%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward %@ 978-0-309-13130-8 %D 2009 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12589/strengthening-forensic-science-in-the-united-states-a-path-forward %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12589/strengthening-forensic-science-in-the-united-states-a-path-forward %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Policy for Science and Technology %P 348 %X Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Third Edition %@ 978-0-309-21421-6 %D 2011 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13163/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-third-edition %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13163/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-third-edition %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Policy for Science and Technology %K Biology and Life Sciences %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 1034 %X The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Third Edition, assists judges in managing cases involving complex scientific and technical evidence by describing the basic tenets of key scientific fields from which legal evidence is typically derived and by providing examples of cases in which that evidence has been used. First published in 1994 by the Federal Judicial Center, the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence has been relied upon in the legal and academic communities and is often cited by various courts and others. Judges faced with disputes over the admissibility of scientific and technical evidence refer to the manual to help them better understand and evaluate the relevance, reliability and usefulness of the evidence being proffered. The manual is not intended to tell judges what is good science and what is not. Instead, it serves to help judges identify issues on which experts are likely to differ and to guide the inquiry of the court in seeking an informed resolution of the conflict. The core of the manual consists of a series of chapters (reference guides) on various scientific topics, each authored by an expert in that field. The topics have been chosen by an oversight committee because of their complexity and frequency in litigation. Each chapter is intended to provide a general overview of the topic in lay terms, identifying issues that will be useful to judges and others in the legal profession. They are written for a non-technical audience and are not intended as exhaustive presentations of the topic. Rather, the chapters seek to provide judges with the basic information in an area of science, to allow them to have an informed conversation with the experts and attorneys. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %E Western, Bruce %E Muhammad, Khalil Gibran %E Negussie, Yamrot %E Backes, Emily %T Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy %@ 978-0-309-69337-0 %D 2023 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26705/reducing-racial-inequality-in-crime-and-justice-science-practice-and %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26705/reducing-racial-inequality-in-crime-and-justice-science-practice-and %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 438 %X The history of the U.S. criminal justice system is marked by racial inequality and sustained by present day policy. Large racial and ethnic disparities exist across the several stages of criminal legal processing, including in arrests, pre-trial detention, and sentencing and incarceration, among others, with Black, Latino, and Native Americans experiencing worse outcomes. The historical legacy of racial exclusion and structural inequalities form the social context for racial inequalities in crime and criminal justice. Racial inequality can drive disparities in crime, victimization, and system involvement. Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy synthesizes the evidence on community-based solutions, noncriminal policy interventions, and criminal justice reforms, charting a path toward the reduction of racial inequalities by minimizing harm in ways that also improve community safety. Reversing the effects of structural racism and severing the close connections between racial inequality, criminal harms such as violence, and criminal justice involvement will involve fostering local innovation and evaluation, and coordinating local initiatives with state and federal leadership. This report also highlights the challenge of creating an accurate, national picture of racial inequality in crime and justice: there is a lack of consistent, reliable data, as well as data transparency and accountability. While the available data points toward trends that Black, Latino, and Native American individuals are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and given more severe punishments compared to White individuals, opportunities for improving research should be explored to better inform decision-making. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %A National Research Council %E Clayton, Ellen Wright %E Krugman, Richard D. %E Simon, Patti %T Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States %@ 978-0-309-28655-8 %D 2013 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18358/confronting-commercial-sexual-exploitation-and-sex-trafficking-of-minors-in-the-united-states %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18358/confronting-commercial-sexual-exploitation-and-sex-trafficking-of-minors-in-the-united-states %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 478 %X Every day in the United States, children and adolescents are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Despite the serious and long-term consequences for victims as well as their families, communities, and society, efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to these crimes are largely under supported, inefficient, uncoordinated, and unevaluated. Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States examines commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States under age 18. According to this report, efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to these crimes require better collaborative approaches that build upon the capabilities of people and entities from a range of sectors. In addition, such efforts need to confront demand and the individuals who commit and benefit from these crimes. The report recommends increased awareness and understanding, strengthening of the law's response, strengthening of research to advance understanding and to support the development of prevention and intervention strategies, support for multi-sector and interagency collaboration, and creation of a digital information-sharing platform. A nation that is unaware of these problems or disengaged from solutions unwittingly contributes to the ongoing abuse of minors. If acted upon in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, the recommendations of Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States can help advance and strengthen the nation's emerging efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Travis, Jeremy %E Western, Bruce %E Redburn, Steve %T The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences %@ 978-0-309-29801-8 %D 2014 