Toward an “Age of Imposed Use”? Evidence-Based Crime Policy in a Law and Social Science Context

Abstract

Central to the evidence-based paradigm is the explicit goal to increase the influence of scientific research on public policy. The research utilization literature delineates a number of ways that evaluation research can exert an influence on policy decisions, including conceptual, instrumental, and political. Limitations of these routes of research influence on policy and a growing interest in the evidence-based paradigm have given rise to “imposed use,” first coined by Carol Weiss. To better understand the potential promise of imposed use, this review article explores the role of social science research in a law and policy context. Legal reasoning differs from scientific reasoning in important ways, illustrating that law is part of a normative context in which scientific evidence presents one consideration among many. This context helps frame how imposed use can play a role in advancing evidence-based crime policy. Consistent with Weiss’s reflections on imposed use, it also suggests important limitations for doing so.