George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy partnered with the Campbell Collaboration to host a symposium on evidence-based policy on Aug. 15-16. More than 300 people attended symposium events, coming from destinations such as the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Nepal, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Belgium, China and Germany, and fields such as education, international development, criminal justice, social welfare, evaluation methodology, nursing and psychology.
This was truly a multi-disciplinary experience.
The goal of the symposium was to advocate for research evidence in practice, said Cynthia Lum, deputy director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy and a faculty member in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society. Professionals and scholars from multiple disciplines came together to explore the potential results of implementing scholarly work in their fields.
“Decisions by practitioners and policy makers should be informed by scientific research instead of only instincts and hunches,” Lum said. “Many professionals are concerned about the research that works in their fields, and at Mason, we try to apply what we’re learning in ways that are meaningful and smart to criminal justice professionals.”
Lum and her colleagues at the center have used their research for practical purposes, such as developing a web portal for license plate recognition systems used by the police and the Sacramento Police Department’s testing of “hot-spot” crime prevention. George Mason is also home to the Matrix Demonstration Project, a Bureau of Justice Assistance (U.S. Department of Justice) project to institutionalize the use of research into everyday police practice.
But experts from other professions found they learned much from the Campbell Symposium too.
Steven Rose, professor of social work at Mason, found that the event catered to his field’s needs.
“I was particularly interested in a pre-symposium research methods workshop as well as a symposium panel on social welfare, both of which were high quality,” he said. “Through the conference, I met people from other countries and disciplines who are interested in furthering the development and application of evidence-based policy.”
The symposium featured the 2011 Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and other awards for evidence-based crime policy.