. These evaluations were found to not meet the minimum rating criteria and as a result were not used to determine a rating for the program.

Highlighted Reports: These articles represent evaluations of BJA’s national initiative, and/or the study is nationwide in scope.

NIJ Evaluations: The data in this column represent the total number of NIJ-sponsored evaluations of the reviewed program.

Other OJP Evaluations: The data in this column represent all other OJP-sponsored evaluations. These evaluations can be sponsored by BJA, BJS, OVC, OJJDP, or the SMART Office.

Total Evaluations: The data in this column represent the total number of evaluations of the reviewed program including OJP and non-OJP funded evaluations.

Other Academic Articles: These articles represent peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed literature that is relevant to the reviewed program. These are included to provide background and to help further understand the need for future evaluations.

Other Reports: These reports represent a variety of types and lengths that include program overviews, technical information, and policy briefs related to the reviewed program. These are included to provide background and to help further understand the need for future evaluations.

ii

Bureau of Justice Assistance Evaluation Scan Initiative Tracking

Crime Solutions

Research and Evaluation

Other

Insufficient

NIJ

Other OJP

Total

Academic

Other

Program Name

Effective

Promising

No Effect

Evidence Evaluations Evaluations Evaluations

Articles

Reports

12345
Border Prosecution Initiatives

0

000
0110
0010
0120
2762
2381
Bulletproof Vest Partnership
030
000
020
Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Capital Case Litigation Initiative Program Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Program/Tribal Initiatives
07

0

2

0

10

8
40
14 43

5

7

0

6

Drug Court Programs:

Including Specialized and Problem-Solving Courts

15

11

56

7

89
Economic High-tech and Cyber Crime Prevention (NW3C)
00
00
00
00
10
02
12

7

2

Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

18

10

Human Trafficking Reporting System; AntiHuman Trafficking Task Force Initiative

0

2

0

2

11

10 Intellectual Property
Enforcement Program
00
00
00
00
01
01
02
20
26
11 Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
12 Justice and Mental
Health Collaboration Program
300
600
000
000
100
10 1
20 1
16 22 5
115 4
13 Justice Reinvestment
Initiative
14 Missing Alzheimer’s
Disease Patient Alert Program

0

15 National Center for
Campus Public Safety
2000
0002
0000
0001
0002
0020
0062
12 9
514 7
16 Pay for Success
Program
17 Prison Rape Elimination
Act Program
10 3
18 Project HOPE/Swift and
Certain Sanctions
8
19 Project Safe
Neighborhood
300
400
200
100
18 4
410
22 5
10 12 3
279
20 Reentry Courts 21 Regional Information
Sharing System

1

22 Residential Substance
Abuse Treatment
00

4

0

2
10
28 20
02
33 38
16 23
3

8

23 Second Chance Act

14

Grants for Family Based Substance Abuse Treatment (SCA Family)

0

2

0

2

0

1

iii

Crime Solutions

Research and Evaluation

Other

Insufficient

NIJ

Other OJP

Total

Academic

Other

Program Name

Effective

Promising

No Effect

Evidence Evaluations Evaluations Evaluations

Articles

Reports

Grants to Nonprofit Organizations for mentoring and transitional services (SCA Mentoring)

0

5

0

0
52
10
11 4
72
21
Offender Reentry Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Collaboration (SCA Reentry)

0

2

0

24 Smart Policing Initiative

1

0
21
00
00
00
90
90
11 2
45
25 Smart Prosecution
Program
26 Smart Supervision
Program (SSP)
00
00
00
10
30
20
60
90
32
27 State and Local Anti-
Terrorism Training
28 Statewide Automated
Victim Information and Notification

0

1

0

1

7

6

29 VALOR

0

1
00
00
00
00
01
02
85
5
30 Veterans Treatment
Courts
15
31 Wrongful Prosecution
Review Program

0

10

0

iv

Project Description

CrimeSolutions.gov Ratings:

No ratings at this time

The Border Prosecution Initiatives refer to the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative (SWBPI) Reimbursement Program and the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative (NBPI) Program. These initiatives help local communities pay for judicial, penal, and enforcement expenses that result from Federal border-related crime, such as captured international fugitives or international drug trafficking. When the U.S. Department of Justice declines to

Partners and Professional Organizations:

 National District Attorneys
Association

prosecute these Federal border-related crimes, the burden often falls on border communities to prosecute them under state law. These initiatives help to alleviate the resulting financial burdens.¹

OJP-Sponsored and Non-OJP-Sponsored Evaluations

Note: No BJA program evaluations were found during the literature review. The listed articles provide background on border prosecution initiatives and include related materials intended to show support for future evaluations.

OJP-Sponsored Research²

Salant, T. J., Hoover, A. L., et al. (2001). Illegal Immigrants in U.S.–Mexico Border Counties: The Costs of Law Enforcement Criminal Justice and Emergency Medical Services—Executive Summary.

Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona, Eller College of Management, School of Public Administration and Policy, Institute for Local Government. NIJ Sponsored.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/201491.pdf

This report explores the financial burden placed on border states when their criminal justice and medical systems are overwhelmed with illegal immigrants. The authors find that while the Federal government recognizes its responsibility for the spillover effects of illegal immigration on local communities, it has yet to take on fiscal responsibility for these effects.

Salant, T. J., Weeks, J. R., et al., & U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition. (2008). Undocumented

Immigrants in U.S.–Mexico Border Counties: The Costs of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice

Services. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona, Eller College of Management, School of Public Administration and Policy. NIJ Sponsored.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223285.pdf

The report gives a detailed discussion of the financial challenges created by border states when they are enforcing Federal statutes. The authors suggest reimbursing border counties for these costs to lighten the burden on these local law enforcement agencies.

¹More in-depth information about these programs can be found at these websites:

https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=81 https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=71

²For each article, a link has been provided to either the full-length document or the website where access information is located.

1

Other Reports

Burns, S. (2009). Federal Officials, Agencies and Law Enforcement Have Suggestions to Address the

Drug Problem in the United States. Alexandria, VA: National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Archive/229092NCJRS.pdf

This report assesses the current status of illicit drug use in the United States and predicts trends and challenges for 2009 and 2010. Findings show that the then-existing drug problems that officials, agencies, and Congressional members or staff sought to address presented a wide range of concerns. On the supply side, these included all issues related to the Southwest Border of the United States, such as smuggling, violence, firearms, gangs, and prosecution guidelines; and on the demand side, expanding treatment, such as early intervention, diversion, drug court emphasis, and prison reform.

Clearinghouse, D. P. I. (2010). National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy Implementation

Update. Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy.

_https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ondcp/swb implementation10.pdf