Description

What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation (PDF) brings together and evaluates all major systematic reviews of the effectiveness of criminological interventions, to draw comprehensive conclusions about what works in policing, improvements, developmental prevention, drug abuse treatments, situational prevention, sentencing and deterrence, and communities.

Systematic reviews aim to minimalize any possible bias in drawing conclusions by stating explicit criteria for exclusion and inclusion of studies, by conducting broad and wide-ranging searches for possibly eligible studies, and by making all phases of the review explicit and transparent so that the methods can be checked and replicated. More than  a decade ago, a concerted effort was made by members of the criminology community, including the contributors and editors of this volume, to bring the practice of systematic reviews to the study of Criminology, offering replicable, evidence-based data to answer key questions about the study of crime causation, detection, and prevention. Presently, the pioneers in this effort present a comprehensive stock-taking of what has been learned in the last decade of systematic reviews in criminology. Much has been learned about the effectiveness of (for example) boot camps, “hot spots” policing, neighborhood watch, closed-circuit television surveillance anti-bullying programs in schools, drug treatment programs, early parenting programs and other key topics.

This volume will be appealing to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as in related fields such as forensic science and public health, with important suggestions for policy-makers and practitioners.