Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Leaders’ Understanding of Evidence-Based Practices: A Survey of Police Chiefs and Probation/Parole Chiefs

  • Published:
American Journal of Criminal Justice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Immense pressure is being put on criminal justice agencies to adopt and implement evidence-based practices (EBP). Empirical evidence highlights the need for leadership support to make agencies more evidence-based. The current study is an empirical examination of how criminal justice leaders understand EBP and its correlates or predictors in the domains of agency characteristics, individual characteristics, and openness to research partnerships. Data were collected through a statewide survey of police chiefs and chief probation/parole officers in Pennsylvania. Using a multinomial logistic regression model and a binary logistic regression model, correlates and predictors of familiarity and accuracy with EBP were identified. About 32% had never heard of EBP, 27% were familiar with it but did not define it correctly, and 41% held some knowledge of it. Results showed that EBP training may have introduced EBPs to leaders, but it failed to teach them what EBP actually is, and their lack of knowledge of EBP may be contributing to their lack of participation in research partnerships. By providing recommendations based on findings related to EBP training and research partnerships, the current research contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding challenges associated with EBP implementation and acceptance of EBPs among criminal justice practitioners.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alpert, G. P., Rojek, J., & Hansen, J. A. (2013). Building bridges between Police Researchers and practitioners: Agents of change in a Complex World. Final Report to the National Institute of Justice.

  • assets/2015/03/legislationresultsfirstbriefmarch2015.pdf?la = en.

  • Blasko, B. L., Taylor, L. R., Viglione, J., & Taxman, F. S. (2021). Sorting through the evidence: A step toward prioritization of evidence-based community supervision practice. Criminal Justice and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548211036474. Online First.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogue, B., Woodward, B., Campbell, N. M., Clawson, E., & Faust, D. (2004). Implementing evidence-based practice in community corrections: The principles of effective intervention. National Institute of Corrections.

  • Bowers, K., Tompson, L., & Johnson, S. D. (2014). Implementing information science in policing: Mapping the evidence base. Policing, 8(4), 339–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, D., & Nixon, C. (2009). Ending the ‘dialogue of the deaf’: Evidence and policing policies and practices. An Australian case study. Police Practice and Research, 10(5–6), 423–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Erlbaum.

  • Davies, H., & Powell, A. (2010). Helping social research make a difference: A discussion paper. Health Foundation.

  • Debus-Sherrill, S., Breno, A., & Taxman, F. S. (2021). What makes or breaks evidence-based supervision? Staff and organizational predictors of evidence-based practice in probation. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. Online First https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211049182.

  • den Heyer, G. (2022). Evidence-based policing: A review of its adoption and use by police agencies in the United States of America. International Journal of Law Crime and Justice, 69, 100532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, P. D. (2010). The essential guide to effect sizes: Statistical power, meta-analysis, and the interpretation of research results. Cambridge University Press.

  • Engel, R. S., Isaza, G. T., & McManus, H. D. (2022). Owning Police Reform: The path Forward for practitioners and Researchers. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 47(6), 1225–1242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). Sage.

  • Fleming, J., & Wingrove, J. (2017). We would if we could… but not sure if we can’: Implementing evidence-based practice: The evidence-based practice agenda in the UK. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 11(2), 202–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedmann, P. D., Taxman, F. S., & Henderson, C. E. (2007). Evidence-based treatment practices for drug-involved adults in the criminal justice system. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 32(3), 267–277.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fyfe, N. (2017). Evidence-based policing: Policing 2026 evidence review. Scottish Institute for Policing Research. www.sipr.ac.uk/downloads/Policing_2026_Evidence_Review.pdf.

  • Fyfe, N. R., & Wilson, P. (2012). Knowledge exchange and police practice: Broadening and deepening the debate around researcher-practitioner collaborations. Police Practice and Research, 13(4), 306–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gau, J. (2019). Statistics for criminology and criminal justice (3rd ed.). Sage.

  • Guerette, R. B., Lee-Silcox, J., & Przeszlowski, K. (2021). From research partner to embedded criminologist: A synthesized taxonomy and reflections from the field. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 15(2), 770–783.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh, M. L., Woo, Y., Hafoka, M., van Wormer, J., Stohr, M. K., & Hemmens, C. (2016). Assessing the current state of juvenile probation practice: A statutory analysis. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 55(5), 329–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingel, S. N., Davis, L. R., Rudes, D. S., Hartwell, T. N., Drazdowski, T. K., McCart, M. R., Chapman, J. E., Taxman, F. S., & Sheidow, A. J. (2021). Misunderstanding and sensemaking among juvenile probation officers working with evidence-based practices. Victims & Offenders. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2021.1985670.

