to accumulate knowledge generally involve basic 

 and applied research; those aimed at developing 

 action programs tend to fall at the applied re- 

 search/development end of the spectrum. It is 

 important to recognize, however, that although the 

 manifest objectives of a single research project 

 may be classified as either basic or applied or de- 

 velopmental, its latent objectives could appear in 

 all three categories. 



Role of Basic Research 



As a research branch within a mission agency, 

 the National Institute pursues both knowledge and 

 action-oriented programs. LEAA action programs 

 are developed within the context of an agencywide 

 program development process, which explicitly 

 recognizes that research and action activities need 

 to be routinely linked so that, to the extent feasible 

 and appropriate, action program considerations 

 affect research priorities and, in turn, research and 

 evaluation considerations influence action program 

 priorities, design, and implementation. 



At the same time, LEAA's action program de- 

 velopment process recognizes that not all research 

 leads immediately to practical application. Agency 

 policy states: 



Criminal justice research is supported, in part, 

 on the premise that the generation of new 

 knowledge will lead to improved criminal justice 

 practices. Not all research, however, is or 

 should be supported with this objective in mind. 

 A legitimate purpose of research is to develop 

 knowledge that furthers our understanding of 

 phenomena, whether or not that understanding 

 has immediate or practical application. 



In short, agency program development policies 

 clearly envision a role for basic research. That role 

 is reinforced by the congressional mandate to the 

 Institute to "carry out programs of behavioral re- 

 search designed to provide more accurate informa- 

 tion on the causes of crime. . . ." 



Examples of Basic Research 



Criminal justice research as a discipline is only 

 now coming into its own. A decade ago only a 

 handful of scientists was engaged in criminal jus- 

 tice research. The available knowledge was scanty 

 and fragmented. As the National Crime Commis- 

 sion put it, the greatest need was the "need to 

 know." Thus the Institute in its initial years fol- 



lowed an exploratory approach, with emphasis on 

 awarding "seed" grants to expand the number of 

 researchers interested in crime and criminal jus- 

 tice. 



Several programs from these early years began 

 as basic or exploratory research efforts and now 

 are in the process of being tested or demonstrated. 

 One of the most notable is the Institute-sponsored 

 work in crime prevention through environmental 

 design. 



Environmental design. In 1969, the Institute be- 

 gan a series of exploratory research studies that 

 examined the relationship between the physical 

 design of neighborhoods and buildings and citizen 

 fear of and vulnerability to crime. Much of the 

 research was done in public housing. The findings 

 indicated that such design features as the height of 

 buildings, the number of apartments sharing a 

 common hallway, visibility in lobbies, positioning 

 of entrances, and the layout of the building site 

 affected both the rate of crime and the residents' 

 perceptions of security. 



The research also suggested that physical design 

 could either encourage or discourage individual cit- 

 izens to assume responsibility for protecting their 

 rights and property. In short, the research revealed 

 the potential for dealing with various aspects of 

 the physical environment in ways that would in- 

 crease protective activities by citizens. The major 

 concept that emerged from the research was called 

 "defensible space," which emphasizes a height- 

 ened sense of territorial concern and increased 

 opportunity for casual, natural surveillance by res- 

 idents. 



The findings from this research were presented 

 in a number of publications, including an Institute 

 report. Architectural Design for Crime Prevention: 

 a commercially published book by Oscar New- 

 man, Defensible Space: and a publication by the 

 Department of Housing and Urban Development, 

 Design Guides for Improving Residential Security. 

 More recently, the Institute has published Design 

 Guidelines for Creating Defensible Space for use 

 by architects, urban planners, and city managers in 

 enhancing security in different types of housing. 



Following the early research in public housing, 

 efforts in the area of environmental design were 

 expanded both in concept and scope. The empha- 

 sis has focused on developing comprehensive pro- 

 grams for preventing and controlling crime in var- 

 ious urban settings. 



The pioneer research and demonstration efforts 

 in this area coordinate three approaches for deal- 

 ing with crime and fear: 



• Physical and urban design 



• Community organization and citizen action 



• Law enforcement techniques. 



Although each of these approaches had been 



JUSTICE 141 



