National Criminal Justice Reference Service Research Articles

A Qualitative Scoping Review of Community Firearm Violence in Low-Income Settings.

Firearm violence is a public health crisis in the United States that disproportionately impacts community members in low-income areas who witness and experience violence and violent victimization at elevated rates compared to other socioeconomic groups, often as result of community disinvestment and systemic racism (Smith et al., Soc Sci Med 246:112587, 2020). While quantitative reviews of firearm violence and related factors exist, a review of qualitative methods and findings regarding exposure to firearm violence has not yet been conducted. This scoping review sought to address a gap in the literature by summarizing the findings of qualitative studies on community firearm violence in low-income settings in the U.S. EBSCO databases, Criminal Justice Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts, ProQuest, and PsycINFO were searched for studies that described the firearm related experiences of individuals and families in low-income communities. Thirty studies met the criteria for review. Findings were situated within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Social-Ecological Model as a framework for prevention (CDC, The social-ecological model: a framework for prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/social-ecologicalmodel.html , 2018; Dahlberg and Krug, World Report on violence and health, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2002). A critique of the literature, as well as implications and future directions of findings, are discussed. This study may inform future research questions and programs that center the voices of those most impacted by firearm violence.

A mixed methods systematic review on the effects of arts interventions for children and young people at-risk of offending, or who have offended on behavioural, psychosocial, cognitive and offending outcomes: A systematic review.

Young people who enter the justice system experience complex health and social needs, and offending behaviour is increasingly recognised as a public health problem. Arts interventions can be used with the aim of preventing or reducing offending or reoffending. 1. To evaluate evidence on the effectiveness and impact of arts interventions on keeping children and young people safe from involvement in violence and crime. 2. To explore factors impacting the implementation of arts interventions, and barriers and facilitators to participation and achievement of intended outcomes. 3. To develop a logic model of the processes by which arts interventions might work in preventing offending behaviours. We searched AMED, Academic Search Complete; APA PsycInfo; CINAHL Plus; ERIC; SocIndex; SportDiscus, Medline, CENTRAL, Web of Science, Scopus, PTSDPubs and Performing Arts Periodicals Database, Sage, the US National Criminal Justice Reference Service, the Global Policing and British Library EThOS databases, and the National Police Library from inception to January 2023 without language restrictions. We included randomised and non-randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental study designs. We included qualitative studies conducted alongside intervention trials investigating experiences and perceptions of participants, and offering insight into the barriers and facilitators to delivering and receiving arts interventions. We included qualitative and mixed methods studies focused on delivery of arts interventions. We included studies from any global setting. We included studies with CYP (8-25 years) who were identified as at-risk of offending behaviour (secondary populations) or already in the criminal justice system (tertiary populations). We included studies of interventions involving arts participation as an intervention on its own or alongside other interventions. Primary outcomes were: (i) offending behaviour and (ii) anti-pro-social behaviours. Secondary outcomes were: participation/attendance at arts interventions, educational attainment, school attendance and engagement and exclusions, workplace engagement, wellbeing, costs and associated economic outcomes and adverse events. We included 43 studies (3 quantitative, 38 qualitative and 2 mixed methods). We used standard methodological procedures expected by The Campbell Collaboration. We used GRADE and GRADE CERQual to assess the certainty of and confidence in the evidence for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. We found insufficient evidence from quantitative studies to support or refute the effectiveness of arts interventions for CYP at-risk of or who have offended for any outcome. Qualitative evidence suggested that arts interventions may lead to positive emotions, the development of a sense of self, successful engagement in creative practices, and development of positive personal relationships. Arts interventions may need accessible and flexible delivery and are likely to be engaging if they have support from staff, family and community members, are delivered by professional artists, involve culturally relevant activity, a youth focus, regularity and a sustainable strategy. We found limited evidence that a lack of advocacy, low funding, insufficient wider support from key personnel in adjacent services could act as barriers to success. Methodological limitations resulted in a judgement of very low confidence in these findings. We found insufficient evidence from quantitative studies to support or refute the effectiveness of arts interventions for CYP at-risk of offending or who have offended for any outcome. We report very low confidence about the evidence for understanding the processes influencing the successful design and delivery of arts interventions in this population of CYP and their impact on behavioural, psychosocial, cognitive and offending outcomes.

Costs attributable to criminal justice involvement in injuries: a systematic review

ContextCosts related to criminal justice are an important component of the economic burden of injuries; such costs could include police involvement, judicial and corrections costs, among others. If the literature...

PROTOCOL: Opioid-specific medication-assisted therapy and its impact on criminal justice and overdose outcomes.

The overlap between criminal justice system involvement and drug use is well-documented, and criminal justice agencies have been particularly overwhelmed by the recent opioid epidemic. Treating opioid (and other substance) addiction as a means to reduce risk for future criminality and improve public safety is inherently a responsibility for the criminal justice system. In turn, the criminal justice system has a responsibility to manage and treat addiction among the individuals under its purview. Policy recommendations place emphasis on the use of medication-assisted treatments (MAT) as a front-line defense among correctional populations, because its efficacy and effectiveness has been well-established in other contexts. Despite this, criminal justice agencies have been reluctant or slow to do so. The current review will provide criminal justice and substance use treatment decision-makers with information regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of opioid-specific MAT on offending and overdose outcomes. Specifically, the authors will address the following research questions: Do opioid-specific MATs reduce the frequency or likelihood of criminal justice outcomes, as defined by official or self-reported indices of criminal reconviction or rearrest, revocation of community supervision, mandated treatment failure, and specialized court docket failure? Do opioid-specific MATs reduce the frequency of opioid overdose among individuals with current or prior self-reported or official record of criminal justice system involvement? Studies were required to use strong quasi-experimental or randomized experimental designs. All studies used individual level unit of analysis and examined adults and adolescents who are male, female, or nonbinary and racially/ethnically diverse, with current opioid use and who have current or prior criminal justice involvement. Studies had to prospectively test the effects of heroin and methadone maintenance, buprenorphine, or naltrexone on criminal conviction, arrest, revocation of community supervision, technical probation or parole violation, mandated treatment failure, and specialized court docket failure. Overdose outcomes were also examined for samples in criminal justice settings such as jails, prisons, probation, and parole. This review builds upon a prior review conducted by Egli et al. (2009) and examined studies meeting the inclusion criteria above published between 1960 and October 31, 2020. The following platforms and databases (in parentheticals) were used: EBSCOhost (Criminal Justice Abstracts, SocINDEX with Full Text, Legal Collection, Wilson Omnifile, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, and Women's Studies International [includes grey literature]); ProQuest (Criminal Justice Database, PAIS [includes grey literature], Dissertations and Theses Global [includes grey literature]); Gale (Expanded Academic ASAP, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center); FirstSearch (GPO Monthly Catalog, PapersFirst [includes grey literature]); ISI Web of Knowledge (Web of Science Core Collection); Office of Justice Programs (National Criminal Justice Reference Service); Summon; and Nexis Uni. The following open access platforms and databases will also be consulted: Elsevier (Scopus [includes grey literature]); Science.gov; ClinicalTrials.gov; WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) portal; and Google Scholar. Search terms were harvested according to their demonstrated success in drawing out relevant and complete results for studies regarding the effectiveness of opioid-specific medication-assisted therapies (MATs). From this process 5 core search strings were created, each one with the same general base terms, but unique outcome measure(s). For binary offending outcomes (e.g., arrest, conviction, incarceration, specialty court failure, mandated treatment failure, or community supervision failure) and overdose outcomes, odds ratios were computed, and for continuous or quasi-continuous outcomes (e.g., total number of arrests), a standardized mean difference type effect size was computed and then transformed into an odds ratio. We used the χ 2 test that goes with the forest plot and computed the I 2 statistic to assess heterogeneity. Risk of bias was assessed with (1) the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials; and (2) the risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions assessment tool.

Effects of Laws Expanding Civilian Rights to Use Deadly Force in Self-Defense on Violence and Crime: A Systematic Review.

