Research Article Examination

p 6 RESEARCH ARTICLE EXAMINATION a . Summarize the introduction . Does the introduction provide a clear notion of (i ) the problem (ii ) the purpose of the research and (iii ) it significance ? Explain The research article of Sherman and Weisburd (2001 ) entitled General deterrent effects of police patrol in crime Hot Spots : A randomized controlled trial ' describes a new approach to monitoring sites of high-frequency crimes , which the authors label as hotspots . Such novel concept is frequently occur in larger collective areas that have been designated as bad neighborhoods . The article clearly presents

the conventional notion of law enforcement that crimes occur randomly within the city and in turn provide an alternative way of describing the occurrence of crimes The research aimed to identify trends in criminal activity , given the assumption that crimes occur non-randomly at specific and smaller hotspots . Such nonrandom occurrence of crimes within hotspots provides a better understanding of criminal activity and facilitates law enforcement agencies in predicting future possible incidents . Such research also assists law enforcement agencies in concentrating their efforts in monitoring areas of high-frequency crimes . Their work is significant because it describes an alternative yet practical method of assessing criminal activity within a city . Their employment of computerized mapping software also makes full use of the available technologies that could hasten police surveys of areas that are under scrutiny for crime incidents . Such refreshing way to view crime hotspots may augment law enforcement activities and also improve surveillance efforts of any investigators that are working for the control and ultimate prevention of crimes b . Summarize the hypotheses [or research questions] . Are the stated hypotheses [or research questions] reasonable ? Do they appear to follow from the review of the literature The authors hypothesized that crimes occur in specific and smaller hotspots , opposite to conventional notions that crimes widely take place in larger neighborhoods . Their hypothesis is reasonable because the notion of bad neighborhoods is actually a sweeping generalization and usually criminals themselves can not perform such acts within larger areas . The authors appear to follow from the review of literature because they amply provide the appropriate background information on how the two authors came to together to perform such type of research . The two authors have different backgrounds yet they were driven to pull together their talents and capabilities in to create a strong foundation for their novel concept on criminal activity c . Is the literature review (a ) relevant to the study (b ) thorough and (c ) current ? Explain The literature review was relevant to the study because the authors were able to present their reasons behind their effort to perform such type of research . They provide a strong foundation because they were able to comprehensively describe previous researches on criminal activity . In addition , they also describe several current researches in terms of occurrence of crimes within their city and other parallel examples . The authors also describe differences in patrol activities in different states , as well as the bias of specific law enforcement agencies in their surveillance modes...