From Nothing Works to What Works: Changing Professional Ideology in the 21st Century

Abstract

The authors explore changes over time in criminologists' “professional ideology”—a core set of underlying beliefs that focuses academic thinking along certain lines but not others. Until the late 1960s, criminologists believed that the scientific study of the causes of crime would form the basis of individualized treatments that would reduce offender recidivism. By the mid-1970s, this view had collapsed and had been replaced by a professional ideology emphasizing that “nothing works” in corrections, that the causes of criminality are structural, and that crime can only be reduced through social justice. Although not without its merits, the authors suggest that this professional ideology has had the unfortunate consequence of legitimating “knowledge destruction” (showing what does not work) as the core intellectual project of criminology and thus of undermining efforts at “knowledge construction” (showing what does work). A “what works” movement within corrections, however, is advancing an alternative professional ideology that, once again, endorses the use of science to solve crime-related problems. The authors believe that, if embraced, this vision will improve criminology as a discipline and contribute more than “nothing works” scholarship to the commonweal of both offenders and the public order.