scholarly journals Challenging the Reductionism of “Evidence-Based” Youth Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1735
Author(s):  
Stephen Case
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Integral Means ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Policy Practice

The generation of empirical evidence to explain offending by children and young people has been a central driver of criminological and sociological research for more than two centuries. Across the international field of youth justice, empirical research evidence has become an integral means of complementing and extending the knowledge and understanding of offending offered by the official enquiries and data collection of professional stakeholders and an essential tool for informing ‘evidence-based’ policy, practice and ‘effective intervention’. However, it will be argued that the hegemonic empirical evidence-base created by youth justice research over the past two decades has been generated through methodological reductionism - the oversimplification of complexity, the restriction of conceptual lens and the relative exclusion of competing explanatory paradigms and empirical methodologies, which in turn, has reduced the scope and validity of the policy and practice recommendations derived from it.

Against evidence-based oppression: Marginalized youth and the politics of risk-based assessment and intervention

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Goddard ◽  
Randolph R Myers
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Marginalized Youth ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Needs Assessments ◽  
Actuarial Risk ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Causes Of Crime

Actuarial risk/needs assessments exert a formidable influence over the policy and practice of youth offender intervention. Risk-prediction instruments and the programming they inspire are thought not only to link scholarship to practice, but are deemed evidence-based. However, risk-based assessments and programs display a number of troubling characteristics: they reduce the lived experience of racialized inequality into an elevated risk score; they prioritize a very limited set of hyper-individualistic interventions, at the expense of others; and they privilege narrow individual-level outcomes as proof of overall success. As currently practiced, actuarial youth justice replicates earlier interventions that ask young people to navigate structural causes of crime at the individual level, while laundering various racialized inequalities at the root of violence and criminalization. This iteration of actuarial youth justice is not inevitable, and we discuss alternatives to actuarial youth justice as currently practiced.

Evidence-based skills in Welsh youth justice settings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Ugwudike ◽  
Gemma Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Positive Finding ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Relationship Skills ◽  
Supervision Practice ◽  
Justice Practice ◽  
Integrate Research

This chapter presents the findings of a study that examined supervision skills within three youth offending teams. The study focused on youth justice practice in Wales and its objective was to explore how best to integrate research evidence into frontline practice. It found that participating practitioners employed mainly relationship skills. This is a positive finding but there was limited use of evidence-based skills embedded in what is described as the ‘structuring principle' of effective interpersonal interactions (Bonta and Andrews 2017). The skills are change-focused and they impact on what young people learn during interactions with practitioners and the quality of the influence the practitioners exert over them. This chapter examines the factors that impede the application of structuring skills and concludes with a discussion of the ways in which gaps between research and supervision practice can be bridged to enhance the quality of youth justice practice.

Prevention and education evidence review: Gambling-related harm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo Hilbrecht ◽  
Sally M. Gainsbury ◽  
Nassim Tabri ◽  
Michael J. A. Wohl ◽  
Silas Xuereb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Gambling Harm ◽  
Harm Prevention

This report supports an evidence-based approach to the prevention and education objective of the National Strategy to Reduce Harm from Gambling. Applying a public health policy lens, it considers three levels of measures: universal (for the benefit of the whole population), selective (for the benefit of at-risk groups), and indicated (for the benefit of at-risk individuals). Six measures are reviewed by drawing upon a range of evidence in the academic and grey literature. The universal level measures are “Regulatory restriction on how gambling is provided” and “Population-based safer gambling/responsible gambling efforts.” Selective measures focus on age cohorts in a chapter entitled, “Targeted safer gambling campaigns for children, youth, and older adults.” The indicated measures are “Brief internet delivered interventions for gambling,” “Systems and tools that produced actual (‘hard’) barriers and limit access to funds,” and “Self-exclusion.” Since the quantity and quality of the evidence base varied by measure, appropriate review methods were selected to assess publications using a systematic, scoping, or narrative approach. Some measures offered consistent findings regarding the effectiveness of interventions and initiatives, while others were less clear. Unintended consequences were noted since it is important to be aware of unanticipated, negative consequences resulting from prevention and education activities. After reviewing the evidence, authors identified knowledge gaps that require further research, and provided guidance for how the findings could be used to enhance the prevention and education objective. The research evidence is supplemented by consultations with third sector charity representatives who design and implement gambling harm prevention and education programmes. Their insights and experiences enhance, support, or challenge the academic evidence base, and are shared in a separate chapter. Overall, research evidence is limited for many of the measures. Quality assessments suggest that improvements are needed to support policy decisions more fully. Still, opportunities exist to advance evidence-based policy for an effective gambling harm prevention and education plan.

The State of Evidence-Based Policy Evaluation and its Role in Policy Formation

2012 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. R41-R52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Davies
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
The Uk

This paper argues that evidence-based policy has clearly made a worldwide impact, at least at the rhetorical and institutional levels, and in terms of analytical activity. The paper then addresses whether or not evidence-based policy evaluation has had an impact on policy formation and public service delivery. The paper uses a model of research-use that suggests that evidence can be used in instrumental, conceptual and symbolic ways. Taking four examples of the use of evidence in the UK over the past decade, this paper argues that evidence can be used instrumentally, conceptually and symbolically in complementary ways at different stages of the policy cycle and under different policy and political circumstances. The fact that evidence is not always used instrumentally, in the sense of “acting on research results in specific, direct ways” (Lavis et al., 2003, p. 228), does not mean that it has little or no influence. The paper ends by considering some of the obstacles to getting research evidence into policy and practice, and how these obstacles might be overcome.

