high risk of criminal activity, an archival study of 

 criminal records of a group of unemployed per- 

 sons, and evaluations of new programs aimed at 

 reducing or averting crime through employment. If 

 jobs with crime-deterrent potential can be identi- 

 fied, labor market studies will be conducted to de- 

 termine current and potential availability of such 

 employment. 



Current and Future Research 

 Emphasis 



Eight years is a short time to develop a national 

 research program in any field, but especially so in 

 criminal justice, where few links existed between 

 the research community and operating agencies. 

 Nevertheless, there has been a steady accumula- 

 tion of much-needed new knowledge in criminal 

 justice research. With the acquisition of significant 

 research results, the Institute, during the past year, 

 has been engaged in the process of determining 

 fruitful areas for further inquiry, identifying meth- 

 odological problems that must be overcome, and 

 highlighting areas where more basic or fundamen- 

 tal questions must be answered before we can 

 move forward. Taken together, these considera- 

 tions constitute both a set of criteria and a process 

 for the careful selection of priorities for the future. 



In selecting its research priorities, the Institute 

 has given particular attention to wide-ranging con- 

 sultation and careful review, including a survey of 

 the Institute staff, consultation with Department of 

 Justice and LEAA officials and with the Institute's 

 21 -member Advisory Committee of distinguished 

 researchers and practitioners. A tentative list of 10 

 broad topics was drawn up, reflecting the mandate 

 of the Institute's enabling legislation and priorities 

 set by the Attorney General. The topics are: 



1. Correlates and determinants of criminal 

 behavior 



2. Deterrence 



3. Community crime prevention 



4. Violent crime and the violent offender 



5. Career criminals and habitual offenders 



6. Performance standards and measures for 

 criminal justice 



7. Management and utilization of police re- 

 sources 



8. Court management 



9. Sentencing 



10. Rehabilitation. 



As this report is being written, reactions to the 

 proposed long-range priorities are being gathered 

 in a survey of .SOO persons, including LEAA offi- 

 cials. State and local criminal justice planning 

 agency staffs, academic and other researchers, and 



146 JUSTICE 



practitioners at all levels. The list also will have 

 been reviewed by the Institute's Advisory Com- 

 mittee at its Fall 1977 meeting. It will be published 

 in the National Institute's FY 1978 program plan. 



The initial set of long-term priorities offers a 

 stable framework for research — both basic and 

 applied — over the next five years. At the same 

 time, to ensure the flexibility needed for creative 

 inquiry, the long-range agenda will be reviewed 

 annually with the Institute's Advisory Committee 

 so that it can be refined as needed. 



The long-range agenda reflects the Institute's 

 expanding involvement in basic research. For FY 

 1979, the Institute expects to maintain this pattern 

 of growth in keeping with the President's ex- 

 pressed concern that Federal agencies assure an 

 appropriate balance between basic and applied 

 research. 



Among the topics on the Institute's long-range 

 agenda that will be the subject of basic research to 

 begin in the current fiscal year are: "correlates 

 and determinants of criminal behavior" and "per- 

 formance standards and measures for criminal jus- 

 tice." 



Criminal behavior. Crime is a complex phenome- 

 non and must be viewed at several levels and from 

 many different perspectives. Simplistic judgments 

 that regard crime as a single entity or that accept 

 without scrutiny apparent relationships between 

 crime and such social conditions as poverty and 

 broken homes ignore the reality: crime is multifac- 

 eted. To say that the crime rate is high in a parti- 

 cular locale fails to acknowledge the fact that not 

 all crimes are committed at a high rate. The major- 

 ity of the poor do not commit crimes; many per- 

 sons from broken homes do not become criminals. 



By collecting and analyzing more relevant infor- 

 mation on offenders, it may be possible to define 

 relationships between crime and other phenomena 

 more clearly. 



Research on criminal behavior will involve a 

 number of disciplines and will deal not only with 

 the characteristics of the offender — both biological 

 and psychological — but those of the immediate and 

 past environments; the characteristics of the 

 crime; the availability of drugs, alcohol, and guns; 

 the wider cultural climate; and whatever biases 

 might be inherent in the law and legal processes. 



Some of these facets of criminal behavior might 

 be studied by gross statistical computation of 

 crime rates with various demographic, ecological, 

 educational, employment, and health indices. Be- 

 cause mere correlation does not necessarily imply 

 causal relationship, however, other data must be 

 gathered at the crime site and from the offender. 

 The gross statistical correlates might be used in a 

 "grounded research" way to suggest or corrobo- 

 rate individual and group tendencies. 



