Encouraging Policy Makers and Practitioners to Make Rational Choices about Programs Based on Scientific Evidence on Developmental Crime Prevention

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Farrington
Keyword(s):  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rational Choices ◽  
Developmental Crime Prevention

scholarly journals Addiction journals and the management of conflicts of interest

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Stenius
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Drug Research ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
New Research ◽  
Political Decisions

Stenius, K. (2016). Addiction journals and the management of conflicts of interest. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 5(1), 9-10. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v5i1.233Scientific journals are crucial for a critical and open exchange of new research findings and as guardians of the quality of science. Today, as policy makers increasingly justify decision-making with references to scientific evidence, and research articles form the basis for evidence for specific measures, journals also have an indirect responsibility for how political decisions will be shaped.

ID Scanners and Überveillance in the Night-Time Economy

2015 ◽  
pp. 1546-1563
Author(s):  
Darren Palmer ◽  
Ian Warren ◽  
Peter Miller
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Legal Remedy

ID scanners are promoted as an effective solution to the problems of anti-social behavior and violence in many urban nighttime economies. However, the acceptance of this and other forms of computerized surveillance to prevent crime and anti-social behavior is based on several unproven assumptions. After outlining what ID scanners are and how they are becoming a normalized precondition of entry into one Australian nighttime economy, this chapter demonstrates how technology is commonly viewed as the key to preventing crime despite recognition of various problems associated with its adoption. The implications of technological determinism amongst policy makers, police, and crime prevention theories are then critically assessed in light of several issues that key informants talking about the value of ID scanners fail to mention when applauding their success. Notably, the broad, ill-defined, and confused notion of “privacy” is analyzed as a questionable legal remedy for the growing problems of überveillance.

One Atmosphere

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Singer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Protective Shield ◽  
Third Assessment Report ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Full Force

There can be no clearer illustration of the need for human beings to act globally than the issues raised by the impact of human activity on our atmosphere. That we all share the same planet came to our attention in a particularly pressing way in the 1970s when scientists discovered that the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) threatens the ozone layer shielding the surface of our planet from the full force of the sun's ultraviolet radiation. Damage to that protective shield would cause cancer rates to rise sharply and could have other effects, for example, on the growth of algae. The threat was especially acute to the world's southernmost cities, since a large hole in the ozone was found to be opening up each year over Antarctica, but in the long term, the entire ozone shield was imperiled. Once the science was accepted, concerted international action followed relatively rapidly with the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1985. The developed countries phased out virtually all use of CFCs by 1999, and the developing countries, given a 10-year period of grace, are now moving toward the same goal. Getting rid of CFCs has turned out to be just the curtain raiser: the main event is climate change, or global warming. Without belittling the pioneering achievement of those who brought about the Montreal Protocol, the problem was not so difficult, for CFCs can be replaced in all their uses at relatively little cost, and the solution to the problem is simply to stop producing them. Climate change is a very different matter. The scientific evidence that human activities are changing the climate of our planet has been studied by a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international scientific body intended to provide policy makers with an authoritative view of climate change and its causes. The group released its Third Assessment Report in 2001, building on earlier reports and incorporating new evidence accumulated over the previous five years. The report is the work of 122 lead authors and 515 contributing authors, and the research on which it was based was reviewed by 337 experts.

scholarly journals Knowledge needs, available actions and future challenges in agricultural soils

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina Key ◽  
Mike G. Whitfield ◽  
Julia Cooper ◽  
Franciska T. De Vries ◽  
Martin Collison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crops ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Nitrification Inhibitors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Spearman’S Correlation

Abstract. The goal of this study is to clarify research needs and identify effective actions for enhancing soil health. This was done by a synopsis of soil literature that specifically tests actions designed to maintain or enhance elements of soil health. Using an expert panel of soil scientists and practitioners, we then assessed the evidence in the soil synopsis to highlight actions beneficial to soil health, actions considered detrimental, and actions that need further investigation. Only seven of the 27 reviewed actions were considered to be beneficial, or likely to be beneficial in enhancing soil health. These included the use of a mixture of organic and inorganic soil amendments, cover crops, crop rotations, and growth of crops between crop rows or underneath the main crop, and the use of formulated chemical compounds (such as nitrification inhibitors), the control of traffic and traffic timing, and reducing grazing intensity. Using a partial Spearman's correlation to analyse the panel's responses, we found that increased certainty in scientific evidence led to actions being considered to be more effective due to them being empirically justified. This suggests that for actions to be considered effective and put into practice, a substantial body of research is needed to support the effectiveness of the action. This is further supported by the high proportion of actions (33 %), such as changing the timing of ploughing or amending the soil with crops grown as green manures, that experts felt had unknown effectiveness, usually due to insufficient robust evidence. Our assessment, which uses the Delphi technique, increasingly used to improve decision-making in conservation and agricultural policy, identified actions that can be put into practice to benefit soil health. Moreover, it has enabled us to identify actions that need further research, and a need for increased communication between researchers, policy-makers and practitioners, in order to find effective means of enhancing soil health.

