Evidence-based Crime Prevention Research Articles

Современные тенденции развития уголовно-правовой статистики в Российской Федерации

The article reveals the current trends in the development of criminal law statistics in the Russian Federation. Criminal law statistics play an important role in assessing the effectiveness of the law enforcement system, identifying problem areas and identifying areas for improving legislation. Digitalization and automation of data collection make it possible to automate the processes of collecting, analyzing and storing criminal law statistics. Modern methods of data analysis make it possible to identify development trends, predict possible threats and develop evidence-based crime prevention strategies. Criminal law statistics also make it possible to identify the influence of various socio-economic factors on the crime rate.

Concentration of Urban Violence in Fortaleza and Strategies for Crime Prevention

Despite the continued prevalence of violence in Latin America, there is a relative dearth of research investigating both spatial patterns of violent crimes and the effectiveness of evidence-based crime prevention policies in Brazil. This study aims to address this gap in extant knowledge by creating a Spatial Violence Index and a Restrictive Ambient Index to investigate the spatial dynamics of violent crimes and urban vulnerabilities in Fortaleza. Both exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression models were employed to visualize the associative patterns and measure the correlation between the two indexes. The results demonstrate how locations characterized by high levels of violence are spatially correlated with more vulnerable locations in terms of both socio-economic-demographics and urban disorder. Overall, the study identified 124 vulnerable micro-territories that would benefit from the allocation of resources in an effort to reduce violence in the city by enhancing the efficiency of policing and prevention strategies.

“They’re Not Monsters!” Changing University Students’ Perceptions of Child Sex Offenders through Education and Contact

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a global public health problem. Assessing public attitudes toward child sex offenders is important since public opinions have affected judicial decision-making regarding sex offender management policies and laws. Study objectives were to assess university students’ perceptions of offenders before and after a Sex Crimes Against Children course, and examine the potential anti-stigmatizing effect of interacting directly with people who had committed sex crimes. Compared with a previous study where only indirect contact was available, students who had direct contact with offenders reported more positive affective responses, had more positive attitudes toward sex offender treatment and rehabilitation, along with lower support for post-sentencing policies. Findings support the humanizing impact of interacting with members of the stigmatized group. Better informed public opinion is essential to support evidence-based crime prevention policies and ultimately prevent CSA.

Sex Differences in the Classification of Conduct Problems: Implications for Treatment

PurposeConduct problem behaviors are highly heterogeneous symptom clusters, creating many challenges in investigating etiology and planning treatment. The aim of this study was to first identify distinct subgroups of males and females with conduct problems using a data driven approach and, secondly, to investigate whether these subgroups differed in treatment outcome after an evidence-based crime prevention program.MethodsWe used a latent class analysis (LCA) in Mplus` to classify 517 males and 354 females (age 6–11) into classes based on the presence of conduct disorder or oppositional defiance disorder items from the Child Behavior Checklist. All children were then enlisted into the 13-week group core component (children and parent groups) of the program Stop Now And Plan (SNAP®), a cognitive-behavioral, trauma-informed, and gender-specific program that teaches children (and their caregivers) emotion-regulation, self-control, and problem-solving skills.ResultsThe LCA revealed four classes for males, which separated into (1) “rule-breaking,” (2) “aggressive,” (3) “mild,” and (4) “severe” conduct problems. While all four groups showed a significant improvement following the SNAP program, they differed in the type and magnitude of their improvements. For females, we observed two classes of conduct problems that were largely distinguishable based on severity of conduct problems. Participants in both female groups significantly improved with treatment, but did not differ in the type or magnitude of improvement.ConclusionThis study presents novel findings of sex differences in clustering of conduct problems and adds to the discussion of how to target treatment for individuals presenting with a variety of different problem behaviors.

