A HANDS-ON APPROACH TO TEACHING PROGRAM EVALUATION

This article examines the changing nature of program evaluation and the way in which program evaluation is taught to MPA students. Drawing on her experience at George Washington University, the authors explains an approach to teaching program evaluation that has received a great deal of positive feedback. The approach has its foundation, real-world, hands-on evaluation by the students, which gives them invaluable experience. Furthermore, because there is extensive instructor involvement, the author asserts that the experience proves also to be of value to the professor.     

Long-term psychological distress associated with marital rape and aggravated assault: A comparison to other crime victims

This study compared four groups of women who reported being the victims of a single violent crime (total N = 47) and a group of non-victimized women (N = 96). Victims were divided into groups based on the type of assault (rape vs. aggravated assault) and the identity of their assailant (husband vs. stranger). The groups were compared on measures of psychological functioning and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Crime victims reported higher levels of psychological distress than did the non-victimized women across a variety of symptom areas. There were no group differences among the four victim groups on any of the measures. Women assaulted by their husbands were more likely to report that the assault was one of a series of similar attacks. Victims of aggravated assault were more likely than rape victims to report that they feared for their lives during the assault. Results are discussed with respect to societal views on the comparative severity of marital and stranger assaults.     

Revolving Roles in Drug-Related Crime: The Cost of Chronic Drug Users as Victims and Perpetrators

Numerous studies have established a strong connection between the use of illicit drugs and the commission of other illegal activities, including both predatory and property crimes. No study, however, has examined the cost of crimes associated with drug users both as victims and as perpetrators. In the present study, recent data were analyzed from a targeted sample of chronic drug users (CDUs) and a matched sample of non-drug users (NDUs) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to estimate the incremental cost of crime associated with CDU. Two separate models were employed to estimate (1) the probability of being a victim or a perpetrator of crime and (2) the cost of crime for both situations. The cost measures were transformed to reduce the influence of extreme outliers, and a smearing technique was used to compare the cost of crime for CDUs relative to NDUs. The findings illustrate that criminal activity among CDUs is circular, extensive, and costly. Implications for law enforcement, criminal justice policy, and substance abuse treatment are discussed.     

Issues in higher education for law enforcement officers: An Illinois study

The issue of whether criminal justice education, or education in general, has had an impact on the quality of policing in the United States has been studied since the mid-1960s. The results have been mixed. This study considers the value of education as it relates to the progress educated officers have made within the ranks of police departments in the state of Illinois. The results indicate that the majority of veteran police officers, particularly those with a college education, strive for promotion but are frustrated when they are not able to achieve it. This may be a factor in another finding, which indicates that a sizable group of subjects reported the strong opinion that promotion is based on politics, not on merit or education. For whatever reasons, it is obvious that in municipal police work, there is never going to be much room at the top. Most officers will serve their entire careers at the level of patrol officer, and those who want to be promoted beyond that rank will continue to seek out any positive enhancement that might distinguish them.