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Joanne Kurt-Hilditch, manager of research and development of the ILETSBEI
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Kimberley McClure, professor and advisor of the forensic psychology program at WIU
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ILETSBEI Receives AP-LS Grant

June 27, 2017

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MACOMB, IL - Western Illinois University (WIU) and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute (ILETSBEI) at WIU has been awarded an American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS) grant under the "Research to Enhance the Impact and Diversification of Psychology & Law Research" solicitation.

The project, "Connecting Police Practitioners with Researchers: Developing a Law Enforcement Human-Subjects-Pool," will establish the Professional Research Pool for Criminal Justice Science (PRP for CJS) directed and operated by the ILETSBEI.

Kimberley McClure, professor and advisor of the forensic psychology program at WIU, and Joanne Kurt-Hilditch, manager of research and development of the ILETSBEI, will create and evaluate the PRP for CJS as a mechanism to facilitate police researcher recruitment of representative, police samples, build a stronger partnership between executive law enforcement and researchers and improve the translation and acceptance of police research into policies and practices.

This initial project will develop a web-based structure to connect criminal justice professionals and researchers. It will also lead to the development of an advisory board, procedural documents and curriculum development for the consumption and translation of scientific findings into practice and policy.

Research-to-practice strategies are critical for the full transition and acceptance of empirically-based criminal justice practices in the field; however, bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners is challenging due to a lack of critical infrastructure that exists in other science-practitioner based fields (e.g., psychology).

Creating a Professional Research Pool for Criminal Justice Science is in keeping with other science-based practitioner education practices and serves as an acknowledgement that contemporary, empirically-based practices and policies is a partnership between criminal justice organizations and researchers.


Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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