Book Review: Leslie W. Kennedy, Joel M. Caplan, & Eric L. Piza, Risk Based-Policing: Evidence-Based Crime Prevention with Big Data and Spatial Analytics

Book Review: Leslie W. Kennedy, Joel M. Caplan, & Eric L. Piza, Risk Based-Policing: Evidence-Based Crime Prevention with Big Data and Spatial Analytics

Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

Research SummaryIn 2012, the editors of CPP published an exchange about the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) in High Point, NC, concluding that it may be a promising approach to crime control but questioning whether it could be implemented across different settings. In this effectiveness study, we followed a cohort of seven sites that participated in a Bureau of Justice Assistance–sponsored DMI training to assess implementation and outcomes. Three sites were not able to implement, and implementation fidelity varied across the four sites that did implement. Of the four sites that held at least one call‐in, only one was successful at reducing overall and drug crime (by 28% and 56%, respectively). This works out to an implementation rate of 57% with an average overall crime reduction of 16% (treatment‐on‐the‐treated) or 4% (intent‐to‐treat). The results of this study demonstrate the importance of replication and the careful study of implementation fidelity prior to wide dissemination.Policy ImplicationsWhen the findings of an evaluation reveal an effective crime reduction program, particularly when it garners significant public attention, it is not uncommon to rush to judgment that it should be widely implemented. DMI is a perfect illustration of this shortsighted approach to evidence‐based crime prevention—multiple trials across a variety of contexts are necessary to understand whether a program is ready for broad dissemination and scale‐up. The DMI program was challenging for sites to implement and resulted in significant reductions in crime in the site with the implementation fidelity that was highest and most similar to the original site. Our findings echo earlier concerns that the approach may be less effective across diverse settings and illustrate why effectiveness studies are vital in the development of evidence‐based policy.

Exporting criminological innovation abroad: Discursive representation, ‘evidence-based crime prevention’ and the post-neoliberal development agenda in Latin America

The aim of this article is to stimulate a critical dialogue about the implications of northern criminologists working to promote their research abroad. It accounts for why attempts to generate impact on an international scale may prove problematic and illustrates potential pitfalls by analysing the content and discourses featured in a toolkit for evidence-based crime prevention developed for the Inter-American Development Bank in 2012. The example prompts important and timely questions about the practical and discursive implications of northern attempts to influence policy and practice in the South. The article concludes by accounting for the importance of reflexivity as a strategy for limiting this harm-generating potential and for fostering discursively representative policy deliberations.

Multisystemic therapy in Chile: A public sector innovation case study

This report describes the process that allowed the implementation of Multisystemic Therapy (MST) in Chile. The case can be considered as innovative, due the little experience in the country about the implementation of high quality, evidence-based programs for crime prevention. The description of the process from the perspective of the author may provide useful information for policy makers interested in implementing evidence-based crime prevention practices.

Prevention of crime and violence: evidence-based crime prevention—a public health imperative: a review paper

