The Campbell Collaboration is a nonprofit organization that promotes evidence-based policymaking through the production of systematic reviews, summaries and syntheses of policy-relevant evidence. Each post in this series includes excerpts from the Campbell Collaboration’s “Plain Language Summaries” in the subject areas of crime & justice, education, and social welfare.
Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime Authors: Anthony A. Braga, Brandon Turchan, Andrew V. Papachristos, David M. Hureau. Published: September 8, 2019. Subject Area: Crime & Justice.
Crime is concentrated in small places, or "hot spots," that generate half of all criminal events. Hot spots policing focuses police resources and attention on these high crime places. For the purpose of this review, hot spots programs must have consisted of police-led crime prevention efforts that targeted high-activity crime "places" rather than larger areas such as neighborhoods.
A total of 65 studies containing 78 tests of hot spots policing interventions were identified. However, standardized effects sizes were only calculated for 73 main effects tests due to reporting deficiencies in three included studies. All studies were published from 1989 to 2017: 51 studies were conducted in the USA, four in the UK, four in Sweden, and six in other countries.
Main Findings: Hot spots policing generates statistically-significant small reductions in overall crime and disorder in areas where the strategy is implemented. These crime control gains were evident across specific categories of crime outcomes including drug offenses, disorder offenses, property crimes, and violent crimes… Overall, it is more likely that hot spots policing generates crime control benefits that diffuse into the areas immediately surrounding the targeted locations than displacing crime into nearby locations.
Full Report: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence/effects-of-hot-spots-policing-on-crime.html
Opioid-specific medication-assisted therapy and its impact on criminal justice and overdose outcomes Authors: C. Clare Strange, Sarah M. Manchak, Jordan M. Hyatt, Damon M. Petrich, Alisha Desai, Cory P. Haberman. Published January 7, 2022. Subject Area: Crime & Justice and Social Welfare
This review includes 20 studies, of which 14 are experimental and six are quasi-experimental. Though there is some degree of methodological concern across all studies, 16 studies were of sufficient methodological quality, rigour and similarity (e.g., measurement of outcomes) to be included in the meta-analysis. The studies span the years 1999 to 2021, and were carried out in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK and Norway.
Main Findings: There is a significant reduction in the odds of non-fatal overdose for justice-involved people who are treated with MAT [Opioid-specific medication-assisted therapy]. However, there are no significant reductions in the odds of offending, rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration or fatal overdose.
Authors: Robert M. Bernard, Eugene Borokhovski, Richard F. Schmid, David I. Waddington, David Pickup. Published: September 7, 2019. Subject Area: Education.
This Campbell systematic review assesses the overall impact on student achievement of processes and methods that are more student‐centered versus less student-centered. It also considers the strength of student-centered practices in four teaching domains.
Flexibility: Degree to which students can contribute to course design, selecting study materials, and stating learning objectives.
Pacing of instruction: Students can decide how fast to progress through course content and whether this progression is linear or iterative.
Teacher's role: Ranging from authority figure and sole source of information, to teacher as equal partner in the learning process.
Adaptability: Degrees of manipulating learning environments, materials, and activities to make them more student-centered.
This review presents evidence from 299 studies (covering 43,175 students in a formal school setting) yielding 365 estimates of the impact of teaching practices. The studies spanned the period 2000–2017 and were mostly carried out in the United States, Europe, and Australia.
Main Findings: Teaching methods that individualize and adapt instructional conditions to K‐12 learners’ needs, abilities, and interests help improve learning achievement. The most important variables are the teacher's role in the classroom as a guide and mentor and the adaptability of learning activities and materials. Pacing of instruction/learning—where learners have more choice over setting the pace and content navigation of learning activities—has a significant effect in the opposite direction; i.e., a significantly negative relationship.