Obviously, research of this nature is necessarily 

 long-range and would require substantial funding 

 over time. To launch this effort in FY 1978, the 

 Institute has earmarked approximately $500,000, a 

 modest sum that will support development of a 

 precise agenda in this area and begin certain spe- 

 cific projects. If successful, such research should 

 bring us closer to an understanding of criminal 

 behavior and, in the long run, could suggest new 

 methods for dealing with the crime problem. At 

 the same time, the results might have implications 

 beyond the criminal justice system to other aspects 

 of American life. 



Performance standards and measures. Criminal 

 justice is a relatively new field of social science 

 research, receiving major funding support only 

 during the last decade. Because of the urgency of 

 the criminal problem, measurement techniques 

 were transferred from other areas of social science 

 with little adaptation to the problem at hand, and 

 measures were proposed and accepted with little 

 inquiry into their ability to describe properly the 

 phenomenon under study. The result has been a 

 host of measures and measurement approaches 

 and a dearth of substantiating information on their 

 appropriateness and validity. 



Among the principal research issues the Institute 

 plans to address during the next few years are: 



• What new measures and research methods 

 can be brought to bear on criminal justice 

 problems? Research in this area will explore 

 the inadequacies of classical research designs 

 and correlational methods in the criminal jus- 

 tice environment, which deal with elusive 

 populations, behavioral extremes, and often 

 rare events. Measures that focus upon popu- 

 lation means in such phenomena may obscure 

 key explanatory factors and issues for future 

 research. 



• What is known about measuring "traditional" 

 performance in the criminal justice system? It 

 is extremely difficult to measure the impact of 

 an intervention strategy because of limitations 

 in existing techniques to measure the per- 

 formance of an agency in the absence of in- 

 terventions. The two issues that must be ad- 

 dressed are the measurement of activities in 

 operational agencies with respect to their self- 

 imposed goals and the measurement of this 

 performance as it pertains to something called 

 a criminal justice system. These measure- 

 ments are essential to enlightened policymak- 

 ing and resource allocation. 



• What statistics can be offered as standard 

 measures of performance now? There are 

 many statistics generated by law enforcement 

 agencies and action programs. There is some 

 evidence that practitioners want information 



on the performance of their activities. The 

 research issue here is the identification of 

 defensible performance measures that permit 

 interagency and cross-program comparisons, 

 and the acceptance of these measures in the 

 field. 



Organization and Management of 

 Research Activities 



Research Planning and Management 



During FY 1977, the National Institute took a 

 number of steps designed to improve the planning 

 and management of research, particularly in the 

 area of basic research. Among these was a new in- 

 house research program. Although limited in 

 scope, it provides an opportunity for Institute staff 

 to maintain their research skills by conducting cer- 

 tain types of research projects. At the same time, 

 it is expected to aid in recruiting talented indivi- 

 duals who may be interested in research manage- 

 ment and the opportunity to participate in national 

 research policymaking, but who are reluctant to 

 divorce themselves entirely from research opera- 

 tions. 



Under the in-house research program, staff 

 members may perform relatively small research 

 projects at the Institute, at a State or local govern- 

 ment agency, or at a university, depending upon 

 the nature of the research project. The kinds of 

 research include: The design and implementation 

 of an original research project emphasizing either 

 policy-relevant or basic research issues; thorough 

 reanalysis of major data sets produced by other 

 researchers; comprehensive literature reviews and 

 bibliographic essays that assess the knowledge 

 base in a particular area; and the development and/ 

 or testing of methodological tools in criminal jus- 

 tice. 



Other research management issues have been 

 the subject of continuing study and refinement. To 

 communicate its intentions to the research commu- 

 nity, the National Institute publishes and dissemi- 

 nates a program plan at the beginning of each fiscal 

 year. The plan briefly describes all Institute pro- 

 grams and projects and explains application proce- 

 dures. In addition, the Institute last year expanded 

 its use of individual program announcements that 

 provide more detailed information on the back- 

 ground and objectives of specific programs, fund- 

 ing, and deadlines for submission of concept pa- 

 pers. 



All concept papers submitted are reviewed ini- 

 tially by the Institute staff, who routinely solicit 

 the views of one or more knowledgeable profes- 



JUSTICE 147 



