Public criminologies

Research Summary Public scholarship aspires to bring social science home to the individuals, communities, and institutions that are its focus of study. In particular, it seeks to narrow the yawning gap between public perceptions and the best available scientific evidence on issues of public concern. Yet nowhere is the gap between perceptions and evidence greater than in the study of crime. Here, we outline the prospects for a public criminology, conducting and disseminating research on crime, law, and deviance in dialogue with affected communities. We present historical data on the media discussion of criminology and sociology, and we outline the distinctive features of criminology—interdisciplinary, a subject matter that incites moral panics, and a practitioner base actively engaged in knowledge production—that push the boundaries of public scholarship. Policy Implications Discussions of public sociology have drawn a bright line separating policy work from professional, critical, and public scholarship. As the research and policy essays published in Criminology & Public Policy make clear, however, the best criminology often is conducted at the intersection of these domains. A vibrant public criminology will help to bring new voices to policy discussions while addressing common myths and misconceptions about crime.     

Traumatic Events and Maternal Education as Predictors of Verbal Ability for Preschool Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Despite research on the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children, little is known about its impact on cognitive development. In this study, 87 preschool-aged children and their mothers exposed to IPV within the last two years participated in interviews to ascertain verbal ability, history of violence, and exposure to trauma. When compared to a national sample of 1,700 same-age children not evaluated for exposure to traumatic events, children exposed to IPV scored significantly lower on verbal ability, as assessed with standardized measures. In order to understand variation in verbal ability, multiple regression models were tested. Both prior exposure to traumatic events and the level of mother’s education were significant predictors of verbal ability. However, level of education mediated the relationship between traumatic events and the child’s verbal ability.     

John Gardner,in memoriam

Criminal Law and Philosophy -     

The Timeline Followback Interview to Assess Children’s Exposure to Partner Violence: Reliability and Validity

This study evaluated psychometric properties of the Timeline Followback interview—Children’s Exposure to Partner Violence (TLFB-CEPV), an event history calendar interview designed to assess children’s exposure to daily patterns of intimate partner violence. Participants were men (N = 107) entering batterer’s treatment, their female partners, and a custodial child (6–16 years). The TLFB-CEPV asked about days of partner physical aggression and children’s exposure to these episodes, and was administered to partners at pretreatment, posttreatment, 6 and 12 months. At each assessment, the percentage of days of any child exposure (PAE) and of children’s direct exposure (PDE) to violence were calculated. Parents completed measures of partner aggression and social desirability; parents, teachers, and children completed measures of children’s adjustment. TLFB-CEPV scores had excellent temporal stability and strong evidence of concurrent, discriminant, and criterion validity. Interrater agreement for TLFB-CEPV scores was moderate at initial assessment, but high at subsequent follow-up interviews. This project was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA12189, Fals-Stewart), the Alpha Foundation, and Old Dominion University.     

Preferences,beliefs, and values in negotiations concerning aid to Nicaragua

The paper argues that in the context of public choice for non-market goods, two assumptions of the simple model of the rational economic actor may not hold. The assumptions are that there is a direct connection between choice and outcome, and that preferences are not affected by the act of making a choice. Consequently, to understand people's preferences for public goods, it is important to measure their beliefs and values separately rather than simply to observe their choice behavior or to ask them what they would be willing to pay for the public good. In an example study, people's preferences for U.S. policies toward Nicaragua were measured and further analyzed into their beliefs about the effects of those policies on Nicaraguan outcomes, and their evaluations of the Nicaraguan outcomes. It was shown that the process of making a two-person choice changed the preferences, and that the separate measures or beliefs and values gave insight into the process of the change that would not have been available had only the preferences been measured. Implications for the contingent valuation method are explored and an alternative approach is proposed.