Chapter 3 begins with an overview of the law in Pennsylvania regarding economic sanctions. It then provides an overview of the research that my students and I conducted in Pennsylvania, research that combines perspectives from criminology, psychology, and law. It also discusses the need for and use of multiple research methods and multiple levels of analyses in addressing issues that affect public policy. The rationale for this multiplistic approach is that consistent findings across studies, despite the different strengths and weaknesses of the different methods, indicate that those findings are probably valid. The research used state-wide data from courts, data from individual counties for both adult and juvenile offenders, and surveys of victims, offenders, and judges. The chapter then discusses three studies of economic sanctions based on statewide data or on data from multiple counties, which together provide broad descriptive information about how economic sanctions are handled in different parts of the state.