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18613/the-growth-of-incarceration-in-the-united-states-exploring-causes %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18613/the-growth-of-incarceration-in-the-united-states-exploring-causes %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 464 %X After decades of stability from the 1920s to the early 1970s, the rate of imprisonment in the United States more than quadrupled during the last four decades. The U.S. penal population of 2.2 million adults is by far the largest in the world. Just under one-quarter of the world's prisoners are held in American prisons. The U.S. rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 out of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5 to 10 times higher than the rates in Western Europe and other democracies. The U.S. prison population is largely drawn from the most disadvantaged part of the nation's population: mostly men under age 40, disproportionately minority, and poorly educated. Prisoners often carry additional deficits of drug and alcohol addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and lack of work preparation or experience. The growth of incarceration in the United States during four decades has prompted numerous critiques and a growing body of scientific knowledge about what prompted the rise and what its consequences have been for the people imprisoned, their families and communities, and for U.S. society. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States examines research and analysis of the dramatic rise of incarceration rates and its affects. This study makes the case that the United States has gone far past the point where the numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits and has reached a level where these high rates of incarceration themselves constitute a source of injustice and social harm. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States recommends changes in sentencing policy, prison policy, and social policy to reduce the nation's reliance on incarceration. The report also identifies important research questions that must be answered to provide a firmer basis for policy. The study assesses the evidence and its implications for public policy to inform an extensive and thoughtful public debate about and reconsideration of policies. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Forensic Analysis: Weighing Bullet Lead Evidence %@ 978-0-309-09079-7 %D 2004 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10924/forensic-analysis-weighing-bullet-lead-evidence %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10924/forensic-analysis-weighing-bullet-lead-evidence %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Engineering and Technology %P 226 %X Since the 1960s, testimony by representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in thousands of criminal cases has relied on evidence from Compositional Analysis of Bullet Lead (CABL), a forensic technique that compares the elemental composition of bullets found at a crime scene to the elemental composition of bullets found in a suspect's possession. Different from ballistics techniques that compare striations on the barrel of a gun to those on a recovered bullet, CABL is used when no gun is recovered or when bullets are too small or mangled to observe striations. Forensic Analysis: Weighing Bullet Lead Evidence assesses the scientific validity of CABL, finding that the FBI should use a different statistical analysis for the technique and that, given variations in bullet manufacturing processes, expert witnesses should make clear the very limited conclusions that CABL results can support. The report also recommends that the FBI take additional measures to ensure the validity of CABL results, which include improving documentation, publishing details, and improving on training and oversight. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %A National Research Council %E Petersen, Anne C. %E Joseph, Joshua %E Feit, Monica %T New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research %@ 978-0-309-28512-4 %D 2014 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18331/new-directions-in-child-abuse-and-neglect-research %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18331/new-directions-in-child-abuse-and-neglect-research %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Health and Medicine %P 442 %X Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves—they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains—including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems—and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %E Rhodes, Holly %T The Criminal Justice System and Social Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief %D 2018 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25247/the-criminal-justice-system-and-social-exclusion-race-ethnicity-and-gender %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25247/the-criminal-justice-system-and-social-exclusion-race-ethnicity-and-gender %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 12 %X The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in April 2018 to examine how the criminal justice system affects the fundamental status of people as members of society and to consider next steps for research, practice, and policy for the field. The goal of the workshop was to find common ground to work toward a criminal justice system that avoids social exclusion and instead reflects the principles of citizenship and social justice with a fair distribution of rights, resources and opportunities. The workshop was specifically designed to explore the reasons for the disparate experiences of individuals involved with the criminal justice system by race, ethnicity, and gender, the mechanisms that cause them to persist, and what can be done through policy and practice to minimize those differences. Participants—including researchers, policy makers, and advocates for victims and offenders—discussed issues in five areas: (1) the role of criminal justice in social exclusion; (2) patterns of inequality in criminal justice; (3) collateral sanctions of the criminal justice system; (4) special concerns for youth and young adult populations; and (5) next steps for research, policy, and practice. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Skogan, Wesley %E Frydl, Kathleen %T Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing: The Evidence %@ 978-0-309-28965-8 %D 2004 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10419/fairness-and-effectiveness-in-policing-the-evidence %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10419/fairness-and-effectiveness-in-policing-the-evidence %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 430 %X Because police are the most visible face of government power for most citizens, they are expected to deal effectively with crime and disorder and to be impartial. Producing justice through the fair, and restrained use of their authority. The standards by which the public judges police success have become more exacting and challenging. Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing explores police work in the new century. It replaces myths with research findings and provides recommendations for updated policy and practices to guide it. The book provides answers to the most basic questions: What do police do? It reviews how police work is organized, explores the expanding responsibilities of police, examines the increasing diversity among police employees, and discusses the complex interactions between officers and citizens. It also addresses such topics as community policing, use of force, racial profiling, and evaluates the success of common police techniques, such as focusing on crime “hot spots.” It goes on to look at the issue of legitimacy—how the public gets information about police work, and how police are viewed by different groups, and how police can gain community trust. Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing will be important to anyone concerned about police work: policy makers, administrators, educators, police supervisors and officers, journalists, and interested citizens. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Support for Forensic Science Research: Improving the Scientific Role of the National Institute of Justice %@ 978-0-309-37645-7 %D 2015 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21772/support-for-forensic-science-research-improving-the-scientific-role-of %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21772/support-for-forensic-science-research-improving-the-scientific-role-of %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Policy for Science and Technology %P 116 %X Reliable and valid forensic science analytic techniques are critical to a credible, fair, and evidence-based criminal justice system. There is widespread agreement that the scientific foundation of some currently available forensic science methods needs strengthening and that additional, more efficient techniques are urgently needed. These needs can only be met through sustained research programs explicitly designed to ensure and improve the reliability and validity of current methods and to foster the development and use of new and better techniques. This task is challenging due to the broad nature of the field. Concerns have been raised repeatedly about the ability of the criminal justice system to collect and analyze evidence efficiently and to be fair in its verdicts. Although significant progress has been made in some forensic science disciplines, the forensic science community still faces many challenges. Federal leadership, particularly in regard to research and the scientific validation of forensic science methods, is needed to help meet the pressing issues facing state and local jurisdictions. This report reviews the progress made by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to advance forensic science research since the 2009 report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward and the 2010 report, Strengthening the National Institute of Justice. Support for Forensic Science Research examines the ways in which NIJ develops its forensic science research priorities and communicates those priorities as well as its findings to the scientific and forensic practitioner communities in order to determine the impact of NIJ forensic science research programs and how that impact can be enhanced. %0 Book %A National Research Council %A Institute of Medicine %E McCord, Joan %E Widom, Cathy Spatz %E Crowell, Nancy A. %T Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice %@ 978-0-309-06842-0 %D 2001 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9747/juvenile-crime-juvenile-justice %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9747/juvenile-crime-juvenile-justice %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 404 %X Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescents—trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistance—the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with age—and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %E Rosenfeld, Richard %E Grigg, Amanda %T The Limits of Recidivism: Measuring Success After Prison %@ 978-0-309-27697-9 %D 2022 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26459/the-limits-of-recidivism-measuring-success-after-prison %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26459/the-limits-of-recidivism-measuring-success-after-prison %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 226 %X Nearly 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons annually. Whether these individuals will successfully reintegrate into their communities has been identified as a critical measure of the effectiveness of the criminal legal system. However, evaluating the successful reentry of individuals released from prison is a challenging process, particularly given limitations of currently available data and the complex set of factors that shape reentry experiences. The Limits of Recidivism: Measuring Success After Prison finds that the current measures of success for individuals released from prison are inadequate. The use of recidivism rates to evaluate post-release success ignores significant research on how and why individuals cease to commit crimes, as well as the important role of structural factors in shaping post-release outcomes. The emphasis on recidivism as the primary metric to evaluate post-release success also ignores progress in other domains essential to the success of individuals returning to communities, including education, health, family, and employment. In addition, the report highlights the unique and essential insights held by those who have experienced incarceration and proposes that the development and implementation of new measures of post-release success would significantly benefit from active engagement with individuals with this lived experience. Despite significant challenges, the report outlines numerous opportunities to improve the measurement of success among individuals released from prison and the report’s recommendations, if implemented, will contribute to policies that increase the health, safety, and security of formerly incarcerated persons and the communities to which they return. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Facial Recognition Technology: Current Capabilities, Future Prospects, and Governance %@ 978-0-309-71320-7 %D 2024 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27397/facial-recognition-technology-current-capabilities-future-prospects-and-governance %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27397/facial-recognition-technology-current-capabilities-future-prospects-and-governance %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Computers and Information Technology %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Engineering and Technology %P 160 %X Facial recognition technology is increasingly used for identity verification and identification, from aiding law enforcement investigations to identifying potential security threats at large venues. However, advances in this technology have outpaced laws and regulations, raising significant concerns related to equity, privacy, and civil liberties. This report explores the current capabilities, future possibilities, and necessary governance for facial recognition technology. Facial Recognition Technology discusses legal, societal, and ethical implications of the technology, and recommends ways that federal agencies and others developing and deploying the technology can mitigate potential harms and enact more comprehensive safeguards.