Quint C. Thurman

Research Note: Cops, Kids, and Community Policing—An Assessment of a Community Policing Demonstration Project

This article presents evaluation findings from a community policing demonstration project undertaken during the summer months of 1992 in Spokane, Washington. Police officers assigned to the project were involved with youths in brief, nonthreatening weekly interactions, which they expected might improve the image of the police, promote law-abiding behavior, and instill in the youths a conventional work ethic. Data from three sources (observations, focus group interviews, and survey research) indicate positive program outcomes for participating youths, their parents, and the officers involved with the project.

General prevention of tax evasion: A factorial survey approach

A factorial survey design is used to examine the taxpaying decisions of a random sample of adults. Data collected by asking respondents to rate their chances of cheating on their taxes under varying experimental conditions show only a small proportion of the sample expects to evade taxes. The few likely offenders judge lower tax rates to reduce their incentive to cheat, while higher audit rates, heavier prison sentences, and fines act as key inhibitors to tax cheating. The implications of this methodology and these data for future studies of tax evasion and deviance are briefly discussed.

Community-Based Gang Prevention and Intervention: An Evaluation of the Neutral Zone

This article presents an assessment of the Neutral Zone, a community-based gang prevention and intervention program developed in Mountlake Terrace and now operating in several other Washington communities. The Neutral Zone offers youths at risk of joining a gang or already gang-affiliated an attractive and safe alternative for productively spending their time. An evaluation suggests that this late evening program provides viable recreational and social service activities to some 190 youths each Friday and Saturday night. Data from direct observation, focus group interviews with participants and program staff, and official crime statistics indicate that the Neutral Zone is an effective alternative to traditional law enforcement approaches which typically rely on police crackdowns and curfews to regulate gang activity.

Reducing Disorder, Fear, and Crime in Public Housing: A Case Study of Place Specific Crime Prevention

Despite the proliferation of programs developed to address crime at a neighborhood level, our knowledge base on the effectiveness of these efforts remains quite limited. This is particularly true of crime prevention efforts in and around public housing facilities. The present study is intended to shed light on the nature and effectiveness of a crime prevention effort centered in a public housing facility in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Spokane, Washington. Unlike most prior research on crime in public housing that has focused on large facilities, the present study focused on a small facility where the crime problems were centered on the streets surrounding the facility as opposed to crime within the facility itself. The findings suggest that collaborative efforts at reducing fear, crime, and disorder in and around public housing facilities hold promise for improving the quality of life for residents living in smaller public housing sites. These findings are particularly relevant when considering that most public housing facilities are relatively small and in light of the move away from the construction of large, high-rise, public housing facilities for the nations poor.

Key Factors in the Use and Frequency of Use of Microcomputers by College Students.

There has been a steady increase in the use of microcomputers on college campuses in recent years, and as a result, more interest in studying microcomputer use. The purpose of this research is to examine some of the factors that predict which undergraduates use microcomputers and how much they use them. To this end, the Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Office at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst conducted a telephone survey of a random sample of 308 undergraduates. The results show that three variables—computer access, expected future computer use, and prior computer use before entering college—explain almost one-half of the variance in identifying microcomputer users and nearly one-fifth of the variance in explaining frequency of use.

Student Opinions regarding the Mandatory Use and Ownership of Personal Computers.

Several institutions of higher education recently have adopted policies requiring students to take computer courses and/or own personal computers. Typically, these decisions have been made by faculty and administrators without input from students. The purpose of this study was to analyze student opinion regarding such policies. To this end, the Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Office at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst conducted a telephone survey of a random sample of 308 undergraduates. The results show that students generally favor mandatory computer instruction but not mandatory computer ownership. Subsequent regression analyses of these data indicate that whether or not computer proficiency is seen as a salient skill for future employment is a key explanatory variable that determines support for either computer policy.