Blog
The 2013 SOTU address will be remembered for its impassioned call for greater gun control just two months after Sandy Hook. But President Obama's second-term agenda can be characterized by its sheer breadth, reflecting the broad range of policy challenges facing the U.S. today.
Commentary
President Obama's task force on gun violence has raised the stakes in the policy debate on gun control and policy in the wake of the recent shootings in Colorado and Connecticut. Some of RAND's top researchers share what is, and what isn't, known about firearms and gun control.
Commentary
If policymakers and the public expect the mental health community to play a significant role in preventing future incidents like Newtown, the mental health research agenda must become a higher national priority in future federal funding decisions, writes Terry Schell.
Commentary
As a Southerner who learned to shoot at an early age, I've never had a problem with guns. But emergency-room doctors like me also know how much damage they can cause if misused or allowed to fall into the wrong hands, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Content
Nothing can reverse the disaster at Sandy Hook Elementary School and return the victims to their families. But research can guide the community toward recovery—and may help prevent future tragedies.
Commentary
Art Kellermann reviews what is known from broad outlines of the Newtown attack and past research on gun violence to offer some preliminary thoughts to the Obama Administration's task force and the public.
Commentary
The United States has long relied on public health science to improve the safety, health, and lives of its citizens. Perhaps the same straightforward, problem-solving approach that worked well in other circumstances can help the nation meet the challenge of firearm violence, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Journal Article
Creating a sound security plan involves understanding not only security requirements but also the dynamics of the marketplace, employee issues, and management goals.
Report
The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds programs that curb crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. This report summarizes, for fiscal year 2010-2011, state- and county-determined outcome measures from each program.
Report
Police officers take on a variety of roles, and performance measures should capture this complexity. This report describes key considerations in designing police performance measures and includes a detailed review of international best practices.
Report
The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds programs that curb crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. This report summarizes, for fiscal year 2009-2010, state- and county-determined outcome measures from each program.
Report
The Dallas Police Department received a $5 million grant in 2006 to install laptops and video recorders in patrol cars and thus modernize its operations. RAND evaluated the initiative and found it to be generally successful, despite some implementation problems.
Journal Article
Restrictions on gun-related injury research have hindered progress on reducing gun violence. Unless this restriction in lifted, public health science on firearms has effectively been muffled.
Commentary
The high cost of crime to society suggests that adding police officers may give large cities a sizable return on their investments, write Greg Ridgeway and Paul Heaton.
Report
Advances in technology are driving significant changes in day-to-day police operations, but criminals can employ the same technologies that police do. Therefore, the key to the future of policing is not technology, but the ways in which forces adapt it to their purposes.
Report
Describes a methodology for identifying areas where problem events are more pronounced and directing resources toward those areas.
Report
Content for a toolkit was designed to help community and faith-based organizations take advantage of opportunities presented in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and engage leaders in promoting health in their communities.
Journal Article
A public safety message aimed at improving gun law awareness was found to have an effect on new gun buyers' behaviors, particularly in regards to reports of stolen guns, which more than doubled as a result.
Journal Article
The objective of this study was to assess whether targeting new gun buyers with a public safety message aimed at improving gun law awareness can modify gun purchasers' behaviors.
Report
An initiative that successfully reduced gun violence in Boston was adapted for a section of East Los Angeles with prevalent gang activity. Though not implemented as planned, the intervention helped reduce violent and gang crime in the targeted districts, both during and immediately after implementation.
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