  • Johnson, S., Tilley, N., & Bowers, K. J. (2015). Introducing EMMIE: An evidence rating scale to encourage mixed-method crime prevention synthesis reviews. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 11, 459–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, B., & Lee, D. (2022). Partnerships between community corrections and researchers: The view from the probation/parole chiefs. Journal of Crime and Justice, 45(2), 207–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lum, C., & Koper, C. S. (2017). Evidence-based policing: Translating research into practice. Oxford University Press.

  • Lum, C., Telep, C. W., Koper, C. S., & Grieco, J. (2012). Receptivity to research in policing. Justice Research and Policy, 14(1), 61–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, K. (2017). Police officer and civilian staff receptivity to research and evidence-based policing in the UK: Providing a contextual understanding through qualitative interviews. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 11(2), 157–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, K., & Goode, J. (2018). Policing research and the rise of the ‘evidence-base’: Police officer and staff understandings of research, its implementation and ‘what works’. Sociology, 52(4), 813–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie, D. L. (2006). What works in corrections: Reducing the criminal activities of offenders and delinquents. Cambridge University Press.

  • Magnuson, S., Kras, K. R., Aleandro, H., Rudes, D. S., & Taxman, F. S. (2020). Using Plan-Do-Study- Act and participatory action research to improve use of risk needs assessments. Corrections, 5(1), 44–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mears, D. (2022). Bridging the research-policy divide to advance science and policy: The 2022 Bruce Smith, Sr. award address to the academy of criminal justice sciences. Justice Evaluation Journal, 5(2), 163–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751979.2022.2062255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. M. (2012). The rise of the evidence-based practices movement and new opportunities for criminal justice research. ACJS TODAY, 37(1), 20–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative (2015). Legislating evidence-based policymaking. Retrieved from http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/.

  • Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative (2017). How policymakers prioritize evidence-based programs through law: Lessons from Washington, Tennessee, and Oregon. Retrieved from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2017/04/how-policymakers-prioritize-evidence-based-programs-through-law.

  • Pituch, K. A., & Stevens, J. P. (2016). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. Routledge.

  • Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovation (5th ed.). Free Press.

  • Salisbury, E. J., Sundt, J., & Boppre, B. (2019). Mapping the implementation landscape: Assessing the systemic capacity of statewide community corrections agencies to deliver evidence-based practices. Corrections: Policy Practice and Research, 4(1), 19–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W. (1998). Evidence based policing. Police Foundation.

  • Sherman, L. W. (2003). Misleading evidence and evidence-led policy: Making social science more experimental. Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science, 589, 6–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W. (2013). The rise of evidence-based policing: Targeting, testing, and tracking. Crime and Justice, 42(1), 377–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L., Farrington, D., Welsh, B., & MacKenzie, D. (Eds.). (2002). Evidence-based crime Prevention. Routledge.

  • Sidebottom, A., Tompson, L., Thornton, A., et al. (2018). Gating alleys to reduce crime: A meta-analysis and realist synthesis. Justice Quarterly, 35(1), 55–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taxman, F. S., & Belenko, S. (2011). Implementing evidence-based practices in community corrections and addiction treatment. Springer Science & Business Media.

  • Telep, C. W. (2017). Police officer receptivity to research and evidence-based policing: Examining variability within and across agencies. Crime & Delinquency, 63(8), 976–999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Telep, C. W., & Lum, C. (2014). The receptivity of officers to empirical research and evidence-based policing: An examination of survey data from three agencies. Police Quarterly, 17(4), 359–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Telep, C. W., & Somers, L. J. (2019). Examining police officer definitions of evidence-based policing: Are we speaking the same language? Policing and Society, 29(2), 171–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Telep, C. W., & Winegar, S. (2016). Police executive receptivity to research: A survey of chiefs and sheriffs in Oregon. Policing, 10(3), 241–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viglione, J., Rudes, D. S., & Taxman, F. S. (2015). Misalignment in supervision: Implementing risk/ needs assessment instruments in probation. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(3), 263–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisburd, D., Jonathan-Zamir, T., Perry, G., & Hasisi, B. (Eds.). (2023). The future of evidence-based policing. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108885737.

  • Wilkinson, K., Boyd, K., Pearson, M., Farrinmond, H., Lang, I. A., Fleisher, D., Poole, A., Ralph, N., & Rappert, B. (2019). Making sense of evidence: Using research training to promote organizational change. Police Practice and Research, 20(5), 511–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, 77341, USA

    Bitna Kim

  2. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Center for Research in Criminology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, 15705, USA

    Daniel Lee

Authors
  1. Bitna Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bitna Kim.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, B., Lee, D. Leaders’ Understanding of Evidence-Based Practices: A Survey of Police Chiefs and Probation/Parole Chiefs. Am J Crim Just 49, 328–347 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-023-09750-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-023-09750-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation