An evaluation of Michigan's documentary film "Your silent partner" concerning public awareness of organized crime

Abstract

In April of 1971, the County of Oakland, Pontiac, Michigan, submitted an application via the Office of Criminal Justice Programs, Lansing, Michigan, for a federal grant to the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (L.E.A.A.), Washington, D.C., in regard to developing a public education project on organized crime. After this application had been approved, the project was initiated in July, 1971, through the Office of Criminal Justice Programs. This public education project intended to educate the Michigan public to the problem of organized crime in the United States and particularly in the state of Michigan. Several types of educational material were developed concerning the topic of organized crime. This material included a 54 minute, 16 millimeter, color-sound documentary film, entitled Your Silent Partner. Along with this documentary film, a series of radio and television commercials, newspaper advertisements promoting the documentary film, and a four-page document to be distributed for use in conjunction with the documentary film were produced. Public service time for airing the commercials and film was secured and a library-depository system for the documentary film was established.For the purposes of the research considered in this study, the documentary film, Your Silent Partner, was evaluated, The following null hypothesis was tested: Awareness of organized crime among the public is not significantly changed by viewing the film, Your Silent Partner. Three groups, consisting of two civic groups and a work group, were selected from Youngstown, Ohio, for participation in this research. A pretest-posttest research design was utilized to ascertain whether or not the material presented in the documentary film increased awareness of organized crime. A questionnaire was devised to test the groups of individuals on material presented in the film. Prior to viewing the film and immediately after the film was shown the members of each group were tested. These individuals were then consolidated and treated as one sample for statistical analysis. The scores obtained on the pretest were compared to those on the posttest. The null hypothesis of no significant difference was statistically rejected at the .05 significance level and it was also rejected at the .01 significance level. The posttest scores reflected an increase in awareness of organized crime substantially greater than could have occurred by chance alone. Three variables were controlled for in this study. They are as follows: sex, age, and level of education. A multi-variate analysis was performed. It was found that both sexes, the two age levels labeled "18-40" and "41-60," and the two educational levels labeled "high school graduate" and "some college or more education" scored significantly different at the .01 significance level. The age level labeled "61 or older" and the educational level labeled "less than high school 'graduate" scored significantly different at the . 05 significance level. Since the posttest scores for each cell of the variables controlled in this study reflected an increase in public awareness of organized crime, it was concluded that both sexes, all adult age levels, and educational levels became more aware of organized crime after viewing the film, Your Silent Partner.