scholarly journals Knowledge translation: translating research into policy and practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelly Donszelmann Oelke ◽  
Maria Alice Dias da Silva Lima ◽  
Aline Marques Acosta
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Translation ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Health Services Delivery ◽  
Implementation Processes ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Reflective Study

Objective: This paper provides a theoretical-reflective study of knowledge translation concepts and their implementation processes for using research evidence in policy and practice.Results: The process of translating research into practice is iterative and dynamic, with fluid boundaries between knowledge creation and action development. Knowledge translation focuses on co-creating knowledge with stakeholders and sharing that knowledge to ensure uptake of relevant research to facilitate informed decisions and changes in policy, practice, and health services delivery. In Brazil, many challenges exist in implementing knowledge translation: lack of awareness, lack of partnerships between researchers and knowledge-users, and low research budgets.Conclusions: An emphasis on knowledge translation has the potential to positively impact health outcomes. Future research in Brazil is needed to study approaches to improve the uptake of research results in the Brazilian context.

scholarly journals Implementation of evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention interventions: theoretical and practical implications of the concept of transferability for decision-making and the transfer process

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 534-543
Author(s):  
Tamara Schloemer ◽  
Freia De Bock ◽  
Peter Schröder-Bäck
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Prevention Interventions ◽  
Practical Implications

AbstractEvidence-based health promotion and disease prevention require incorporating evidence of the effectiveness of interventions into policy and practice. With the entry into force of the German Act to Strengthen Health Promotion and Prevention (PrävG), interventions that take place in people’s everyday living environments have gained in importance. Decision-makers need to assess whether an evidence-based intervention is transferable to their specific target context. The Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) recommends that transferability of an intervention should be clarified before any decision to implement it. Furthermore, transferability needs to be finally determined after an evaluation in the target context. In this article, we elaborate on theoretical and practical implications of the concept of transferability for health promotion and disease prevention based on the Population–Intervention–Environment–Transfer Models of Transferability (PIET-T). We discuss how decision-makers can anticipate transferability prior to the intervention transfer with the help of transferability criteria and how they can take transferability into account in the further process. This includes the steps of the analysis of a health problem and identification of effective interventions, the steps of the initial transferability assessment and identification of the need for adaptation, and the steps of the implementation and evaluation. Considering transferability is a complex task that comes with challenges. But it offers opportunities to select a suitable intervention for a target context and, in the transfer process, to understand the conditions under which the intervention works in this context. This knowledge helps to establish an evidence base, which is practically relevant.

scholarly journals One step forward and two steps back? The ‘20 Principles’ for questioning vulnerable witnesses and the lack of an evidence-based approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Cooper ◽  
Coral Dando ◽  
Thomas Ormerod ◽  
Michelle Mattison ◽  
Ruth Marchant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Advocacy Training ◽  
One Step

It is a widely held belief that questioning vulnerable witnesses is a specialist skill. In England and Wales vulnerable witness advocacy training built around ‘20 Principles’ has been developed and is being delivered. The 20 Principles do not cite a tested theoretical framework(s) or empirical evidence in support. This paper considers whether the 20 Principles are underpinned by research evidence. It is submitted that advocacy training and the approach to questioning witnesses in the courtroom should take into account the already available research evidence. The authors make recommendations for revision of the training and for a wider review of the approach taken to the handling of witness evidence.

scholarly journals Policing Research and the Rise of the ‘Evidence-Base’: Police Officer and Staff Understandings of Research, its Implementation and ‘What Works’

Sociology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lumsden ◽  
Jackie Goode
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Organisational Factors ◽  
Evidence Based Policing

Despite the pitfalls identified in previous critiques of the evidence-based practice movement in education, health, medicine and social care, recent years have witnessed its spread to the realm of policing. This article considers the rise of evidence-based policy and practice as a dominant discourse in policing in the UK, and the implications this has for social scientists conducting research in this area, and for police officers and staff. Social scientists conducting research with police must consider organisational factors impacting upon police work, as well as the wider political agendas which constrain it – in this case, the ways in which the adoption of evidence-based policing and the related ‘gold standard’ used to evaluate research act as a ‘technology of power’ to shape the nature of policing/research. The discussion draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with police officers and staff from police forces in England.

Evidence-Based Practice for Career Development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Development Interventions

Evidence is essential to enable practitioners and services to best meet the needs of their service users. The concept of evidence-based practice has been imported to career development, but its implicit medical model is problematic to apply to the social nature of the field. Evaluating the effectiveness of career development interventions presents formidable methodological challenges, not least the conceptual and definitional issues raised by the selection of outcome measures. The use of research evidence in policy and practice requires the synthesis and communication of findings to practitioners and stakeholders. Both policymaking and practice are political processes and research evidence is necessary but not sufficient to influence decision-making. Knowledge generated from research can rarely be applied to career development practice without attention to multilevel contextual factors. To best inform practice, research evidence should be combined with local knowledge, practitioner experience, and input from service users. A simple integrated model of evidence-based practice for career development interventions is presented. This model is suitable for adoption by reflective practitioners.

Research, policy and practice

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
Nick Frost ◽  
Bernie Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Child Welfare Policy ◽  
Family Based

This chapter examines research evidence that underpins family group conferences (FGCs) and addresses its implications for policy and practice. There are powerful value-based reasons for engaging with FGCs. The evidence base around the process of FGCs is strong; families find the process, in the main, empowering and engaging. Meanwhile, the evidence base in relation to the outcomes of FGCs is mixed in relation to both safeguarding and care placements, as studies have found positive, negative, and neutral outcomes following FGCs. There is no doubt that there is a requirement for more outcome-focused studies of FGCs. Nevertheless, as many researchers argue, there is enough evidence and professional and family-based experience to make a powerful argument for the embedding of FGCs in child welfare policy and practice.

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