Thirty-four full page photographs with descriptive narratives illustrate some of the research projects by the national institute of law enforcement. Each research effort is photographically illustrated, briefly narrated and identified by title and research grant number. Projects include crime laboratory equipments for drug detection, voice identification, trace element analysis, thermoluminescence photometry, fiber optics for examining indented writing, and equipment for detection of airborne gunshot residues. Other research projects described include such police equipment as police helmets combining a transceiver and gas mask, night vision equipment, automated status reporting for police communications, training police in family crisis intervention, training of dogs to locate bombs, evaluation of police air mobility, control of crowds and demonstrations, investigation of consumer crime and abuses, and the Santa Clara, California, and Dayton, Ohio criminal justice pilot programs. Mention is made of development of reliable law enforcement equipment, bomb disposal equipment and evaluation, reorganization and renovation of criminal court facilities. This report does not give any final results achieved on the projects described.

Intended for federal, state, and local policymakers in the area of criminal justice research and development, this report includes guidelines for improvement of the quality, relevance, and utilization of research results. In order to cover these issues, part two of this report focuses respectively on the needs of research and development policymakers who fund criminal justice research and development, researchers who conduct research and development, and practitioners who put research and development results into use. Guidelines and principles are proposed which should assist policymakers at all levels of government. However, some topics tend to be addressed more to the federal level, where major research and development decisions are often made. The first chapter of this part presents a detailed discussion of institutional support for criminal justice research and development. It describes the federal role in supporting this effort, focusing on who the agencies are, the extent of their involvement, and how the principal agencies are organized to manage their research and development programs. Recommendations regarding the research and development management activities of criminal justice funding agencies are included. Several important issues in the conduct of criminal justice research and development are examined in the second chapter. Among the topics discussed are constraints on research, ethical issues, research designs and methodologies, prerequisites for sound planning and project selection, ways of maintaining the confidentiality of data, and ways of making data more easily available for research and statistical purposes. The final chapter of this section discusses research and development utilization practices and the assumptions underlying current policies in this area. A criticism of these policies and recommendations for new strategies is presented. The final part of this report provides an analysis of the kinds of problems often encountered in research and development. Three general types of criminal justice research and development are discussed: technology (e.g., hardware) research, research on problems of criminal justice organizations (e.g., arrest, prosecution, sentencing, and parole), and research on new criminal justice problems. For each type of research and development, the relevant issues and recommendations are discussed. Most of these, however, still related to either the support or conduct of research and development. The report also attempts to provide concrete illustrative examples by raising the relevant issues in the context of crime prevention at commercial and residential sites (technology research), sentencing (research on problems of criminal justice organizations), and problems of the victim (research on new criminal justice problems).

The report also attempts to provide concrete illustrative examples by raising the relevant issues in the context of crime prevention at commercial and residential sites (technology research), sentencing (research on problems of criminal justice organizations), and problems of the victim (research on new criminal justice problems).

How Latina girls and women become entangled in the criminal justice system Despite representing roughly 16 percent of incarcerated women, Latina women and girls are often rendered invisible in accounts of American crime and punishment. In Latinas in the Criminal Justice System, Vera Lopez and Lisa Pasko bring together a group of distinguished scholars to provide a more complete, nuanced picture of Latinas as victims, offenders, and targets of deportation. Featuring Cecilia Menjívar, Lisa M. Martinez, Alice Cepeda, and others, this volume examines the complex histories, backgrounds, and struggles of Latinas in the criminal justice system. Contributors show us how Latinas encounter a variety of justice systems, including juvenile detention, adult court and corrections, and immigration and customs enforcement. Topics include Latina victims of crime and their perceptions of police officers; the impact of the US “crimmigration” system on undocumented Latina women; and help-seeking among Latina victims of intimate partner violence. Additionally, key chapters highlight the emergence of legal reforms, community mobilization efforts, and gender-sensitive alternatives to incarceration designed to increase equitable outcomes. Lopez and Pasko broaden our understanding of how gender, ethnicity, and legal status uniquely shape the experiences of system-impacted Latina girls and women. Latinas in the Criminal Justice System is a timely and much-needed resource for academics, activists, and policymakers.