Using a Bayesian statistical analytic framework, investigates whether the Baltimore Police Department's use of aerial surveillance could help detectives solve serious violent crimes.
In this report, RAND Corporation researchers summarize what is currently known about killings committed by police officers in the United States and identify existing evidence about various ways to prevent these killings. The authors also recommend areas in which future research efforts could help inform policymaking and decisionmaking aimed at reducing police killings.
This study measures public confidence in police and public support for policing practices. Findings reveal that participants expressed moderate levels of confidence in their local police, although confidence varied across racial groups.
Under contract with Charlotte, North Carolina, the authors evaluated three of the six policing and public-safety recommendations in the city's SAFE Charlotte: Safety and Accountability for Everyone report. The authors recommend two pilot programs: a team of clinicians to provide services to address substance abuse, mental health, and homelessness and a model that would delegate low-risk, low-priority calls to nonspecialized civilian responders.
Using data on speeding violations in Virginia, researchers examine whether there are racial disparities in who benefits from the discretion of law enforcement and the courts to discount or downgrade misdemeanor violations.
In Virginia, motorists accused of excessive speeding can face either a criminal misdemeanor or a traffic infraction, and the charge is at the discretion of law enforcement officers and the courts. In this report, researchers use data on speeding violations in 18 Virginia counties over a nine-year period to examine whether there are racial disparities in who benefits from this discretion and why these racial disparities might exist.
RAND Corporation researchers studied deputy subgroups within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) to help LASD and the county learn more about how these subgroups are formed, why they exist, what actions might be taken if it is determined that these subgroups have a significant impact on LASD's mission, and whether subgroups have affected community perceptions and trust in LASD.
In this volume, experts offer policymakers with analysis and recommendations to support sustained, bipartisan reforms to move the criminal justice system toward a more humane and effective footing.
This report provides interim findings on the Aerial Investigation Research pilot program, a Baltimore Police Department program in which manned aircraft equipped with cameras gathered evidence to support crime investigations. This pilot was designed to facilitate police investigations of four types of crime (homicides, nonfatal shootings, armed robberies, and carjackings) and ran from May through October 2020.
Delivering effective community supervision services has always been challenging. However, recent societal shifts have presented supervision agencies with unique challenges and opportunities. Increased access to technology and corresponding increases in computer-facilitated crime have resulted in a greater number of tech-savvy individuals under supervision. A panel of experts identified strategies to help officers manage their online activity.
As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, stakeholders have an opportunity to reimagine the justice system. This brief presents key lessons learned and recommendations from participants in workshops related to different aspects of the justice system.
This brief highlights the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created, shows how corrections agencies adapted to the challenges, describes which adaptations may hold promise, and provides evaluations to demonstrate the efficacy of such adaptations.
This brief highlights the challenges that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed for community supervision organizations, how they adapted to those challenges, and a discussion of which adaptations might hold promise after the pandemic.
This brief highlights the challenges that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed for law enforcement agencies, how they adapted to those challenges, and a discussion of which adaptations might hold promise after the pandemic.
This brief highlights the challenges that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed for the court system, how courts adapted to those challenges, and a discussion of which adaptations might hold promise after the pandemic.
This brief highlights the challenges that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed for victims services providers, describes how they adapted to those challenges, and discusses which adaptations might hold promise after the pandemic.
This report, part of RAND's Gun Policy in America project, presents a collection of essays that synthesize the available scientific data on several gun policy topics. In particular, the authors examine mass shootings, firearm and ammunition taxes, the effects of the 1996 National Firearms Agreement in Australia, whether mental illness is a risk factor for gun violence, and law enforcement approaches to reduce community gun violence.
In spring 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 swept through the United States, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. The Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative convened workshops in fall 2020 to gather lessons learned from the responses of different justice agencies to the pandemic. Participants identified challenges caused by the pandemic, innovations in response, and lessons for future justice reform.
This report provides preliminary findings on the Aerial Investigation Research pilot program, a Baltimore Police Department program in which manned aircraft equipped with cameras gathered evidence to support crime investigations. This pilot was designed to facilitate police investigations of four types of crime (homicides, nonfatal shootings, armed robberies, and carjackings) and ran from May through October 2020.
In this study, we try to understand the causal role that school resource officers play in school safety and the day-to-day practice of school discipline by using incident-level administrative data from North Carolina public schools.
This paper reports the result of a two-year pilot study that developed a framework for implementing low-cost, game-based, virtual reality technology for training police officers to improve their decision-making under stress.
The purpose of this paper is to determine if a police academy using adult learning techniques instills higher levels of perceived competence in recruits than an academy using traditional pedagogical methods.
This presentation advocates a systems approach to change, and significant changes to LAPD's recruit academy to enhance critical applied skills.
Data from wearable sensor technologies (WSTs) could be used to assess and improve police officer health and well-being, but these technologies are not yet sufficiently developed for law enforcement purposes. A panel of experts identified ways for law enforcement to participate in the development of WSTs, determine what WSTs are suitable, implement them in law enforcement settings, evaluate their performance, and obtain buy-in from officers.
The goal of this exploratory project is to help fill gaps in the literature by empirically measuring levels of explicit provider-based stigma toward persons who use opioids.
