RAPID: Challenges and Novel Responses in Law Enforcement and Criminal Courts to the COVID-19 Pandemic

与影响有限地理位置的其他类型的自然灾害相比，当前的大流行对整个国家的影响是显着的。 刑事司法系统也未能幸免于这种影响，执法部门和法院必须调整其业务决策和应对措施。本研究将连续采访执法机构和成人刑事法院，了解他们应对 COVID-19 的公共卫生威胁。它不仅旨在记录这些机构如何应对，而且旨在了解他们为何做出这样的反应，随着新信息的出现，他们的反应如何变化，以及他们在此过程中面临的实际和务实的挑战。为了实现这些目标，研究结果旨在为备灾、资源管理和刑事司法政策提供信息。有人认为，自然和技术灾害的有害后果在很大程度上取决于受影响人口的物质和社会脆弱性，或获取物质、社会和经济资源的机会。同样，组织、企业和其他机构在遭受破坏性事件时的脆弱性也各不相同。当遇到此类事件时，他们如何应对这种脆弱性通常可以在组织决策的背景下理解，这意味着一个复杂的过程，涉及对与潜在替代选择相关的具体和抽象成本和收益进行不同的权衡。本研究借鉴了应急管理、理性选择以及治安和刑事法院管理的理论/框架，以了解执法机构和刑事法院应对不断变化的 COVID-19 威胁的方式。为了实现这些目标，将获得 50 个州执法和刑事法院的分层随机样本，并进行纵向自我报告调查，以研究以下问题：(1) 这些实体因 COVID-19 而面临的实际和行政挑战，(2) 为了应对 COVID-19 大流行，他们已经实施或想要实施但未能实施的具体战略/计划，(3) 挑战、成功和后果（预期和非预期） (4) 应对措施为何被设计、实施或未实施、成功、具有挑战性并产生各种结果。然后，研究结果可用于为制定新的应对措施和改进创新政策和实践的实施提供信息，包括流行病应急管理计划以及如何在公共卫生和刑事司法系统中有效沟通和协作。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Compared to other types of natural disasters which impact a limited geographic location, the current pandemic is remarkable for the effect it has had on the entire country. The criminal justice system has not been immune to this impact with law enforcement and courts having to adapt their operational decisions and responses. This study will conduct successive interviews with law enforcement agencies and adult criminal courts as they navigate and respond to the public health threat of COVID-19. It seeks to not only document how these agencies have responded, but to understand why they responded as they have, how their response has changed as new information becomes available, and the practical and pragmatic challenges they have faced in the process. Towards these ends, results seek to inform disaster preparedness, resource management, and criminal justice policy.It has been argued that the deleterious consequences of natural and technological disasters depend largely on the physical and social vulnerability, or access to physical, social, and economic resources, of the impacted population. In much the same way, organizations, business, and other institutions are differentially vulnerable to disruptive events. How they cope with this vulnerability when confronted by such an event can be generally understood in the context of organizational decision making, which implies a complex process that involves differentially weighting specific and abstract costs and benefits associated with potential alternative choices. This study draws on theories/frameworks of emergency management, rational choice, and policing and criminal court administration in order to understand the manner in which law enforcement agencies and criminal courts are coping with the evolving threat of COVID-19. Towards these ends, a stratified random sample of law enforcement and criminal courts in each of the 50 states will be obtained and a longitudinal self-report survey will be administered in order to examine the following issues: (1) the practical and administrative challenges these entities face due to COVID-19, (2) the specific strategies/plans they have implemented or wanted to implement but could not in order to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, (3) the challenges, successes, and consequences (anticipated and unintended) in the responses and implementation thereof, and (4) why responses were devised, implemented or not implemented, successful, challenging, and produced various outcomes. The study results can then be used to inform the development of new responses and improved implementation of innovative policies and practices, including emergency management plans for pandemics and how to communicate and collaborate effectively across the public health and criminal justice systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.