Background. Since 2005, most US states have expanded civilian rights to use deadly force in self-defense outside the home. In most cases, legislation has included removing the duty to retreat anywhere one may legally be, commonly known as stand-your-ground laws. The extent to which these laws affect public health and safety is widely debated in public and policy discourse.Objectives. To synthesize the available evidence on the impacts and social inequities associated with changing civilian rights to use deadly force in self-defense on violence, injury, crime, and firearm-related outcomes.Search Methods. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts, Education Resources Information Center, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Google Scholar, National Bureau of Economic Research working papers, and SocArXiv; harvested references of included studies; and consulted with experts to identify studies until April 2020.Selection Criteria. Eligible studies quantitatively estimated the association between laws that expanded or restricted the right to use deadly force in self-defense and population or subgroup outcomes among civilians with a comparator.Data Collection and Analysis. Two reviewers extracted study data using a common form. We assessed study quality using the Risk of Bias in Nonrandomized Studies of Interventions tools adapted for (controlled) before-after studies. To account for data dependencies, we conducted graphical syntheses (forest plots and harvest plots) to summarize the evidence on impacts and inequities associated with changing self-defense laws.Main Results. We identified 25 studies that estimated population-level impacts of laws expanding civilian rights to use deadly force in self-defense, all of which focused on stand-your-ground or other expansions to self-defense laws in the United States. Studies were scored as having serious or critical risk of bias attributable to confounding. Risk of bias was low across most other domains (i.e., selection, missing data, outcome, and reporting biases). Stand-your-ground laws were associated with no change to small increases in violent crime (total and firearm homicide, aggravated assault, robbery) on average across states. Florida-based studies showed robust increases (24% to 45%) in firearm and total homicide while self-defense claims under stand-your-ground law were more often denied when victims were White, especially when claimants were racial minorities.Author's Conclusions. The existing evidence contradicts claims that expanding self-defense laws deters violent crime across the United States. In at least some contexts, including Florida, stand-your-ground laws are associated with increases in violence, and there are racial inequities in the application of these laws.Public Health Implications. In some US states, most notably Florida, stand-your-ground laws may have harmed public health and safety and exacerbated social inequities. Our findings highlight the need for scientific evidence on both population and equity impacts of self-defense laws to guide legislative action that promotes public health and safety for all.Trial Registration. Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/uz68e).

Review on the effectiveness of Canadian and American mental health courts

Objective: This systematic review synthesizes mental health court (MHC) research across the United States and Canada. This study reviews and compares the operations and practices of MHCs across both countries, as well as their recidivism rates. Methods: We gathered from existing literature to present common MHC practices used across the United States. However, in response to the lack of literature about Canadian day-to-day practices, we developed a questionnaire and contacted every Canadian MHC. In total, we contacted 36 Canadian MHCs, and 19 courts filled out a questionnaire. With respect to recidivism rates, we conducted a comprehensive literature search in February and March 2019 in PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts using the keywords mental health court, therapeutic justice, serious mental illness, mentally ill offenders, mental health diversion and problem-solving courts. Results: Canadian and American MHCs have similar practices. However, American MHC’s have more robust screening measures and typically admit more participants with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder into their programs compared to Canadian MHCs. MHC participants in both countries typically had lower recidivism rates compared to regular docket court participants. Conclusions: MHC research should inform public policy. Additional research should move in the direction of discovering the predictors for why MHCs reduce recidivism.

Early intervention systems for police: a state-of-the-art review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review of prior empirical studies that have examined early intervention (EI) systems or programs in policing.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature search of various government and academic databases (e.g. Emerald, Google Scholar, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), Sage, Taylor & Francis and Wiley) was conducted.FindingsThis systematic review identified eight EI studies that matched the selection criteria. Of these, two are multiagency studies and six are individual agency studies. Findings across studies are generally positive but overall relatively inconsistent with regard to EI systems' effectiveness.Practical implicationsPolice agencies benefit in identifying and addressing at-risk officers to ensure police accountability and officer safety, health and wellness. This research is invaluable for optimizing how EI systems can use agency data for such predictions.Originality/valueThis state-of-the-art review on EI systems in policing is the first of its kind. EI systems have been implemented by many police agencies, yet a limited number of empirical studies have been conducted. This systematic review will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore how EI systems are utilized and whether EI systems are successful/effective.

