Evidence-Based Crime Prevention

David P. Farrington, Doris Layton MacKenzie, Lawrence W. Sherman, Brandon C. Welsh

Crime prevention policy and practice is, on the whole, far from objective. Instead of being based on scientific evidence, the crime policy agenda is seemingly driven by political ideology, anecdotal evidence and programme trends. Evidence-Based Crime Prevention seeks to change this by comprehensively and rigorously assessing the existing scientific knowledge on the effectiveness of crime prevention programmes internationally. Reviewing more than 600 scientific evaluations of programmes intended to prevent crime in settings such as families, schools, labour markets and communities, this book grades programmes on their scientific validity using the 'scientific methods scale'. This collection, which brings together contributions from leading researchers in the field of crime prevention, will provide policy-makers, researchers and community leaders with an understandable source of information about what works, what does not work and what is promising in preventing crime.

1. Preventing Crime 2. The Maryland Scientific Method Scale 3. Family-Based Crime Prevention 4. School-Based Crime Prevention 5. Communities and Crime Prevention 6. Labor Markets and Crime Risk Factors 7. Preventing Crime at Places 8. Policing for Crime Prevention 9. Reducing the Criminal Activities of Known Offenders and Delinquents: Crime Prevention in the Courts and Corrections 10.Conclusion: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising and Future Directions