More NCJRS Abstracts, January 26, 2007

AMONG THE LATEST RESEARCH POSTED AT http://www.ncjrs.gov/. CHECK FOR OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST THERE AS WELL.


NCJ 221001
Yolanda Nicole Brannon; Jill S. Levenson; Timothy Fortney; Juanita N. Baker
Attitudes About Community Notification: A Comparison of Sexual Offenders and the Non-Offending Public
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume:19 Issue:4 December 2007 Pages:369 to 379

This study compared sex offenders' and the general public's perceptions of the fairness of Florida 's sex offender notification law, the necessity and effectiveness of this law, and awareness of vigilantism and other consequences of the law as reported by sex offenders. The study found that sex offenders viewed community notification as more unfair than did members of the general public, and sex offenders viewed the law as less effective than did the general public. There were also significant differences between sex offenders and the public in awareness of the negative consequences of the law. Specifically, sex offenders experienced more vigilantism than was known to the public. The finding suggests that community notification about the identity and location of sex offenders may fuel negative attitudes and behaviors toward sex offenders that make it more difficult for them to reintegrate into society, thus increasing their risk for reoffending. When an offender is isolated or alienated from positive social interactions and bonding, the desire and support for normative behavior is undermined. The authors suggest a more discriminating approach to notification based on empirically derived risk assessment, which will benefit the public by increasing their awareness of the most dangerous offenders while not unnecessarily creating reentry barriers for those sex offenders who are least likely to pose a threat to the public. The study included 125 adult sex offenders who were receiving outpatient treatment in Central Brevard County, FL, and 193 adult members of the nonoffending public in Melbourne, FL. The sex offenders resided throughout Brevard County and were recruited through sex offender outpatient treatment facilities. The Sex Offender and Public Questionnaires used identical questions in collecting information about perceptions of the current community notification law and its ability to prevent further sexual abuse of children. 4 tables, 1 figure, and 38 references


NCJ 221029
Paul Gendreau; Paula Smith
Influencing the "People Who Count": Some Perspectives on the Reporting of Meta-Analytic Results for Prediction and Treatment Outcomes With Offenders
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume:34 Issue:12 December 2007 Pages:1536 to 1559

This article examines several effective approaches in ensuring that meta-analytic results for the prediction and treatment outcomes with offenders are attended to by policymakers and practitioners. It is recommended that easily understandable metrics such as Pearson’s r be employed. Correctional audiences have been found to quickly grasp the practical meaning of treatment and prediction results when presented in the form of Pearson’s r values. Pearson’s r is a very flexible statistic. In addition, it is suggested that null-hypothesis significance testing be abandoned and replaced by confidence intervals and common language statistics that clearly describe the preciseness and magnitude of results. In summary, graphs, along with the plain language statistics described, are essential for describing applied results, and they are most helpful when communicating with the “people who count.” Brief comments are offered on three issues arising in meta-analysis that should be of interest to policymakers; they include: (1) meta-analysis of qualitative reviews, (2) the width of confidence intervals (CIs), and (3) the quality of research design. How is it possible to get influential policymakers and practitioners to attend to the importance of the findings from meta-analyses? Several approaches that will help to ensure that meta-analytic results will have maximum impact are prescribed in this article. Notes, references

NCJ 221017
Marian R. Williams
How Coverage of Death Sentences Vary: A Study of Two Ohio Newspapers
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume:30 Issue:2 2007 Pages:53 to 78

This study examined how two different urban newspapers covered death sentence cases that took place in the State of Ohio over a 24-year time period.
The study hoped to provide another dimension in the literature that focuses on media coverage of crime and justice issues, particularly the death penalty. While it is supported that television and particularly the newspaper coverage of these issues is plentiful and, in most cases, sensationalistic, it cannot be assumed that all coverage is equal, especially newspaper coverage. Results indicate that there are differences in the way local newspapers cover death sentences. Cincinnati’s Enquirer provides coverage that is overwhelmingly local, tending to overlook death sentence cases occurring outside the local coverage area. In addition, both newspapers had no coverage of a handful of local death sentence cases. It is argued that conclusions about public attitudes toward crime and justice issues must be tempered by the fact that media coverage of crime, even specific types of crime, is not created equal. Research on media coverage of crime and justice issues tends to examine the effects of this coverage on public opinion, fear of crime, and other attitudes. Coverage of the death penalty, particularly executions, is a popular topic among researchers, who wish to examine whether deterrence is achieved when media outlets cover executions in the news. This study examined an underlying, and perhaps overlooked, aspect of this previous research, how consistent media coverage was of these issues. It examined newspaper coverage of death sentences in two urban newspapers in Ohio, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer and Cincinnati’s Enquirer. Tables and references