Palliative and end of life care in prisons: a mixed-methods rapid review of the literature from 2014–2018

ObjectivesTo explore current practice in relation to palliative and end of life care in prisons, and to make recommendations for its future provision.DesignA rapid literature review of studies using qualitative,...

A systematic review of co-responder models of police mental health \u2018street\u2019 triage

BackgroundPolice mental health street triage is an increasingly common intervention when dealing with police incidents in which there is a suspected mental health component. We conducted a systematic review of street triage interventions with three aims. First, to identify papers reporting on models of co-response police mental health street triage. Second, to identify the characteristics of service users who come in to contact with these triage services. Third, to evaluate the effectiveness of co-response triage services.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review. We searched the following databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, EBSCO CINAHL, Scopus, Thompson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection, The Cochrane Library, ProQuest National Criminal Justice Reference Service s, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, EThoS, and OpenGrey. We searched reference and citation lists. We also searched for other grey literature through Google, screening the first 100 PDFs of each of our search terms. We performed a narrative synthesis of our results.ResultsOur search identified 11,553 studies. After screening, 26 were eligible. Over two-thirds (69%) had been published within the last 3 years. We did not identify any randomised control trials. Results indicated that street triage might reduce the number of people taken to a place of safety under S136 of the Mental Health Act where that power exists, or reduce the use of police custody in other jurisdictions.ConclusionsThere remains a lack of evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of street triage and the characteristics, experience, and outcomes of service users. There is also wide variation in the implementation of the co-response model, with differences in hours of operation, staffing, and incident response.

Using ambulance data to reduce community violence: critical literature review.

Previous work has demonstrated that much violence requiring medical help is not recorded by the police. Sharing emergency department data on victims of violence is associated with reductions in community violence and is well established throughout the UK. We undertook a critical literature review to determine whether sharing ambulance data was useful to identify violence hotspots and offered unique information for violence prevention. A search of the major medical and criminological databases was undertaken using search terms related to the ambulance service, violence and assault, as well as data collection. The search was conducted within the NICE Evidence, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Scopus and National Criminal Justice Reference Service databases, along with the websites of various relevant institutions. Overall, 36 papers were identified by abstract scanning and bibliography search, of which 10 were considered relevant. A further nine papers were detected in the grey literature, and two were considered to be useful in providing evidence for use of ambulance data in violence surveillance. Two of the identified papers were interventional studies, and the other 10 were observational studies. Although the standard of evidence was generally low, most studies demonstrated that ambulance services detected a substantial proportion of assaults that were not recorded by the police or the emergency departments. We identified only two interventional studies, but they were of low quality. Although the interventional evidence base is currently weak, ambulance data provide a unique source of information about the epidemiology of community violence and have the potential to improve current violent crime surveillance methods.

Performance of recidivism risk assessment instruments in U.S. correctional settings.

With the population of adults under correctional supervision in the United States at an all-time high, psychologists and other professionals working in U.S. correctional agencies face mounting pressures to identify offenders at greater risk of recidivism and to guide treatment and supervision recommendations. Risk assessment instruments are increasingly being used to assist with these tasks; however, relatively little is known regarding the performance of these tools in U.S. correctional settings. In this review, we synthesize the findings of studies examining the predictive validity of assessments completed using instruments designed to predict general recidivism risk, including committing a new crime and violating conditions of probation or parole, among adult offenders in the United States. We searched for studies conducted in the United States and published between January 1970 and December 2012 in peer-reviewed journals, government reports, master's theses, and doctoral dissertations using PsycINFO, the U.S. National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts, and Google. We identified 53 studies (72 samples) conducted in U.S. correctional settings examining the predictive validity of 19 risk assessment instruments. The instruments varied widely in the number, type, and content of their items. For most instruments, predictive validity had been examined in 1 or 2 studies conducted in the United States that were published during the reference period. Only 2 studies reported on interrater reliability. No instrument emerged as producing the "most" reliable and valid risk assessments. Findings suggest the need for continued evaluation of the performance of instruments used to predict recidivism risk in U.S. correctional agencies. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Meta-Analysis of Public Attitudes Toward Ex-Offenders

