Crime control and Public policy

OVERVIEW OF A POLICY REPORT

Now, the overview: A policy report is a document that outlines the rationale for choosing a

particular policy alternative or course of action in a current policy debate. It is commonly produced in response to a request directly from a decision-maker or within an organization that intends to advocate for the position detailed in the brief. Depending on the role of the writer or organization producing the document, the brief may only provide a targeted discussion of the current alternatives without arguing for a particular one (i.e. those who adopt the role of ‘objective’ researcher). On the other end of the scale, i.e. advocates, the brief may focus directly on providing an argument for the adoption of a particular alternative. Nevertheless for any case, as any policy debate is a market place of competing ideas, the purpose of the policy brief is to convince the target audience of the urgency of the current problem and the need to adopt the preferred alternative or course of action outlined and therefore, serve as an impetus for action. The key to success is targeting the particular audience for your message. The most common audience for a policy brief is a decision-maker or policymaker, but it is also not unusual to use the document to support broader advocacy initiatives targeting a wide but knowledgeable audience (e.g.journalists, diplomats, administrators, researchers). In constructing a policy brief that can effectively serve its intended purpose, it is common for a brief to be:

• Focused—all aspects of the policy brief (from the message to the layout) need to strategically

focused on achieving the intended goal of convincing the target audience. For example, the

argument provided must build on what they do know about the problem, provide insight about

what they don’t know about the problem and be presented in language that reflects their

values, i.e. using ideas, evidence and language that will convince them.

• Professional, not just academic—The common audience for a policy brief is not interested in

the research and analysis procedures conducted to produce the evidence, but are very

interested to know what scholars know about the problem and potential solutions based on the

best available evidence.

• Evidence-based—The policy brief is a communication tool produced by policy analysts and

therefore all potential audiences not only expect a rational argument but will only be convinced

by argumentation supported by evidence that the problem exists and the consequences of

adopting particular alternatives.

• Limited—to provide an adequately comprehensive but targeted argument within a limited

space, the focus of the brief needs to be limited to a particular problem or area of a problem.

• Succinct—The type of audiences targeted commonly do not have the time or inclination to read an in-depth 30 page argument on a policy problem. Therefore, it is common that policy briefs do not exceed 9 to 12 pages in length (i.e. not longer than 2,500 words).

• Understandable—This not only refers to using clear and simple language (i.e. not the jargon

and concepts of an academic discipline) but also to providing a well-explained and easy to

follow argument targeting a wide but knowledgeable audience.

• Accessible—the writer of the policy brief should facilitate the ease of use of the document by

the target audience and therefore, should subdivide the text using clear descriptive titles to

guide the reader.

• Practical and feasible—the policy brief is an action-oriented tool targeting policy practitioners.

As such the brief must provide arguments based on what is actually happening in practice with

a particular policy and propose recommendations that seem realistic to the target audience.

THE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE POLICY REPORT

Policy reports directly reflect the different roles that the policy analyst commonly plays, i.e. from

researcher to advocate. The type of report that you are writing is one from the more action-oriented,

advocacy end of the continuum (but that is nevertheless based purely on evidence and not your

opinion). Although there is much variation even at this end of the scale, the most common elements of

the policy brief are as follows:

• Title of the Policy Report

• Executive Summary

• Context and Importance of the Problem (also called the ‘Introduction’)

• Policy Options and Research

• Conclusion

• Policy Recommendations

• Reference Page

The following is a description of each of the elements required in your policy report (and note that

these should be subheadings in your policy report):

• Title of the Policy Report—The title aims to catch the attention of the reader and compel

him/her to read on and so needs to be descriptive, punchy, and relevant.

• Executive Summary—The executive summary aims to convince the reader further that the

brief is worth in-depth investigation. It is especially important for an audience that is short of

time to clearly see the relevance and importance of the report in reading the summary. As

such, a 1 to 2 paragraph executive summary commonly includes: A description of the problem

addressed; a statement on why the current approach/policy option needs to be changed; and

your recommendations for action.

• Context and importance of the problem (i.e. Introduction)—The purpose of this

element of the report is to convince the target audience that a current and urgent problem

exists which requires them to take action. The context and importance of the problem is both

the introductory and first building block of the brief. As such, it usually includes the following: A

clear statement of the problem or issue in focus; a short overview of the root causes of the

problem; and a clear statement of the policy implications of the problem which clearly

establishes the current importance and policy relevance of the issue. It is worth noting that the

length of the problem description may vary considerably from report to report depending on

the stage on the policy process in focus, e.g. there may be a need to have a much more

extensive problem description for policy at the evaluation stage than for one at the option

choosing stage.

• Pre-Existing Policies, Policy Options, and Research—The aim of this element is to

detail shortcomings of the current approach or options being implemented and therefore,

illustrate both the need for change and focus of where change needs to occur. It also should

detail the evidence about what will likely work better (or not suffer from the shortcomings). In

doing so, the critique of policy options usually includes the following: A short overview of the

policy option(s) in focus and the evidence illustrating why and how the current approach is

failing and why and how another option is not failing (and is hopefully ‘working’). It is also

important for the sake of credibility to recognize all opinions in the debate of the issue.

• Conclusion—you need to summarize briefly what the readers should take away from your

research review.

• Policy recommendations—The aim of the policy recommendations element is to provide a

detailed and convincing proposal of how the failings of the current policy approach need to

change. As such this is achieved by including: A breakdown of the specific practical steps or

measures that need to be implemented. You may also include a closing paragraph

reemphasizing the importance of action. The recommendations should follow the conclusion.

• Reference Page—Since your policy report is research-driven and evidence-based, you should

include a reference page that includes all the journal articles, book chapters, books, and

reputable reports that you used to inform your policy report. You should have at least 8, but

likely more. Also, you must have in-text cites throughout your policy brief report. Remember,

this is not original research by you, thus you should have a copious amount of in-text cites.