Research Methods in Law Critique - Annotated Bibliography Example

Research methods in law critique Guerette, Rob T. (2007). “Immigration Policy, Border Security and Migrant Deaths: An Impact Evaluation of Life Saving Efforts under the Border Safety Initiative.” Criminology & Public Policy, 6 (2): 201-222 The research uses a case study design approach in evaluating the lifesaving efforts under the border safety initiative. The case study design is appropriate in explaining presumed links of interventions in real life scenarios where the results do not provide a single set of results. The design is, therefore, best suited for the current research as the study seeks to explore the impact of a policy on a real life situation where the results expected cannot be confined to a single set. The research uses secondary, data that has already been collected. Examples of secondary data used in the research include organizational data and data collected through qualitative research. The research uses secondary data because it saves time, especially the time required to collect the raw data necessary to make findings. The use of secondary data is also convenient as it might be impossible for the researchers to collect data or conduct surveys that would capture past changes. The sampling approach used by the research is a stratified random sampling approach. This approach involves subdividing the research population into groups and then picking samples from these groups. The current research divides the study area to four sectors from which the data are collected. The dependent variable in the current research is the frequency of individual migrant deaths. This variable is dependent on the mechanisms of border safety initiative and other variables. The research explores the effect of border safety initiative on the number of immigrant deaths. The findings of the study show that the rates of immigrant deaths were at peak in 1998 and declined prior to the introduction of the policy. The rates of death were reduced immediately the policy was implemented, but then it began to increase reaching its peak in 2003. Prior to the implementation of the border security initiative, there was a positive trend line in immigrant deaths, but the trend line was positive after the introduction of the border security initiative. From these findings it is clear that border security initiative did not bring about a reduction in the deaths of immigrants. The threats to the validity of the data used in the study include unreported cases of immigrant deaths. Because it might be impossible to record all the deaths, the data used might not reflect on the real situation as unrecorded cases are not included. Another limitation to the research is the volume of data analyzed in the study. The massive quantity of data available for analysis and the limited duration of time to conduct the research might also affect the accurateness of the study results. Kovandzic, T., Sloan, J., and Vieraitis, L. (2004. “’Striking Out’ as Crime Reduction Policy: The Impact of ‘Three Strikes’ Laws on Crime Rates in U.S. Cities.” Justice Quarterly, 21 (2): 207-239. The design used in this study is a case study. A case study is a research design that is designed to provide an exploratory analysis of an event to determine causation in order to establish underlying principles. In the current study the research aims to explore the three strikes law and its impact as a crime reduction policy. A case study design is best for the study as it offers a more in depth approach into the issues being studied. The study used secondary data in its analysis and these data include qualitative research and published studies. The choice of secondary data is because of the reduced cost of collecting data, allows the researcher to provide a wider coverage of the subject, and is convenient as the data is already available and, therefore, reduces instances of double data collection. The study assessed the effect of these laws through the use of multiple time series design. This approach is appropriate for cases where thorough experimental approaches are not possible. The data used is a cross sectional data from 1980 to 2000. The use of the approach allows the researchers to consider the implementation of the three strike laws as an experiment with subjects, states which implemented the three strike laws and a control state that did not implement the law. The sampling method used by the researchers is convenience sampling, which is choosing a sample at the convenience of the researcher. The dependent variable is the crime rates in U.S cities. This variable is dependent on the three strike laws. The adoption of the three strike laws aims at reducing the rate of crime and the study seeks to establish the impact of this policy in reducing the rates of crime. The researchers also aimed to establish whether the three strike laws act as deterrence in which case the change would be quicker than in incapacitation where the changes occur gradually. The results from the study show that the crime rates in cities in states which adopted the three strikes law tend to reduce as compared to those which did not adopt the laws. Consequently, the rates at which the crimes declined were not abrupt, but declined over time. This, therefore, implies that the driving force of the three strike laws is incapacitation and not deterrence. The study also found that the states which adopted the three strike laws rely mainly on incarceration as a means of controlling crime. The limitations of this study include the presence of other variables that could affect results. These variables include the correlation between prison inmates and the rate of crime. Another limitation to the study is the magnitude of data analyzed. The size of data analyzed may also affect the results as more time is required to analyze such data and the analysis process is also bulky. The information and data used was also confined to one area due to lack of studies in other areas and as such, the results may not be insightful of the actual position. D’Alessio, S; Stolzenberg, L., and Terry, W. Clinton III (1999). “Eyes on the Street”: The Impact of Tennessee’s Emergency Cellular Telephone Program for Alcohol-related Fatal Crashes.” Crime and Delinquency, 45 (4): 453- 466. The research design used in this paper is a case study approach. Case studies provide an in depth study into a problem and are used to test whether a theory fits into a phenomena in real life. The approach is particularly relevant where there is little information about a phenomenon. The current study tries to test whether the emergency cellular telephone program has an impact on alcohol related fatal crashes. In doing so the research tries to apply a theory, which is using an emergency cellular telephone program on a to a real life situation, reducing alcohol related fatal crashes. The research relies on secondary data in its analysis. Secondary data is data that are not collected by the user. Secondary data are preferred due to the reduced time required when secondary data is used. The use of secondary data substantially reduces the time used to collect and analyze raw data. The secondary data used in the research include longitudinal data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and other qualitative data. The data used in the research was derived from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System which holds information on all fatal crashes on all roads. The study used the multi time series design to analyze the data. The approach is appropriate for the current study as it involves a comparison of a series of observations that can be affected by the program with a control group that is not likely to be affected by the intervention. The study also used a month as a unit of analysis to increase the number of observations. The research used two variables in its analysis. The first variable is the rate of alcohol related fatal crashes on highways. This variable was represented as a percentage of the monthly fatal crashes that involved a single automobile and happened between 8 pm and 8 am. The second independent variable is the rate of alcohol related fatal crashes on non-highways, such as municipal roads. Like the first variable, this variable was also measured as a percentage of the total fatal crashes which involved a single automobile and occurred between 8 am and 8 pm. The results revealed that the implementation of the emergency cellular telephone program reduced the percentage of alcohol related fatal crashes. Comparison of the rates of fatal alcohol related crashes before the implementation of the program and after the program was implanted. These results show that the program has an evident effect on the rates of alcohol related fatal crashes. Although the findings of the study support the view that implementation of the program assisted in reducing the rates of alcohol related fatalities analysis of pre and post implementation data cannot be conclusive and is only suggestive. The results cannot be held to be definitive since it is not clear if the decrease in the rate of alcohol related fatal crashes are due to the program or a result of a prior declining trend. Additionally the study only focused on one area, Tennessee, and as such it is difficult to generalize the study’s findings. The newness of the program also implies limited preexisting research on the issue and replication of the findings of the study is essential to infer generalization of its findings. Read More