Criminal Justice
Westat conducts a number of surveys and evaluations concerning issues related to juvenile
delinquency (characteristics, offenses, services, and risks for future problems), child abuse and neglect
(updating statistics), and victims of violent crime (consequences, needs, and services).
- Working with OJJDP, Westat conducted the national Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, which
surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 7,000 youth held in juvenile justice facilities. The study provides
empirical answers to critical research questions of juvenile justice policymakers and practitioners regarding placed
youths' characteristics, offenses, services received, and risk for future delinquency.
- Westat is conducting the National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program for OJJDP. This
7-year demonstration project is designed to reduce juvenile delinquency through development of comprehensive community-wide
efforts to break the cycle of violence initiated by child abuse and neglect.
- Westat has conducted the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children
(NISMART) for OJJDP. The most recent study (NISMART-2), performed in collaboration with Temple University and the
University of New Hampshire, provides updated estimates for all categories of missing children, as well
as estimates of the number of children who were victims of sexual assaults.
- For NIJ and the Office of Victims of Crime, Westat collaborated on survey design and conducted a CATI
survey of 2,000 known victims referred by criminal justice systems in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The survey focused
on the following issues:
- Crime incident,
- Psychological and material consequences of the crime,
- Victim needs,
- Awareness of victim services,
- Help-seeking behavior, and
- Effectiveness of services.
- For NIJ, Westat conducted a program evaluation of victim services for women by conducting telephone
surveys to determine victim outcomes resulting from the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grants Program.
For the impact evaluation, Westat conducted a telephone survey of known victims and an RDD survey
of the surrounding communities to determine if women who lived in the community were aware of the services, thus
including both victims who did not use the services and individuals who did not experience victimization.
- For NIJ, Westat completed a study of the spatial and temporal linkages between unemployment and crime
rates. These relationships were examined in the context of routine activity theory. Westat identified the
community contexts under which crimes are likely to respond to changes in unemployment rates. This project has
led to a methodologic development, whereby multilevel models are integrated within an exploratory spatial
data analysis framework.
- For BJS, Westat is conducting the 2004 National Prisoner Survey of Juvenile Sexual Assault (NPS-JSA),
which will develop, design, and field test survey instruments specifically for confined juveniles and develop an
implementation plan for collecting national data in 2006.
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