(Bowling Green, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University President Rodney K. Rogers today announced a partnership focused on empirically exploring criminal justice in Ohio.
John Boman, a quantitative criminologist and associate professor in BGSU’s Department of Sociology, will lead the newly created Ohio Attorney General’s Center for Justice Research, which will play a vital role in informing policy debates and building evidence-based practices in Ohio.
“Better data and good science mean better policy decisions,” said Yost. “Opinions are good, but opinions based on facts and the real world are even better.”
BGSU President Rogers said he is excited about the possibilities that the collaboration presents.
“This innovative partnership highlights the power of a public university and public state agency coming together to create public good,” he said. “Led by Dr. Boman, our faculty and students will identify and investigate research areas that are of particular interest, providing greater insight for decision-making that affects the entire state.”
As the center director, Boman will work with graduate assistants and others in planning and completing research projects. The center expects to publish scholarly, peer-reviewed analyses.
“I want to emphasize how unique this opportunity is for the state as a whole,” Boman said. “Evidence-based policy helps us get policy right the first time, creating fiscally responsible policy that is doing what is intended – saving tax payer money because it doesn’t need to be revised.”
The Center for Justice Research, Yost said, gives Ohio a unique opportunity to move ahead of the curve in creating effective, bipartisan policy that is supported by empirical data and free of bias.