Ex-offenders face barriers to community reintegration including negative attitudes held by members of the public. This meta-analysis summarizes the extant research on the correlates of public attitudes toward ex-offenders—namely, public, ex-offender, and community characteristics—and the moderating effects of sexual offense history. A systematic search of four databases (PsycINFO, Web of Science, National Criminal Justice Reference Service [NCJRS], and ProQuest Dissertation & Theses) identified 19 records, consisting of 9,355 participants. Results revealed small associations between correlate variables and attitudes, suggesting that people are more similar than different in their attitudes toward ex-offenders. Indeed, only political ideology, interpersonal contact, and sexual offense history emerged as significant correlates. Moderation analyses revealed differences in public attitudes toward ex-offenders based upon the year a record was produced. Findings reveal the need for additional research examining moderators of public attitudes toward ex-offenders and suggest that interventions should explore ways to incorporate interpersonal contact and reduce stigma related to criminal histories.

CE: Original Research: End-of-Life Care Behind Bars: A Systematic Review.

: To conduct a systematic review of the published research literature on end-of-life (EOL) care in prisons in order to determine the current state of the science and suggest implications for nursing practice and areas for future research.Applying the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we performed a comprehensive search of the literature using the following databases: CINAHL, Criminal Justice Abstracts, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Sociological Abstracts. All databases were searched from the time of their inception through June 2014. All English-language articles that reported on original quantitative and qualitative research involving EOL or palliative care delivered to prisoners were included. We abstracted data, using the matrix method, and independently reviewed and graded the evidence on its level of strength and quality in accordance with the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice rating scales.Nineteen articles, all published between 2002 and 2014, met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 53% were published between 2009 and 2014, and 58% reported findings from qualitative research. One article reported on research conducted in the United Kingdom; the remaining 18 reported on research conducted in the United States. Capacity (that is, the number of prisoners requiring EOL care and the ability of the prison to accommodate them) and the site of EOL care delivery varied across studies, as did the criteria for admission to EOL or hospice services. Care was provided by prison health care staff, which variously included numerous professional disciplines, corrections officers, and inmate caregivers. The inmate caregivers, in particular, provided a wide array of services and were viewed positively by both EOL patients and health care staff. There are insufficient data to characterize the patients' and inmate caregivers' perceptions of the EOL care staff and the quality of care they provided. The screening criteria applied to inmate caregivers and the training they received varied widely among care programs. Inmates providing EOL care viewed caregiving as a transformational experience. Likewise, prison administrators and health care staff viewed inmate participation positively.This literature review reveals the challenges of providing EOL care to prisoners and may inspire nurses to consider steps they can take individually or within nursing organizations to improve this care and address the unique challenges faced by dying inmates. By being aware of these issues and advocating for best practices, nurses can help inmates at the end of life to have a dignified death.

Deadly Combination: The Mixture of Drugs and Alcohol

Opiate is a class of drug that is often combined with alcohol. Opiates include heroin, codeine, morphine, Vicodin and OxyContin. Usually, people take opiate painkillers to manage their pain injuries, but some users find greater relief when it is combined with alcohol. According to National Criminal Justice Reference Service, coupling these two drugs can increase the sedative effects of alcohol which heightens the chances of overdose, unconsciousness, and respiratory failure.

The Effects on Re‐offending of Custodial vs. Non‐custodial Sanctions: An Updated Systematic Review of the State of Knowledge

As part of a broad initiative of systematic reviews of experimental or quasiexperimental evaluations of interventions in the field of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders, our work consisted in searching through all available databases for evidence concerning the effects of custodial and non-custodial sanctions on reoffending. For this purpose, we examined more than 3,000 abstracts, and finally 23 studies that met the minimal conditions of the Campbell Review, with only 5 studies based on a controlled or a natural experimental design. These studies allowed, all in all, 27 comparisons. Relatively few studies compare recidivism rates for offenders sentenced to jail or prison with those of offenders given some alternative to incarceration (typically probation).