The Role of Media and Communication in Improving the Use of Drugs and Other Technologies

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chitr Sitthi-amorn ◽  
Jintana Ngamvithayapongse
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Advertising Agencies ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rational Choices ◽  
Media And Communication

AbstractPolicy makers, health care providers, and the general public need valid information about the benefits and harmful effects of drugs and technologies to be able to make rational choices in their acquisition, distribution, and use. Effective communication is important for quality choices of drugs and other technologies. In effective communication, the choice of messages and media must correspond to the culture and beliefs of the target groups to make them comprehend and adopt the conclusions. Messages must be presented on a regular basis. Most regulatory agencies do not have enough resources to mount effective communication programs. Private advertising agencies and other stakeholders have definite roles. Valid knowledge must be the basis of dialogues to reduce emotional disputes among various benefit groups in society.

scholarly journals Bridging the knowledge gap: The HINARI programme

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 27-29
Author(s):  
Maurice Long
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Health Science ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Health Organization

“The Health InterNetwork Access Initiative (HINARI), is using information technology to narrow the information gap in health science.” Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, in his address to the Pan American Health Organization,Washington DC, 2 December 2002. “As a direct consequence of this arrangement, many thousands of doctors, researchers and health policy-makers among others will be able to use the best-available scientific evidence to an unprecedented degree to help them improve the health of their populations. It is perhaps the biggest step ever taken towards reducing the health information gap between rich and poor countries.” Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization, London, 9 July 2001.

scholarly journals Burglary and the Ideal Victim

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob I. Mawby
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Change Of Direction ◽  
The Ideal

In the latter quarter of the twentieth century, successive UK governments made burglary the focal point of policies aimed at harm reduction and crime prevention. This paper uses an adaptation of Christie's construction of the ideal victim is a useful way of explaining this. Three dimensions are distinguished: the ideal crime; the ideal victim; and the ideal offender. It is argued that burglary was the ideal crime, the burglary victim was the ideal victim, and the burglar constituted the ideal offender. More recently, a shift in government priorities has resulted in burglary no longer being accorded the same emphasis by policy makers. This is explained in terms of it no longer being considered the ideal crime. At the same time, burglary victims have been replaced by other victims considered more deserving, and other offenders who more starkly epitomise the evil outsider. While a change of direction may bring additional help for victims previously ignored, it is regrettable that the burglary victim may be returning to obscurity.

scholarly journals Systematic review of meta-analyses to assess the impacts of farming practices - A methodological framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Makowski ◽  
Simona Bosco ◽  
Mathilde Chen ◽  
Ana Montero-Castaño ◽  
Marta Pérez-Soba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Scientific Experts ◽  
Meta Analyses

Identifying sustainable agricultural practices to support policy development requires a rigorous synthesis of scientific evidence based on experiments carried out around the world. In agricultural science, meta-analyses (MAs) are now commonly used to assess the impact of farming practices on a variety of outcomes, including crop and livestock productions, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, nitrate leaching, soil organic carbon, based on a large number of experimental data. MA has become a gold standard method for quantitative research synthesis, and the growing number of MAs available can potentially be used to inform decisions of policy makers. However, published MAs are heterogeneous both in content and quality, and a framework is needed to help scientists to report the results and quality levels of MAs in a rigorous and transparent manner. Such a framework must be implementable quickly - within weeks - to be operational and compatible with the time constraints of modern policymaking processes. In this paper, we propose a methodological framework for assessing the impacts of farming practices based on a systematic review of published MAs. The framework includes four main steps: (1) literature search of existing MAs, (2) screening and selection of MAs, (3) data extraction and quality assessment, and (4) reporting. Three types of reports are generated from the extracted data: individual reports summarizing the contents of each MA (MA summary reports), reports summarizing each of the impacts of a given farming practice on a specific environmental, climate mitigation, or production outcome (single-impact reports), and report summarizing all the impacts of a given farming practice on all the outcomes considered (general report). All these reports present the quality levels of the MAs examined on the basis of 16 quality criteria. The proposed framework is semi-automatic in the sense that the skeletons of the reports are generated automatically from the spreadsheet used for the data extraction and quality assessment. This semi-automatic procedure allows scientific experts to reduce the time needed in the reporting step. Since 2020, the proposed framework was successfully applied by a group of scientific experts to support decisions of EU policy makers, and examine a large diversity of single farming practices (e.g. nitrification inhibitors, biochar, liming) and cropping systems (e.g. organic systems, agroforestry) in a relatively short period of time. It provides an operational tool for scientists who want to supply policymakers with scientific evidence based on large numbers of experiments, in a timely and reproducible manner.

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