The complexity of the criminal justice system and the media’s sensationalism of crime can influence attitudes towards criminal justice policy. Citizens and the criminal justice system ranked crime as one of the top three social issues facing America. Ironically, this statistic must have come from some form of survey or data that was collected. Surveys can be used to evaluate the public’s view on the criminal justice system and crime, itself. Law enforcement agencies can than analyze this data and use it to create criminal justice policies that can improve the crime rate and create a safer environment for their community. Criminal justice policy can be based off on society’s perception of crime and their influence on legislators to create laws.
Survey research has become an important component of the public agency data analyst’s toolbox. Survey research has been used to support and analyze policy decisions by criminal justice system administers. Survey research incorporates a method that uses standardized questionnaires or interview to collect data about people, their preferences, their thoughts, and behaviors in a systematic manner.
Survey research is perhaps the most frequently used mode of observation in sociology and political science. Surveys are often used in criminal justice research and can be used for descriptive, explanatory, exploratory, and applied research. According to Maxfield & Babbie (2018) surveys are best suited for studies that incorporate individual people as the unit of analysis and are used for other units of analysis such as households, and organizations.
According to Bachman & Schutt (2017) surveys have three features that include versatility, efficiency, and generalizability. There are many aspects of surveys that make them versatile. Public agencies that incorporate surveys can ask respondents questions about almost any topic. A well-designed survey can enhance our understanding about almost any social issue. They can measure unobservable data, such as people’s preferences, traits, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and factual information. Computer technology can be programmed to ask questions and analyze the data.
Surveys can be efficient. When collecting data, it can come from a variety of participants. When public agency’s study people or phenomena, there is a great deal of variation of what is studied and this can be considered a unit of analysis. The cost of surveys is low and are relatively quick to gather, and analyze the data. Surveys allow for many variables to be measured without increased time or cost. This could even include surveying an entire country. Surveys are easily collected and this can include the postal service, use of email, computer system or the telephone.
Surveys allow for sampling from large populations which can allow for generalization. Survey research can permit for a range of social contexts and subgroups to be sampled, and the consistency of relationships can be examined across various subgroups. Surveys may reach populations that are illegal immigrants, victims that may be afraid to speak, and confidentiality.
Surveys can be collected in two different broad categories which are questionnaire or interviews. Questionnaire are a research instrument that consists of using a set of questions intended to capture responses from a standardized manner. Interview surveys are a more personalized data collection method than questionnaires, and are conducted by interviewers (Bhattacherjee, 2012).
Government agencies routinely use surveys to collect data and publish this data to the general public. This is called published statistics. Examples of published statistics that is used in the criminal justice system is Bureau of Justice Statistics which uses the Nation Crime Victimization Survey, the Administrative Office of United Courts, and The Federal Bureau of Prisons (Maxfield & Babbie, 2018). Criminal Justice administers can use this data to improve policy decisions.
I found a study by Roche, et al., (2016) that used a telephone survey to evaluate how forms of media consumption may increase anxiety about crime and support social controls. The samples were collected by a nationally representative random-digit-dialing survey that included adults over the age of eighteen in the United States. The participants were asked about police powers, punitive attitudes, and the measure of media. The study examined the relationship between exposure to television and crime programs and criminal justice attitudes. The authors found a positive relationship between the exposure to traditional forms of media and this exposure created anxiety about victimization and support for harsher crime policies. Internet news exposure is generally not associated with anxieties or support for harsher crime policies. There is evidence of interactive relationship between political ideology and Internet news exposure. Again, these types of surveys can be used by criminal justice administers to be used and support criminal justice policy decisions.
Survey research is useful and is a legitimate tool that can help describing the variables that are being explored. Scripture teaches us to pursue the truth. In the Gospel of John, we learn that when we are in the pursuit of truth, Christ is the truth and he leads us to the truth. When we are a follower of Christ and a researcher under Christ, he will sanctify us and lead us to the truth. A sanctified Christian is someone who is daily growing in the word of Christ and growing in the truth of our research. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John, 17:17, English Standard Version).
References
Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. (2017). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice
(6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978150630681.
Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social science research: Principles, methods and practices. Textbook
Collection 3. Global Text Project. Https://scholarcommons.usf/oa_textbooks/3.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2018). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology
(8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781337091824.
Roche, S., Pickett, J., & Gertz, M. (2015). The scary world of online news? Internet news
exposure and public attitudes towards crime and justice. Journal of Quantitative
Criminology, 32, 215-236. DOI:10.1007/s10940-015-9261-x.
Sample Solution