Unknown Quantities

To the Editor: At year-end 2011, 4.8 million adults in the United States were serving terms of probation or parole,1 collectively referred to as “community corrections.” As with incarcerated populations, people in community corrections are disproportionately from backgrounds of social and economic disadvantage, and racial and ethnic minorities are heavily overrepresented.1,2 These risk factors for poor health combine with behavioral risk factors, particularly substance use, to produce a population that is at high risk for infectious diseases.2,3 We sought to review the prevalence of HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections (STI) among the US community corrections population. In March 2013, we searched PubMed and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service for articles reporting data on the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV), or other STI (including syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichominiasis, human papillomavirus, or genital herpes). Searches were limited to articles published from 2000 onward. We identified just 8 relevant studies (9 publications).2,4–11 These suffered from various methodological weaknesses including nonrandom sampling, low response rates, and the use of self-reported data rather than serological testing. Of 3 studies that conducted HCV antibody testing, none undertook confirmatory testing to assess current infection. We conclude that there are insufficient data to permit a meaningful assessment of the prevalence of the selected infectious diseases in the community corrections population. The lack of data regarding HIV, viral hepatitis, and STI prevalence in community corrections clients is concerning. In 2011, around 1 in every 50 US adults was under community corrections supervision. If just 1 in 5 of these is at risk for blood-borne viral infections or STI, this equates to almost a million people. Inconsistent condom use with casual sex partners has been reported by 17% to 79% of community corrections clients,4,9,12 and around one-quarter report lifetime injection drug use. 3,4,9,13 The lack of infectious disease prevalence data in the presence of these risk behaviors suggests an urgent need for large-scale epidemiological studies. Ideally, these would include a complete or sufficiently large random sample of community corrections clients in a city, region, or state, with serological testing to provide an accurate estimate of past exposures and current infections. An alternative or complement to epidemiological studies may be the introduction of routine infectious disease screening in community corrections settings. At present, only 18% of community corrections clients receive HIV or HCV screening and just 0.02% receive STI testing.14 Screening could be accompanied by brief educational interventions focusing on risk reduction, tailored to include referrals to relevant local services. In addition to the benefits of screening to individuals, infectious disease screening would generate valuable data describing risk behaviors and disease burden in the community corrections population, providing an evidence base from which to develop harm reduction and treatment interventions that are specific to the local context. Sarah Larney, PhD Alpert Medical School Brown University Providence, RI National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia and Centre for Prisoner Health and Human Rights The Miriam Hospital Providence, RI [email protected] Sheryl Hado, AB Centre for Prisoner Health and Human Rights The Miriam Hospital Providence, RI Michelle McKenzie, MPH Josiah D. Rich, MD, MPH Alpert Medical School Brown University Providence, RI and Centre for Prisoner Health and Human Rights and Division of Infectious Diseases The Miriam Hospital Providence, RI ACKNOWLEDGMENT This publication was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (1035149) and the National Institutes of Health (K24DA022112, P30AI042853). The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales is supported by funding from the Australian government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Service Improvements Grants Fund.

NCJRS: National Criminal Justice Reference Service

NCJRS: National Criminal Justice Reference Service

Cultures of evidence among decision makers in non-health sectors: systematic review of qualitative evidence

