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Conventional wisdom about the appropriate police response to domestic violence has changed dramatically in recent years, characterized by an increasing move toward mandatory arrest. This paper examines an effort by the Vacaville, California Police Department to provide a more comprehensive response to domestic violence, through an innovative law enforcement, clinical, and prosecutorial partnership (called FIRST). The paper employs interrupted time series analysis (ARIMA) with monthly domestic violence arrest data from 1990 to 2000 to investigate the impact of the program. ARIMA results are considered in the context of more general crime trends. Results suggest that the onset of the program coincided with an initial increase in arrests, followed by a longer‐term decrease. Although other potential explanations could not be eliminated, findings indicate that the FIRST program played a contributing role in the reduction of domestic violence in Vacaville . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and critiques the use of a combined qualitative and quantitative research methodology to investigate the impact of the verdict and subsequent civil disturbances in the Rodney King police brutality case upon Black youth, ages 15-30, in South Central Los Angeles. The study, conducted in 1993-1994, focused on the attitudes and experiences of these youth in four institutional systems: education, employment, criminal justice and health care. Eight research issues were identified in 17 focus groups and 32 individual interviews: (1) developing the study design; (2) establishing research credibility; (3) recruiting the sample, (4) conducting the focus groups; (5) confidentiality and use of data; (6) data analysis; (7) generalizability of results; and (8) feedback to the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon literature from developmental criminology and place-based policing, the Redlands, California Police Department developed the Risk-Focused Policing at Places (RFPP) approach to preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. The RFPP program is a community-oriented policing and problem-solving strategy that targets risk and protective factors related to delinquency and problem behaviors of youths living in census block group areas. We used a matched block randomized experimental design to evaluate the effects of the program on youths living in 26 census block groups in Redlands. We find that the RFPP program did not influence self-reported delinquency, or perceptions of risk and protective factors and police legitimacy. We argue that the primary explanation for the absence of a program effect centers on the unit of analysis used for the program. The census block group is too large a geographic unit of analysis to achieve the kind of targeted and focused interventions that lead to positive crime-prevention outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid expansion of drug courts in California and the state's uncertain fiscal climate highlighted the need for definitive cost information on drug court programs. This study focused on creating a research design that can be utilized for statewide and national cost-assessment of drug courts by conducting in-depth case studies of the costs and benefits in nine adult drug courts in California. A Transactional Institutional Costs Analysis (TICA) approach was used, allowing researchers to calculate costs based on every individual's transactions within the drug court or the traditional criminal justice system. This methodology also allows the calculation of costs and benefits by agency (e.g., Public Defender's office, court, District Attorney). Results in the nine sites showed that the majority of agencies save money in processing an offender though drug court. Overall, for these nine study sites, participation in drug court saved the state over $9 million in criminal justice and treatment costs due to lower recidivism in drug court participants. Based on the lessons learned in Phases I and II, Phase III of this study focuses on the creation of a web-based drug court cost self-evaluation tool (DC-CSET) that drug courts can use to determine their own costs and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An empirical study was undertaken in San Diego, California, to test assumptions made by the government and by conservative religious policy advocates that there is a greater incidence of crime in the vicinity of peep show establishments. We asked two questions: (a) Is criminal activity in San Diego particularly acute at peep show establishments compared to surrounding control locations? and (b) Is criminal activity in San Diego disproportionately greater at or near peep show establishments between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. compared to other times of the day? The levels of crime activity and the expenditure of police resources were examined by measuring the number of calls-for-service (CFSs) to the police within a 1,000-ft. area on either side of the peep show establishments and comparably-sized control areas beyond the immediate 1,000-foot area. A more focused "late-night" (2 a.m. to 6 a.m.) analysis was also undertaken. The results showed no reliable evidence of differences in crime levels between the control and test areas, nor was there any evidence of disproportionately greater amounts of crime within the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. time period in the areas surrounding the peep show establishments. We concluded that San Diego does not have a problem with crime at the peep show establishments generally, nor is there a heightened problem with crime during the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. period. We discuss the implications of assuming that peep show establishments are associated with negative effects in the community and the possibility of viewpoint discrimination against sex communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of victim impact evidence in capital-murder jury trials in California since the United States Supreme Court decided 'Payne v. Tennessee' in 1991. Capital cases occurring in California counties between 1989 and 1994; Likelihood of receiving a death sentence for some crimes.