University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

U of U Criminal Justice Center Marks First Anniversary with Innovative Research Projects

Posted: 5 Mar 2007 by Barry Scholl
Updated on: 8 Jun 2007

Tags: erik luna ucjc research 

As the Utah Criminal Justice Center at the University of Utah approaches its first anniversary, the Center's co-directors, Russ Van Vleet and Erik Luna, sat down recently for a candid discussion focused on the Center's ambitious goals, as well as the difficulties inherent in such an ambitious undertaking. How ambitious? Luna, Hugh B. Brown Chair in Law and Professor of Law, summarizes the Center's goals as, "to address criminal justice issues in Utah, as well as national and international concerns, and to invite various disciplines to provide perspectives on the subject of criminal justice."

As Luna explains, the concept of criminal justice invites a diverse set of inquiries, from "What things should be denominated as crime?" and "What factors lead to criminal behavior?" to "How do we interpret data on recidivism?" and "What are the practical uses for that data once it has been amassed and analyzed?"

Drawing on the expertise of the U's faculty and graduate students, the Center is fast establishing a reputation for producing research that reflects rigorous academic standards under the tight timelines its government clients require. Luna and Van Vleet reveal that one of the Center's critical goals is to bridge the gap between the University and the surrounding community. Judging from the reactions in academe and criminal justice, one gets the sense that the Center truly represents a new, cooperative approach – and that its arrival is long overdue.

"The Center will add tremendously to smart criminal and juvenile justice policy as well as preparing future practitioners," declares Ed McConkie, Chief of the Bureau of Criminal Identification in the Utah Department of Public Safety and an adjunct professor in the U's graduate school of social work. "As the state grows and the system's resources are further stretched, the need for smart policy is heightened, hence the need for the Center's goals are magnified."

"The reality is that there isn't a lot being taught in criminal justice that's practical to the criminal justice system," Van Vleet observes. A veteran academic, Van Vleet's national experience includes working with the Center for the Study of Youth Policy, which was headquartered first at Michigan and later at Penn, where he consulted with state governments on juvenile justice reform. He also previously served as head of Utah's juvenile justice agency. At the U, Van Vleet's duties include overseeing the criminal justice domain at the school of social work. "It's a major issue for me, because many social work students graduate without any understanding, background, or knowledge of criminal justice."

The Goal: Rigorous Research and Rapid Results

According to Van Vleet, one impetus behind the Center's formation was the absence of good criminal justice data, in Utah and elsewhere. "My experience as director of a criminal justice agency was that the research was either not available or what was there was not attainable. Research positions are not funded by legislatures. For example, the Utah state court system doesn't have an office or individual focused on research. I found that when you would go to the legislature you were expected to provide information that was relevant, and it almost never was."

Getting the Center off the ground required the support of the state Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), which coordinates the criminal justice operations of Utah state government, as well as scholars and researchers from the colleges of law, social and behavioral science, and social work. Van Vleet reveals that though most of his colleagues were intrigued by the notion of the Center, there was an initial period of adjustment for some at the University.

"Absent the support of the three colleges, the Center would not be a reality today. It wouldn't happen as a stand-alone at any of the colleges," Van Vleet says. "Research requests have been accelerating, and our issue now is not the topics or the acceptance of or the requests for our services. It's organizing the University to respond. It's helping professors connect with the research. It's getting through the administrative part of the University in the necessary time frame. Academic research tends to be longitudinal, and the turnaround on the Center's projects is a bit of a shock to professors. What we have tried to do is set up projects that can provide interim, short-term answers useful in developing legislative policy but also allow the faculty to continue that research for longitudinal analysis." He cites a study of recidivism the Center is currently conducting that has been allotted a three-year timeline and notes that a study of any shorter duration would not produce reliable results. "Most of the studies we'll undertake will involve a similar length of time and that will satisfy professors who need that information for their research purposes and for tenure and publishing and all that goes with it."

Adds Luna: "One particularly important benefit is that academics can influence public policy through their research." As he points out, much academic research, no matter how creative or carefully drafted, is published in academic journals, distributed to a narrow circle of fellow academics, and then relegated into an improvised coaster for a coffee mug. By contrast, Luna says that the Center's premise is that researchers can and should do work that will affect how the criminal justice system operates. "It can be somewhat daunting with regard to the short timelines, but it's a terrific opportunity for the insular world of academe to affect the larger communities in which scholars exist."

The Importance of Independence

When the Center was still in its formative stages, its co-directors did extensive research to see what peer institutions were doing. They discovered that what seemed a natural linkage of law, social sciences and social work was virtually absent on other campuses throughout the country.

"What we're doing at the University of Utah simply wasn't found elsewhere," Van Vleet says. "We couldn't find anyplace where a university took three colleges and allowed them to organize themselves in a way that they could provide a criminal justice curricula and a research capacity; it just didn't exist."

Luna says, "It seems commonsensical that if you're going to have the leading minds in the academic world conducting research on criminal justice, wouldn't you want that information to be utilized by government? Why isn't there a tighter connection between the government that operates the criminal justice system and the academic world that studies criminal justice and trains those individuals who end up working in the system?"

Yet, there was still some lingering resistance to the Center's pioneering approach. As McConkie of the Bureau of Criminal Identification explains, by their very nature, departments at a university typically operate more or less autonomously and are not accustomed to working together in the manner the Criminal Justice Center required. Another problem arose when some in the academic community raised concerns that the academic research conducted by the U and the practical research goals of the justice systems were not always compatible.