BackgroundMany non-health public policy sectors might have effects on population health outcomes. Views of decision makers about research evidence are less well understood in these sectors than in health care or public health. With the recent move of public health in England to local authorities, there is a need to investigate the cultures of evidence in other policy sectors. MethodsWe undertook a systematic review of qualitative evidence. 28 database sources were searched for both published and unpublished work: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Campbell Library, CENTRAL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Science, Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Social Science and Humanities, Copac, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, EconLit, Enviroline, Health Technology Assessment, Medline, Medline In-Process, National Criminal Justice Reference Service, National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database, OAIster, OpenGrey, PAIS International, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index, Social Care Online, Social Policy and Practice, Social Science Citation Index, Social Services Abstracts, Transportation Research Information Services Database, and Zetoc. The searches were done in October, 2012, and were not limited by date. The searches located 13 131 records. Studies were included if they encompassed local policy makers or practitioners in transport, housing, urban planning and regeneration, crime and policing, or licensing; and reported qualitative data on views, beliefs, or experiences of research evidence. Study quality was assessed with the instrument in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Public Health methods manual. Study findings were synthesised with a thematic analysis approach with EPPI-Reviewer 4 software. The protocol for this review can be found on the School for Public Health Research website: http://sphr.lshtm.ac.uk/our-research/publications/projects/. Findings16 studies were included. Decision makers use many different sources of information to inform decisions, many of which are not research evidence, as traditionally conceived. Several factors affect decision makers' use of evidence, including practical issues such as capacity and organisational factors. However, the relevance and usefulness of research studies seem to be more important; much research is seen as unable to show the complexity of practice and as preoccupied with theoretical concerns to the exclusion of practical applicability. The credibility of evidence is also important, but often derives mainly from the personal or institutional authority of those producing it. The scope of decision making is often constrained by political feasibility or acceptability, or by legislation or guidance, which means that the use of evidence may not be practicable. Local decision makers seem to mainly use evidence tactically to support policy choices and are often sceptical about the evidence-based policy agenda. InterpretationCompared with health care or public health, cultures of evidence in non-health sectors present different issues, which may lead to problems for public health decision makers working with colleagues in other sectors or advocating for policy-level interventions to promote health. Health practitioners and policy makers should take into account the differing ecologies of information in other sectors. Researchers may also benefit from taking a broader perspective on evidence use, which takes into account the whole decision-making process, and the interaction of academic research with more informal and situated forms of knowledge. Linear models of knowledge translation may not capture the complexity of potential relations between knowledge and practice and the wide variation in the understanding of decision makers of the concept of evidence. The findings call into question the assumption that increasing the uptake of research evidence is likely to lead to better decisions. FundingThis work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)'s School for Public Health Research. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR, or the Department of Health.

Authorship bias in violence risk assessment? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Various financial and non-financial conflicts of interests have been shown to influence the reporting of research findings, particularly in clinical medicine. In this study, we examine whether this extends to prognostic instruments designed to assess violence risk. Such instruments have increasingly become a routine part of clinical practice in mental health and criminal justice settings. The present meta-analysis investigated whether an authorship effect exists in the violence risk assessment literature by comparing predictive accuracy outcomes in studies where the individuals who designed these instruments were study authors with independent investigations. A systematic search from 1966 to 2011 was conducted using PsycINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and US National Criminal Justice Reference Service s to identify predictive validity studies for the nine most commonly used risk assessment tools. Tabular data from 83 studies comprising 104 samples was collected, information on two-thirds of which was received directly from study authors for the review. Random effects subgroup analysis and metaregression were used to explore evidence of an authorship effect. We found a substantial and statistically significant authorship effect. Overall, studies authored by tool designers reported predictive validity findings around two times higher those of investigations reported by independent authors (DOR = 6.22 [95% CI = 4.68–8.26] in designers' studies vs. DOR = 3.08 [95% CI = 2.45–3.88] in independent studies). As there was evidence of an authorship effect, we also examined disclosure rates. None of the 25 studies where tool designers or translators were also study authors published a conflict of interest statement to that effect, despite a number of journals requiring that potential conflicts be disclosed. The field of risk assessment would benefit from routine disclosure and registration of research studies. The extent to which similar conflict of interests exists in those developing risk assessment guidelines and providing expert testimony needs clarification.

Review: evidence does not support a reduction in sexual reoffending with psychological interventions, but further high-quality trials are needed

Question: Do psychological interventions reduce sexual offences in adults who have offended before or are at risk of offending? Outcomes: Primary outcome : reoffending, as measured by further charge, caution...