BackgroundIn November, 2012, a John Moore's University publication Protecting People Promoting Health presented a public health approach to the crime prevention agenda. Sandwell Public Health Department and the Sandwell Crime and Disorder Partnership has sought to implement evidence-based interventions in its partnership work on community safety and crime prevention over many years. MethodsThe West Midlands Crimegrip project hosted by Sandwell held implementation seminars for systematic reviews of effective interventions, including methadone maintenance and harm reduction for drug problems; early-years interventions including Highscope and interactive schools drug programmes; youth mentoring programmes; street lighting; neighbourhood policing; and situational crime prevention. Three examples of strongly evidence-based programmes will be presented: a methadone maintenance programme for persistent offenders; creation of safe environments; and early years programmes for improvement of long-term health and safety. These examples show how the translation of evidence into practice is delivering improved outcomes locally. FindingsAmong these programmes are methadone maintenance and harm reduction, which produced a 30% fall in domestic burglary when clients in treatment doubled in 2004, and acquisitive crime continued to decrease. This programme has been accompanied by target hardening and repeats victim programmes, design of crime supplementary planning guidance applied to new housing developments, and other measures to reduce burglary. The effect of closed-circuit television (CCTV) continues to be challenged, but although evidence for the primary prevention of crime remains questionable, the effect in crime detection and the routine use of CCTV as a method for crime detection is unquestioned. The Greets Green New Deal for Community area reported substantial community satisfaction with improved street lighting and a reduced fear of crime, consistent with research evidence. Early years and other educational interventions have a substantial long-term effect on child protection, preventing a cycle of deprivation and abuse and preventing crime as the young people reach adulthood. Schemes implemented in Sandwell as part of a portfolio were required to include the family nurse partnership, Highscope training for nursery and primary school teachers, universal nursery school provision since 1984, teaching parenting skills through evidence-based regimens such as Triple P, use of Bookstart, and Time to talk and speech therapy interventions to improve learning outcomes. All these schemes have contributed to an increase in school readiness of 5-year-olds, and to improved GSCE outcomes and reduced teenage pregnancy rates over 15 years. Each of these measures can be taken as proxies for improved outcomes for young people and reductions in social stress and likelihood of engagement in criminal activity. InterpretationThe evidence that these interventions produced beneficial outcomes might be judged circumstantial. However, the fact that improved outcomes have been noted after implementation of evidence from good research studies should be what the research community would like to see happen and should be what the service community wants to implement. The context of this paper is therefore not one of showing what works through pure research; it seeks to show how the evidence for what works can be implemented and how improved outcomes can be delivered through knowledge of what works. This paper is therefore a discussion of how research results can be translated into service outcomes and how we can develop both knowledge transfer and public health audit. The present austerity and welfare reform policies set the conditions for extreme poverty and for exacerbation of social stress, violence, abuse, and neglect. Collective responses by the health and local authorities to protect individuals and families through welfare support mitigate but do not prevent adverse crime and social consequences. Formal research evidence for these programmes is limited in the published work but is necessary. Public health services in local authorities need to embrace a greater partnership with the public health research establishment. There remains a gap in applied health research. FundingIndividual service interventions were funded through Sandwell Primary Care Trust, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, and the Safer Sandwell Partnership. Research reviews were supported by The Home Office West Midlands and the National Institute of Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Birmingham and Black Country (CLARHC-BBC) programme.

Scholarly Influence in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals in 1990–2005

This research investigates changes in scholarly influence by identifying the most-cited scholars and their most-cited works in 20 journals: Five American criminology journals, Five American criminal justice journals, Five international criminology journals, and Five international criminal justice journals. Results obtained in 2005 were compared with previous findings in 2000, 1995, and 1990. Exactly the same methods and journals were used in each year. In 2005, the most-cited scholars were Robert J. Sampson in American criminology journals, American criminal justice journals, and international criminal justice journals, and David P. Farrington in international criminology journals. Overall, Robert J. Sampson was the most-cited scholar in these 20 journals in 2005. He was also the most-cited scholar in these journals in 2000, compared with Lawrence W. Sherman in 1995 and Marvin E. Wolfgang in 1990. The most-cited works of the most-cited scholars included the theories of Sampson and Laub, Gottfredson and Hirschi, and Moffitt, as well as the criminal career paradigm, the effectiveness of correctional treatment, and evidence-based crime prevention. The authors conclude that these analyses reveal changes over time in theoretical concerns and policy issues.

Moving evidence-based crime prevention forward tying good theory and evaluation research together

Moving evidence-based crime prevention forward tying good theory and evaluation research together

An Evidence-Based Approach to Community Safety

The author notes that despite the fact that the fight to move crime prevention to a more prominent place in the public agenda has been partially won after decades of effort, there is nonetheless a significant segment of the population and legislators who still believe that “cracking down on crime” is the best way to protect society. Some policy-makers have now been convinced that crime prevention is a better way of controlling crime than tinkering with laws and fine-tuning the justice system, but unless crime prevention advocates can continue to demonstrate that the time and money now going to crime prevention produces results, the author argues there is a risk of losing what has been gained. He describes some of what we know about the causation of crime and delinquency, links these findings with crime reduction strategies, and looks at some of the evidence concerning the effectiveness of these crime prevention programs. He observes sardonically that if reducing crime were a simple task, Canada would have become crime-free many years ago.

Exploring the concept of research utilization: Implications for evidence-based crime prevention

Research use is central to evidence-based policy and practice. This paper unpacks the concept of research utilization in order to understand the complexity surrounding the development, dissemination and adoption of evidence-based crime prevention. By drawing on the research utilization literature the paper aims to provide insights into key challenges faced by academics and crime prevention professionals in generating evidence-based crime prevention, that is, understanding research utilization and knowledge development, and adherence to evidence-based approaches. Implications for the production of crime prevention good practice guidance are identified.

