top of page
Ratcliffe's random ramblings
Search
All Posts


Domestic violence arrest policies
Susan J. Hoppe, Yan Zhang, Brittany E. Hayes, Matthew A. Bills (2020) Mandatory arrest for domestic violence and repeat offending: A meta-analysis , Aggression and Violent Behavior, 53, 101430.
Jerry Ratcliffe
Jun 11 min read


The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study
Probably the best summary is McCord, J., & McCord, W. (1959). A Follow-up Report on the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 322(1), 89-96.
Jerry Ratcliffe
May 181 min read


Progressive prosecutors and crime
The two cites studies are by Tom Hogan: Hogan, T. P. (2022). De-prosecution and death: A synthetic control analysis of the impact of de-prosecution on homicides. Criminology and Public Policy, 21(3), 489-534. And another larger analysis: Petersen, N., Mitchell, O., & Yan, S. (2024). Do progressive prosecutors increase crime? A quasi-experimental analysis of crime rates in the 100 largest counties, 2000–2020. Criminology & Public Policy, 23, 459–490.
Jerry Ratcliffe
May 111 min read


Does race predict police shootings?
Cited article is Henderson, H., Bourgeois, J. W., Smith, S., Ferguson, C. J., & Barthelemy, J. (2024). Police shootings, violent crime, race and socio-economic factors in municipalities in the United States of America. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health , 34(3), 296-310. Abstract is available here . Full paper copy: .
Jerry Ratcliffe
May 41 min read


Why do criminal investigations fail?
Cited study is Rossmo, D. K., Bouchard, M., & Summers, L. (2025). Criminal Investigative Failures: A Network Analysis. Justice Quarterly, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2025.2594189 Read it here:
Jerry Ratcliffe
Apr 221 min read


Limits of police de-escalation training
The cited work is: McLean, K., Bussey, T., Nix, J., Rojek, J., & Alpert, G. P. (2026). Police de-escalation training and its effects on communication: Evidence from an experimental evaluation. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004723522600005X You can read the CrimRxiv Consortium pre-print of the work publicly available here .
Jerry Ratcliffe
Apr 161 min read


Offender focus in the Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment
The particular paper under discussion is: Groff, ER, Ratcliffe, JH, Haberman, CP, Sorg, ET, Joyce, N and Taylor, RB (2015) Does what police do at hot spots matter? The Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment, Criminology, 53(1): 23-53. It is open access here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1745-9125.12055 There are some more results and details at this site: https://www.jerryratcliffe.net/philadelphia-predictive-polic
Jerry Ratcliffe
Apr 131 min read


Business curfews to reduce crime
The cited study is Nazzari, M., Calaresu, M. & Triventi, M. No sales after midnight: evaluating the impact of a business curfew on drug-related crime in San Francisco’s tenderloin. Security Journal, 39, 5 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-025-00517-w
Jerry Ratcliffe
Apr 121 min read


California's zero-dollar bail policy
The cited study is Heflin, J., McCannon, B.C. (2026) The Impact of California’s Zero Dollar Bail Policy On Crime. Am J Crim Just (2026). You can access it here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-025-09880-1
Jerry Ratcliffe
Mar 121 min read


Boston Operation Ceasefire
There has been a great deal written about Boston's Operation Ceasefire, but the original evaluation is at BRAGA, A. A., KENNEDY, D. M., WARING, E. J., & PIEHL, A. M. (2001). Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency , 38 (3), 195-225. It is online here .
Jerry Ratcliffe
Mar 21 min read


Policing crime hotspots on buses
The cited paper is Hubbard-Chason, T., Ariel, B., Assaraf, N., & Harinam, V. (2025). Reducing Crime on London Buses: A Randomised Controlled Trial on Moving Hotspots. Police Quarterly . It is open access and available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10986111251392931
Jerry Ratcliffe
Feb 251 min read


What is vicarious deterrence?
The referenced study is Ariel, Barak, Ashley Englefield, and John Denley. ""I Heard It through the Grapevine": A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Direct and Vicarious Effects of Preventative Specific Deterrence Initiatives in Criminal Networks." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 109, no. 4 (2019): 819-67. A full copy of the article is available.
Jerry Ratcliffe
Feb 201 min read


Upgrading street lights reduces crime
The study mentioned is: MacDonald, J. M., Chalfin, A., Moritz, M., Wade, B., Mendlein, A. K., Braga, A. A., & South, E. (2025). Can...
Jerry Ratcliffe
Feb 51 min read


Does domestic violence counseling work?
The cited paper is: Musodza, W., Khajehei, M., McLaughlin, K. et al. Counseling Interventions to Reduce Domestic Violence Against Women: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Journal of Family Violence (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-025-01009-6
Jerry Ratcliffe
Jan 221 min read


Integrated Offender Management (IOM)
Some details from a relatively recent systematic review can be found in Hadfield, E., Sleath, E., Brown, S., & Holdsworth, E. (2020). A systematic review into the effectiveness of Integrated Offender Management. Criminology & Criminal Justice , 21 (5), 650-668. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820912295 A copy of the article is here:
Jerry Ratcliffe
Jan 221 min read


Recruiting more women into policing
The paper cited is: Travis A Taniguchi, Jennifer R Rineer, Katherine Hoogesteyn, Sean Wire, Lauren Mangum (2023) Recruiting women into policing: Experimentally testing the effectiveness of recruiting materials, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice , 17, 2023, paad049, https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paad049 It can be downloaded here .
Jerry Ratcliffe
Jan 221 min read


Real Time Crime Center aided investigations
The reel is based on Guerette, Rob T., and Kimberly Przeszlowski (2023) " Does the Rapid Deployment of Information to Police Improve...
Jerry Ratcliffe
Dec 18, 20251 min read


Police-led diversion systematic review
Full details of the systematic review for the Campbell Collaboration are in: Wilson, D. B., Brennan, I., & Olaghere, A. (2018)....
Jerry Ratcliffe
Dec 18, 20251 min read


Preventing mass violence attacks
The cited research is recently published here in open access . The citation is Cilke, T. R. R., Williams, M. M., Jones, N. T., Gibson, K. A., & Gray, A. E. (2025). Breaking the silence: Bystander reporting to law enforcement disrupts individuals moving toward targeted violence. Law and Human Behavior . Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000630
Jerry Ratcliffe
Dec 8, 20251 min read


Why do officers leave policing?
Or more accurately, why officers 'think' about leaving policing. The easiest way to access a concise report on this reel is via the IACP . The full study available here is: Jacqueline M Drew, Elise Sargeant, Sherri Martin (2024) Why do police consider leaving the profession?: The interplay between job demand stress, burnout, psychological distress, and commitment, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice , Volume 18, 2024, paae036, https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae036
Jerry Ratcliffe
Nov 30, 20251 min read
bottom of page
