The National Institute Of Justice Enhances CrimeSolutions.gov With Advanced Ratings And Analysis

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is introducing new enhancements to the evidence-based information dissemination tool, CrimeSolutions.gov. With over 270 program profiles, CrimeSolutions.gov provides users the ability to quickly assess program effectiveness based on rigorous social science evaluations.

"CrimeSolutions.gov is our primary resource for information about the effectiveness of justice programs and practices," said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason.  "CrimeSolutions.gov reflects our ongoing commitment to provide easy access to research based, scientific evidence about what works and what doesn't work."

In addition to providing evidence on programs, CrimeSolutions.gov—now supported by NIJ—provides evidence on practices through powerful meta-analysis techniques that look at effectiveness across numerous evaluations of similar, but not necessarily identical, programs, strategies or procedures. 

For example, hot spots policing is a practice that has been used in many jurisdictions to focus law enforcement activity on geographic areas with the highest concentrations of crime or some specific type of crime.  There have been multiple evaluations of this practice.  But a specific model of hotspots policing may not carry over from one jurisdiction to another because the approach is intended to be tailored to the needs of the targeted locality and crime problem. Meta-analysis can examine multiple evaluations of such conceptually similar approaches to answer the question, "on average, how effective are these approaches?"

"The goal of CrimeSolutions.gov—to make rigorous evidence of program effectiveness readily available to criminal justice practitioners and policy makers—is an ideal fit within NIJ's overall mission to support research and translate it into practice and policy," said NIJ Acting Director Greg Ridgeway. "The launch of the new module on effective practices and the assignment of the program within NIJ ensure that CrimeSolutions.gov remains the central resource for evidence of what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and victim services."

OJP, headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims.  OJP has six components:  the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking.  More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.

SOURCE Office of Justice Programs