Evidence-Based Crime Prevention: Conclusions and Directions for a Safer Society

In an evidence-based society, government crime prevention policy and local practice would be based on interventions with demonstrated effectiveness in preventing crime - using what works best. Systematic reviews are the most comprehensive method of assessing the effectiveness of crime prevention measures and, in an evidence-based society, they would be the source that governments would turn to for help in the development of policy. This article summarizes the main findings of a project of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group to advance knowledge on what works to prevent crime for a wide range of interventions, organized around four important domains: at-risk children, offenders, victims, and high-crime places. The full conclusions are published in the forthcoming book, Preventing Crime: What Works for Children, Offenders, Victims, and Places. The good news from this first wave of reviews is that most of the interventions are effective in preventing crime and, in many cases, produce sizeable effects. This includes social-skills training for children, cognitive-behavioural therapy and incarceration-based drug treatment for offenders, face-to-face restorative justice conferences involving victims and offenders, prevention of repeat residential burglary victimization, hot spots policing, closed-circuit television surveillance, and improved street lighting. Acting on the evidence from these systematic reviews could contribute to a safer society, both now and in the long run. Alongside the Campbell Collaboration effort to prepare and maintain systematic reviews for use by policy makers, practitioners, and the general public, a program of research into new crime prevention and intervention experiments needs to be initiated.

American Crime Prevention: Trends and New Frontiers

American crime prevention is at a crossroads. After decades of successful efforts, the concept of prevention has been embedded in the American lexicon and prevention strategies are becoming a part of public policy. Even so, there is great uncertainty about the form, function, and emphasis of prevention programs. Historically, prevention efforts have used techniques of surveillance and incapacitation and focused primarily on guns, gangs, and drugs. Over the past 10 years, more progressive forms of prevention have been incorporated into public policy. However, the current conservative climate, combined with the fear of terrorism and declining sources of revenue, has precipitated a renewed emphasis on surveillance and incapacitation. Because the United States does not have a specific agency responsible for crime prevention, or even a national crime prevention agenda, much American crime prevention is incident driven. At present, the themes of information integration systems and prevention technology, law enforcement partnerships, and targeted interventions dominate the discourse on American crime prevention. However, it is unlikely that current crime trends will continue. Despite the impressive body of evidence accumulated over the last several decades on the importance of evidence-based crime prevention efforts, there is still enormous pressure to go back to the old-fashioned logic of deterrence and punishment.

Evidence-based Crime Prevention: The Effectiveness of CCTV

An evidence-based approach to preventing crime calls for the use of the highest-quality available evidence on the efficacy of a crime prevention program type and the use of the most rigorous methods to analyze this evidence. This article reports on the findings of a systematic review—incorporating meta-analytic techniques—of the highest-quality available research evidence on the effects of CCTV on crime in public space. CCTV had a significant desirable effect on crime, with an overall reduction in crime of 21 per cent in experimental compared to comparable control areas. CCTV was most effective in reducing crime in car parks, most effective when combined with improved street lighting and targeted at vehicle crimes, and more effective in reducing crime in the UK than in North America.

Beyond Technicism: Broadening the ‘What Works’ Paradigm in Crime Prevention

Since the 1990s there has been an upsurge in policy-related research that aims to identify ‘what works’ in crime prevention. The principal aim has been to institute an evaluated body of knowledge that delineates ‘best practice’, providing a basis for the design and implementation of evidence-based crime prevention policy. The overall result has been efforts to specify general ‘what works’ principles that have a broad application across and within various jurisdictions and contexts. The main aim of this article is not to stipulate emerging ‘what works’ principles in crime prevention, but rather to provide a critical appraisal of this trend. The article is divided into three interrelated sections. Section one attempts to situate ‘what works’ research in crime prevention, explaining why it has gained prominence and currency. The second section provides a critical appraisal of the trend to specify ‘what works’ in the context of crime prevention's wider political and symbolic significance. The third section canvasses the issue of replication. It is concluded that any ‘what works’ program should be far broader than the current ‘technicist’ agenda being adopted.