Research design influence on study outcomes in crime and justice: a partial replication with public area surveillance

Does the quality of research design have an influence on study outcomes in crime and justice? This was the subject of an important study by Weisburd et al. (2001). They found a moderate and significant inverse relationship between research design and study outcomes: weaker designs, as indicated by internal validity, produced stronger effect sizes. Using a database of evaluations (n?=?136) from systematic reviews that investigated the effects of public area surveillance on crime, this paper carried out a partial replication of Weisburd et al.??s study. We view it as a partial replication because it included only area- or place-based studies (i.e., there were no individual-level studies) and these studies used designs at the lower end of the evaluation hierarchy (i.e., not one of the studies used a randomized experimental design). In the present study, we report findings that are highly concordant with the earlier study. The overall correlation between research design and study outcomes is moderate but negative and significant (Tau-b?= ?C.175, p?=?.029). This suggests that stronger research designs are less likely to report desirable effects or, conversely, weaker research designs may be biased upward. We explore possible explanations for this finding. Implications for policy and research are discussed.     

Human Trafficking in Conflict Zones: The Role of Peacekeepers in the Formation of Networks

While the effect of humanitarian intervention on the recurrence and intensity of armed conflict in a crisis zone has received significant scholarly attention, there has been comparatively less work on the negative externalities of introducing peacekeeping forces into conflict regions. This article demonstrates that large foreign forces create one such externality, namely a previously non-existent demand for human trafficking. Using Kosovo, Haiti, and Sierra Leone as case studies, we suggest that the injection of comparatively wealthy soldiers incentivizes the creation of criminal networks by illicit actors. We theorize further that the magnitude of increase in trafficking should be directly proportional to the size of the foreign force, with larger forces producing larger increases. We find that both hypotheses hold with varying levels of confidence across our three case studies. Despite the benevolent intent of peacekeeping missions, the possibility that they may contribute to human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation runs counter to the spirit of such interventions. This is especially problematic given that trafficking rings, once established, may be adapted to provide weapons and narcotics, thereby planting the seed of further destabilization.     

When States Die: geographic and territorial pathways to state death

Abstract

State death, understood as the formal loss of control over foreign policy, is an important but neglected issue in the international relations literature. When do states die and why? How do states exit the system? The consequences of state death can be wide-ranging, from forced migration movements, regional instability, to general famine. Despite these severe consequences, political scientists have yet to adequately study the causes of state death. Fazal finds that states are prone to death when they are located as a buffer between two rivals; this suggests that being a buffer state is a cause of state death. Our expansion of current research seeks to add the concept of territorial disputes to the state death literature. We suggest that states are at greater risk of death when they become involved in territorial disputes that raise the stakes of conflict. The resulting research demonstrates that a reliable predictor of state death is engagement in a territorial dispute. Territorial disputes are the most prevalent issue that leads to war and can also be a leading cause of state death.     

How preferences,information and institutions interactively drive agenda‐setting: Questions in the Belgian parliament, 1993–2000

In this article an integrated framework of agenda‐setting is proposed that incorporates the two main accounts of agenda‐setting: the information‐processing approach by Comparative Agenda Project scholars and the preference‐centred account advanced by Comparative Manifestoes Project scholars. The study claims that attention allocation is determined at the same time by preferences, information and institutions, and that attention allocation is affected by the interactions between these three factors. An empirical test is conducted that draws upon a dataset of parliamentary questions/interpellations in Belgium in the period 1993–2000. It is found that attention in parliament is indeed driven by preceding party manifestos (preferences), by available information (media coverage) and by institutional position (government or opposition party). The evidence establishes that agenda‐setting is also affected by the interactions between preferences, information and institutions. Actors, given their preferences, treat information in a biased fashion, and institutions moderate information's role.     

Evaluating health planning: empirical evidence on HSA regulation of prepaid group practices

The regulation of HMOs by health planning agencies serves as a "tracer" to aid in evaluating HSAs, and as a source of empirical evidence for the heretofore largely theoretical health policy debate between market reformers and regulators. Two complementary studies (the authors' 1979 survey investigating the hospitalization policies of prepaid group practices, and AMPI 's study of all HMO applications submitted to HSAs from 1975 through mid-1978) provide information about the extent of HMO applications to planning agencies, the rate of rejections, the burden of the planning process of HMOs, and the possibility that negative perceptions of regulation may have led HMOs to refrain from activities requiring planning approval. Both studies reveal that health planning review was detrimental to 20 to 30 percent of HMOs. Thus data collected during the period of extensive HSA regulation of HMOs seem to justify the current policy that gives HSAs only very limited authority over HMOs.     

A meta-analysis update on the effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency

Objective

To update Piquero et al.’s meta-analysis on early family/parent training programs.

Methods

Screening of eligible studies was carried out for the period between January 2008 and August 2015. An additional 23 studies were identified, which were added to the original database of 55 studies, totaling an overall sample of 78 eligible studies. A random-effects model was used to obtain an overall mean effect size estimate. Additional analyses were performed to assess publication bias and moderation.

Results

An overall average, positive, and significant effect size of 0.37 was calculated, which corresponds to 32 out of 100 in a treated group versus 50 out of 100 in a control group who offended. There was some evidence of publication bias and moderation.

Conclusions

Early family/parent training programs are an effective evidence-based strategy for preventing antisocial behavior and delinquency.

     

Hot spots policing and crime reduction: an update of an ongoing systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This updated systematic review assesses the effects of focused police crime prevention interventions at crime hot spots. The review also examined whether...