Research articles can affect the development of criminal justice public policy based on the
articles research topic, findings, conclusion and public opinion or needs for the criminal justice
system to have a policy based off the research in place. The information presented in a research
article can have the ability to positively or negatively affect a citizen’s views on certain issues.
Due to this reason, criminal justice public polices can be changed or created when citizens bring
up concerns to policymakers about certain issues and how they are being handled or dealt with
within the criminal justice system. Park (2018) states that researchers have stated making their
research easier to understand and follow by readers will make it easier for their research to affect
change in society. When citizens read research articles and can understand the information being
presented, they tend to have more opinions and have more say on criminal justice public policies
in my opinion.
As a leader in the criminal justice field, I like the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
and the information and crime details it provides from victims who do not report their crime
experiences to law enforcement, but I am also very concerned with the victims and crimes that
are left off by the survey. The survey only gets information on certain crimes and from
individuals within a household who are twelve years of age or older year (Bureau of Justice
Statistics, n.d.). The NCVS also leaves out many other members of society from being counted
in the statistics. Victims of crimes who are under the age of twelve, live in retirement homes and
American’s who are homeless are not interviewed for the survey. This leaves many men and
women who are victims of crimes underrepresented and unaccounted for in a survey that is
representing the “nations” victims. With crimes continually changing and new crimes and
criminal activity popping up daily, one would think they would update the survey to reflect the
new age of crimes but according to Mosher et al. (2011), researchers of the study are disinclined
to change the survey in fear it will compromise the research. I feel like if they do not adjust the
survey in years to come then the outcomes of the research will not matter because they will not
be anywhere near an accurate representation of the amount of actual crime victims there are in
America.
When it comes to comparing the advantages of the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) to the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), I personally think they main advantage is that law
enforcement gets to learn about victims’ crimes that were not reported. The details the victims
give in the survey about what happen to them and why they did not report the incident to the
police can be a learning tool for law enforcement officers in the future. Understanding why
someone was not comfortable enough report what happen to them to law enforcement officials
can help us look at changes we may not to make in now we deal with victims of crimes. The
worst thing law enforcement officers can do in my opinion, is revictimize a victim through their
dealings with them during the reporting process.
As a law enforcement leader, “Snitches End Up in Ditches’ and Other Cautionary Tales” is
concerning and makes me want to change that mentality. I know it is hard, because growing up, I
know I heard many times don’t be a snitch or something bad will happen to you if you tell. The
problem is that kids that are bullied into believing this when they are younger can find it hard to
grow out of it and as adults still believe they are not supposed to tell anyone, especially law
enforcement officers when something happens, and they should tell someone what is going on.
We must do our best to let children know what bullying is wrong and they can speak up, even
though it is hard to do. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,
but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who
hear” (King James Bible, 1769/2017). We have to let children know it okay and safe to speak up
and we will be there to help them in every way we can.
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (n.d.). National crime victimization survey. Bureau of Justice
Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/programs/ncvs#:~:text=The%20National%20Crime
%20Victimization%20Survey
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
(Original work published in 1769)
Morris, E. W. (2010). “Snitches End Up in Ditches” and Other Cautionary Tales. Journal of
Contemporary Criminal Justice, 26(3), 254–272.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986210368640
Mosher, C. J., Miethe, T. D., & Hart, T. C. (2011). The mismeasure of crime (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Park, Y. (2018). How research is translated to policy and practice in the criminal justice system.
National Institute of Justice. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/how-research-translated-
policy-and-practice-criminal-justice-system
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