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Salzburg Global speaks to Fellows participating in the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative
Research is the basis of any good policy — that's true in sectors ranging from healthcare to education to justice. Policies underpinned by solid research have the power to improve the lives of ordinary citizens in myriad ways, but enacting policy in the absence of good research is, at best, futile — and, at worst, dangerous.
For youth violence, which affects millions of people every year, the scale and complexity of the challenge mean that solid research is both essential and challenging.
As part of Salzburg Global Seminar's Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative, multidisciplinary experts have convened virtually and in person since January 2021 to explore the nexus between research and policy in the context of the youth justice system.
Five of those experts shared their view on the role of research in formulating good policy — and how it can be used to deliver real impact and a whole of system approach to counter youth violence.
For Peter Dixon, Associate Professor of Practice at the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution School of Professional Studies at Colombia University, good research means having good data — and it must be collected from both internal and external sources.
He said: "External researchers tend to use administrative data to measure the outcomes and performance of specific interventions, programs, institutions, and agencies. On the other hand, qualitative observations, focus groups, interviews, and reports capture a broader array of knowledge." Peter also emphasized that a comprehensive understanding of the impact of a whole system approach requires utilizing both types of data collection methods.
Helen Maunder, Local Policing Coordinator at the UK's National Police Chiefs Council, said national recorded crime data and public surveys can be used to gain insights into policing practices and societal perceptions — but getting that data means meeting people where they are, not where you are.
Helen said: "One of the things that we have found very effective is using other communication tools to interact with citizens. When we've looked at our interactions with young people, we felt quite passionate about actually interacting within their space."
These communication tools, she explained, include social media — "it's important to engage with young people on the platforms they are using."
Helen also emphasized the power of partnerships and cross-sectoral collaboration, such as with health and education, to develop a whole system approach to youth violence prevention.
"Working with vulnerable people and families at the earliest opportunity is fundamental in preventing them from being exploited. So, when we talk about a whole system approach, one of the areas that we've really focused on over the last couple of years is that whole concept of a public health approach in policing."
Narayana Ramachandran, President of the Indian Police Foundation, highlighted the role of institutional culture when designing and implementing policies and interventions related to youth violence and safety.
He said: "Traditionally in the police, especially Indian police, there is no culture of research. Police has been traditionally very hierarchical. And the people in leadership positions will decide policy based on their experience... it's very important that police policy is decided based on very rigorous research."
Katindi Sivi, Founder and Executive Director of Kenya's Longview Futures Foundation, emphasized the importance of understanding the roles of power and historical injustice in carrying out and acting upon research: "As you keep digging, you realize you have to deal with historical injustices which no politician wants to deal with because they're in power right now."
She added that cultural perspectives must always be considered: "If you're talking in different contexts, somebody will say, 'Oh, your mother was abusive.' I'd say: 'No, I feel like she was just disciplining me' because that's my cultural context."
Key in good research for Katindi is understanding how different cultural contexts affect perspectives: "Understanding how people experience one thing differently is important."
For Robert Street, Director of Justice at the UK-based Nuffield Foundation, a key challenge is ensuring the findings of research are delivered with impact. The key? Engaging audiences by injecting a convincing and relevant narrative into the findings.
Robert said: "People generally understand things more through stories. This is difficult in the sense that stories often happen to [have] emotional content, and I think a lot of research is deliberately not emotional. It's objective. It's about being dispassionate. How do you use that approach and tell a story? It lends itself [more] to some types of research. So, qualitative research where you interview someone — that produces material that's more like a story because it often is someone telling their story, their life experience. That produces material that's a bit more story-like. With more quantitative types of research, a different approach might be needed, but clear and engaging presentation – using data to create a narrative - will still be critical."
He also highlighted the value of a multidisciplinary research approach — a key component when it comes to building a whole-of-system approach to combating youth violence.
"I think one of the really exciting possibilities with having the whole system approach is that you can encourage research that's more multidisciplinary. Often, researchers stay in their areas — they're experts in health, education, [and] in crime. By encouraging a whole system approach, you're also going to encourage researchers to take that broader look and work approach from different disciplines and draw insights of different perspectives."
He added: "It's potentially really positive for research as well as practice that you can encourage people who wouldn't normally work together to collaborate on research."
Peter Dixon, Helen Maunder, Narayana Ramachandran, Katindi Sivi, and Robert Street have participated in Salzburg Global Seminar's Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative, run since January 2021 in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the David Rockefeller Fund.