The following resources introduce the importance of data and research in problem solving and offer tips on how to get started.
- What Is Data?: This brief provides an introduction to collecting the data you need.
- Collecting Data for a Safer Community: LISC's comprehensive toolkit walks users through types of data sources, where to find them, and the steps for developing a data analysis plan.
- Crime Analysis for Non-Criminal Justice Researchers: This resource provides a layperson's guide to looking at crime data.
- Key Ideas for the Research-Practitioner Partnership: This document offers practical guidance for finding partners and assigning roles.
- Participatory Research Toolkit: Use this resource for a step-by-step guide to conducting the BCJI research and data collection process.
- Audits, Checklists & Surveys: Check out our tools and templates to aid in data collection.
- Crime Mapping Level 1: This presentation provides the basics for beginners with little or no experience using crime mapping and/or GIS.
- Crime Mapping Level 2: A more advanced look at the topic, this presentation is for users more familiar with GIS and crime mapping.
- Understanding Crime and Place: Leading researchers in environmental criminology have created a number of different place-based theories and crime prevention techniques. This short primer gives community leaders the basics on how researchers approach this work, short descriptions of a dozen models of place-based initiatives, and a list of leading academic papers on the topic.
- Crime Hot Spots: Review this brief guide for an intro to how researchers use crime data to pinpoint and address locations with higher concentrations of crime.
- Guidelines for Successful Research-Practitioner Partnerships in the Criminal Justice System: Thie report presents results from a 2013 study from the National Institute of Justice.
- Research Partnerships in BCJI: LISC and BJA team up with researchers from the Omaha BCJI site in a webinar to discuss the nature of the program’s research partnerships, including lessons learned from BCJI sites around the country. Highlights include tips for picking the right researcher, defining roles and protocols for engaging the community, and forecasting the amount of time required for real collaboration.