More than 1,000 Illinois schools are implementing schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) to enhance outcomes for students and staff. Consequently, Illinois established layered support structures to facilitate scaling up SWPBS. This paper describes the development of this infrastructure and presents the results of HLM analyses exploring the effects of implementing SWPBS, with and without fidelity across time, on student behavior and academic outcomes (office discipline referrals, suspensions, and state-wide test scores in reading and math) for a sample of 428 Illinois schools implementing SWPBS. Results indicate that (a) most schools implemented with fidelity and maintained or improved student performance across time and (b) implementation fidelity was associated with improved social outcomes and academic outcomes in math. Study limitations and implications are discussed.
This study examined the factors associated with success or failure on probation for 2,850 North Carolina felony probationers who were removed from supervision between July 1 and October 31, 1993. Probationers were profiled on various demographic, sentence, and probation characteristics. Chi-square analysis was used to determine differences within various subgroups of the sample, and logistic regression was used to predict failure on probation in two separate models. The findings suggest that risk assessment items used by probation officers to determine level of supervision for probationers perform well in a logistic regression equation.
There is a long-standing argument that how people think about punishment is tied directly to their beliefs about why people engage in criminal behavior. Support for a relationship between causal attribution and punitiveness has been found in the literature, with key differences discerned between those who attribute crime to individual characteristics of offenders and those who view crime as a result of structural characteristics. This article broadens the scope of earlier studies through the development and testing of new questions of causation, grounded in the major theories and concepts of criminological theory, and through the use of a national sample. The major finding of the article is that causal attribution is related to individuals' punitiveness, controlling for such variables as age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, fear of crime, and people's confidence in the criminal justice system.
As noted by Flanagan (1996), public opinion polls about crime and justice can act as a social barometer providing important data to policy makers regarding what the public is willing, or is not willing, to accept when it comes to proposed legislation and/or intervention programming. This paper reports findings from the 2001 Penn State Poll, a random telephone survey of Pennsylvanians, 18 years of age or older, in which citizens were asked about their attitudes toward and perceptions of such issues as fear of crime, capital punishment, the most important goal of prison, and where they would most like to see their tax dollars spent (building more prisons vs. early intervention programs with troubled youth). Significant differences were found within certain demographic groups across these sets of questions, and in a predictive model, gender, race/ethnicity, and education had a greater impact on citizens’ support for capital punishment than did their fear of crime. Overall, findings suggest that the public is not as punitive as it is sometimes believed to be by legislators and policy makers.
Research Summary: We explored the reasons for use and/or nonuse of victim services programs through a statewide survey of crime victims who did not use services, and a survey of clients of such programs in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The survey instrument included questions about victim characteristics, the crime event, whether victims used services, victims’ use of other social services, and individual coping mechanisms. Only type of crime and age were significant predictors of use of victim services programs, with older victims of violent crimes more likely to report using services than younger victims of nonviolent crimes. Policy Implications: Our findings mirror other studies that indicate very little usage of services by crime victims. Those who did not use services reported getting assistance from friends or family members, not being told about services, or not thinking it was worth the trouble to seek out such services. Also, victims demonstrated very little knowledge about the types of services provided by victim services programs. We conclude that a victim's decision not to seek assistance could be akin to the reason why so many crime victims never report their experience to the police in the first place. To increase the use of services by crime victims, a greater emphasis will need to be placed on educating the public about such services, adequately staffing programs with better trained individuals who can meet the needs of crime victims, and broadening the types of services provided to crime victims.
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