Measuring Community Views on the Criminal Justice System with Group Feedback Analysis

• In Event: Neighborhood Context and Community Views of Police and the Justice System

Abstract

Group feedback analysis is being used to study community members’ perspectives on the criminal justice system, utilizing procedural justice principles as a framework. This format combines survey and focus group methodologies by sharing survey results in real time with group participants and asking probing questions to gain a deeper understanding of participants’ responses. The methodology assumes that in any community, people with different life experiences, ages, races, and ethnicities will have different views on the criminal justice system. Views are also expected to change over time based on recent events (personal, local, or national). Because of these different perspectives, people will define the terms used in surveys differently, making results difficult to fully interpret. While definitional differences are frequently overlooked in survey methods, they are likely crucial to understanding the varied perspectives on policing and justice in today’s world. We will review the methodology used in this ongoing study of community views on criminal justice in a mid-sized city as well as results from the project’s first year. In addition, we will compare group feedback analysis to other methods of assessing perspectives on policing and procedural justice such as satisfaction surveys of citizens who have had interactions with police.

Authors

• Mary Elizabeth Spinelli, Center for Public Safety Initiatives, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Jamie Dougherty, Center for Public Safety Initiatives, Rochester Institute of Technology

• John Klofas, Rochester Institute of Technology