The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Criminal Justice Research Center received the 2008 Philip Hoke Award for Excellence in Analysis for the report Setting A Course for the Future of the Criminal Justice System in Virginia: Environmental Scan. The report was developed by the DCJS Division of Policy, Planning and Research as part of its effort to identify the criminal justice issues that will be addressed in the agency’s forthcoming statewide criminal justice plan. The award was presented at the Bureau of Justice Statistics/Justice Research & Statistics Association 2008 national conference in Portland, Oregon.

The Hoke Award is a national competition which annually recognizes the state Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) that has done the best job of producing research publications that help translate criminal justice information and data into policy. The DCJS Criminal Justice Research Center is Virginia’s SAC. The Hoke Award is named in honor of Philip Hoke. Hoke was the director of the first SAC in the nation, established in Louisiana in 1972. Hoke Awards have been given since 1986. There are now SACs in all 50 states.

Awards are made in two categories: Statistical/Management and Research/Policy Analysis. Publications are submitted by SACs from various states and are judged by a panel of national experts in the field of criminal justice research and reporting. Factors judged in the competition include report organization, data presentation and description, analysis and conclusions and impact on policy development.

This is the fourth Hoke Award for the Research Center. The Research Center won the Hoke Award in both categories in 1994 when it produced Governor’s Commission on Violent Crime in Virginia: Final Report and Guns and Violent Crime for then-Governor Wilder. The second Hoke award for the Research Center was received in 2000 for two crime research publications it prepared for state government policy makers: Crime in the Commonwealth 1988-1998 and Evaluation of the Richmond City Continuum of Juvenile Justice Services Pilot Program: Final Report. The Crime In the Commonwealth report won in the Statistical/Management category and the Continuum evaluation report won in the Research/Policy Analysis category. The Research Center received the Hoke Award again in 2001 for the report Crime In Virginia: The 40 Year Picture of Where We Are Now.