Preventing Crime: What Works for Children, Offenders, Victims, and Places.

Source: (2006) New York: Springer Publishing Co.

This book reports on 13 systematic reviews of various criminological interventions, organized around 4 domains: at-risk children, offenders, victims, and places. Each of the 13 systematic reviews is the leading scientific statement on the topic under investigation. Taken together, they represent the leading source of scientific knowledge on what works best to prevent crime. Each review follows as closely as possible the methodology for conducting systematic reviews as advocated by the Campbell Collaboration. In 2000, the newly formed Campbell Collaboration, named after the influential experimental psychologist Donald T. Campbell, established its Crime and Justice Steering Committee to oversee the preparation, maintenance, and dissemination of systematic reviews of the highest quality research on the effects of criminological interventions. The 13 topics reported in this book constitute only a start; reviews of many other topics are underway and planned for the future. The first section of the book contains two chapters that review what works in intervening in the lives of children at-risk for delinquency and later criminal offending. The reviews consider early parent training and child social skills training. The second section consists of five chapters on what works in preventing offenders from committing additional offenses. The reviews consider cognitive-behavioral interventions, boot camps, “Scared Straight” and other juvenile awareness programs, incarceration-based drug treatment, and the costs and benefits of sentencing. The three chapters of the fourth section review what works for crime victims, as it examines mandated batterer intervention programs, restorative justice designed to reduce victimization, and preventing repeat residential burglary victimization. The three chapters on what works for places focus on policing crime “hot spots,” closed-circuit television surveillance, and improved street lighting. The concluding chapter summarizes findings of the reviews and offers direction for evidence-based crime prevention. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov.