News

Recent studies investigating the impact of street-level police (foot patrol) suggest that placing officers in crime hotspots can, at least temporarily, reduce violence in that area. These studies also support the notion that police officers on foot patrol gain significant local knowledge of their “beats” which can prove valuable for performing their duties.

Projects investigating the impacts of law on traffic accidents, and the health and wellness of HIV-positive patients, people with mental illness, and children will be supported through dissertation grants provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program as part of its new Strategic and Targeted Research Program (STRP).

The public health effects of laws on drugged driving, bullying, intimate partner violence, HIV decriminalization, and shared laboratory services will be investigated through five new research projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program as part of its new Strategic and Targeted Research Program (STRP).

The grants announced today total $586,000 and will support studies representing high priority topics identified through a six-month long open call for ideas. (See description for each of the final studies below.)

Current sanction levels for domestic violence offenses in North Carolina do not reduce repeat offenses, according to a study published in the February 2013 edition of the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty.

The study, conducted by Frank Sloan, PhD, and his team of researchers at Duke University, examines how domestic violence cases are resolved in North Carolina, and how current ways of resolving these cases impact repeat offenses. The study finds that a repeat offense is the case for many domestic violence charges in North Carolina.