"Russ and Erik have been invaluable in overcoming these hurdles because of their abilities to bridge the academic and systemic gulf," McConkie elaborates. "Russ' background as a former youth corrections administrator and current national consultant has provided critical credibility on both sides of the fence. Erik's diplomacy, in turn, has fostered communication and vision, which has led to both sides seeing the Center's benefits.  CCJJ's unique coordinating forum allowed the needed participants to come together and, based upon the success of past research of the Social Research Institute, assist in the Center's creation."

The Advantages of Scientific Analysis

Although research similar to that undertaken by the Center has been ongoing at the U for many years, and U faculty and students have already completed some 40 studies, the newly formed Center is currently completing its first project, a meta-analysis commissioned by the Utah Department of Corrections focusing on the viability of privatizing of Utah's penal institutions. "There is an assumption in the legislature that private is better than public, but the meta-analysis doesn't support that," Van Vleet explains.

In keeping with the Center's independent stance, Luna says, "We're not spokesmen for government. We don't massage the data to fit a conclusion. We provide independent research, which in turn may point toward a particular conclusion. But it's up to policymakers to take the final step, based on the concept that good research informs good governance. Thankfully, Utah's criminal justice system is endowed with very thoughtful agency heads who are interested in doing what's best for the system and the citizenry."

The Center currently has 14 studies either ongoing or contracted for, including:

• a study commissioned by the Utah Department of Corrections analyzing jail as a condition of probation analysis;
• a meta-analysis of privatization of corrections
• a study tracking the problem of mentally ill offenders and the problems of reducing recidivism and a related study on access to psychotropic medication;
• a juvenile justice study of access to medication and the impact on recidivism;
• a study of preadjuticative intervention looking at alternatives to incarceration in juvenile justice;
• a model juvenile court study;
• an analysis of the juvenile drug court;
• a study of methamphetamine use being conducted for CCJJ;
• a data analysis of the drug offender rehabilitation act over a three-year period; and
• an ongoing annual analysis of all 22 juvenile justice programs funded by the Utah Board of Juvenile Justice, including changing attitudes and recidivism rates.

The Center also sponsors programs designed to provide a forum for interaction between the university and the community. On March 1, one of the nation's leading juvenile justice scholars, Barry Feld from the University of Minnesota, will visit the University and present the Center's first distinguished lecture. "The event will include a panel of experts in allied fields – psychology, sociology, pediatrics, and family law – offering an interdisciplinary dialogue that transcends traditional academic boundaries. It's an example of one way in to bring people together to discuss critical criminal justice issues from numerous perspectives," Luna says.

The Impact on Students

Camille Anthony, Coordinator of Salt Lake County Criminal Justice and an adjunct professor in the U's graduate school of social work, has been involved in Utah criminal justice for almost two decades. During that period, it has become increasingly clear to her that a desperate need exists for, as she describes it, "accurate, complete and timely research and evaluation" on criminal justice issues. She predicts that the Center's integration of multiple academic disciplines will have far-reaching implications that stretch beyond the classroom.

"When the criminal justice domain was created in the school of social work, my dream was not just to have 26 social work students in my class," Anthony reveals. "It was to have 10 law students and 10 political science students alongside the social work students," Anthony says. She allows that her dream of a fully integrated multidisciplinary class hasn't happened yet, but believes that the University's widespread support for the Criminal Justice Center is "huge."

"When I teach my class at the U, I try to educate the social work students using real-life scenarios: This file just got put on your desk. What are you going to do? You've got a client at the jail who's got a schizophrenic label, who do you talk to? It brings in those other disciplines. For a beginning social worker, or a beginning lawyer, it helps to know what resources are out there. For example, there's a city prosecutor and a state prosecutor; what are the differences between the two and why might I want to talk with one rather than the other? I think the existence of the Criminal Justice Center will enrich the student experience before they go out into the field. It will produce a better-informed, more resourceful student-turned professional."

Luna enthusiastically concurs with Anthony's characterization. "Interdisciplinarity represents a major movement within academe, recognizing that a silo mentality is counterproductive for pedagological goals and top-notch university research. When the disciplines kept within these individual silos, they often missed the opportunity to interact with each other to achieve superior education and research." Luna believes that different disciplines are often interested in the same subject. "It's a little like the story of the three blind men and the elephant. They're touching the same elephant, but they feel different parts — the trunk, the tail, the ears, and so on. Sometimes academics don't recognize that various disciplines are analyzing the same basic problems and providing unique perspectives that could contribute to a more comprehensive understanding. We hope to open up a criminal justice discourse that transcends traditional barriers."

In its first year of existence the Center drew largely on students from the colleges of social work, behavioral science, nursing and medicine. Luna says plans are underway for the law school to organize a student group. "We see a possibility for doctrinal legal work. Students can help with shaping research questions, as well as providing guidance on statutory and constitutional issues."

Van Vleet points out that the Center might also increase paid research opportunities for graduate students in various fields. "We have 14 research assistants currently employed. If we had additional funding, we could have students on every project." He predicts that as the Center grows and becomes more established, state agencies will seek additional funding from the legislature to support additional studies, which will in turn produce research opportunities for U of U students. "We've validated the concept of the Center, but its future growth depends on funding," he confesses.

Luna nods in assent. "We're convinced that the Center is based on a sound strategy, and with adequate support, it could be invaluable to both government and academe. The real test will come in the next few years as we continue to add to the Center's already ambitious agenda. Curriculum will take some time, for instance, sorting through the problems of cross-listing courses in multiple colleges and concerns such as co-enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students."

He pauses, as though to reflect on the obstacles the Center faces, as well as the opportunities it embodies. "It's an infant institution," he concludes. "We will have to take baby steps for a while, but we're convinced that given sufficient resources, it will work."