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What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation

Lessons from Systematic Reviews

  • Presents a comprehensive stock-taking of what has been learned by over a decade of systematic reviews in Criminology
  • Editors and authors are pioneers in bringing systematic reviews of evidence-based research to the study of crime prevention and reduction
  • Summarizes and codifies results of systematic reviews on policing, social and situational interventions, corrections, drug abuse, deterrence, risk factors for crime, cost-benefit analysis, and policy applications
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Evidence-Based Crime Policy (SSEBCP)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction: What Works in Crime Prevention?

    • David Weisburd, David P. Farrington, Charlotte Gill
    Pages 1-13
  3. Developmental and Social Prevention

    • David P. Farrington, Maria M. Ttofi, Friedrich A. Lösel
    Pages 15-75
  4. Community Interventions

    • Charlotte Gill
    Pages 77-109
  5. Situational Prevention

    • Kate J. Bowers, Shane D. Johnson
    Pages 111-135
  6. Policing

    • Cody W. Telep, David Weisburd
    Pages 137-168
  7. Sentencing and Deterrence

    • Amanda E. Perry
    Pages 169-191
  8. Correctional Programs

    • David B. Wilson
    Pages 193-217
  9. Drug Interventions

    • Katy R. Holloway, Trevor H. Bennett
    Pages 219-236
  10. Qualitative Data in Systematic Reviews

    • Mimi Ajzenstadt
    Pages 237-259
  11. Evidence Mapping to Advance Justice Practice

    • Michael S. Caudy, Faye S. Taxman, Liansheng Tang, Carolyn Watson
    Pages 261-290
  12. Economic Analyses

    • Jacqueline Mallender, Rory Tierney
    Pages 291-309
  13. Conclusion: What Works in Crime Prevention Revisited

    • David Weisburd, David P. Farrington, Charlotte Gill
    Pages 311-326
  14. Erratum: Chapter 8 Drug Interventions

    • Katy R. Holloway, Trevor H. Bennett
    Pages E1-E5
  15. Back Matter

    Pages 327-331

About this book

This ambitious volume brings together and assesses all major systematic reviews of the effectiveness of criminological interventions, to draw broad conclusions about what works in policing, corrections, developmental prevention, situational prevention, drug abuse treatments, sentencing and deterrence, and communities.

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

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

Decisively showing that the “nothing works” era is over, this volume takes stock of what we know, and still need to know, to prevent crime. I plan to keep this book close at hand and to use it often!

Francis T. Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus,

University of Cincinnati At a time when there is a broad commitment to bringing science to the front lines of practice, this book should be on the reading list of both policymakers and scholars.

Laurie O. Robinson, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law Society, George Mason University and former Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice

Reviews

“What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation: Lessons From Systematic Reviews, a volume in the Springer series on evidence-based crime policy, is a timely collection of 12 compendious chapters written by leading scholar … . Weisburd et al. is currently the best sourcebook of “big data” on correctional programs and would appeal to varied audiences, such as criminal justice policymakers and practitioners; crime prevention researchers and scholars; and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in criminology courses.” (Arthur J. Lurigio, PsycCRITIQUES,Vol, 61 (40), October, 2016)​

Editors and Affiliations

  • George Mason University, Fairfax, USA

    David Weisburd

  • Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    David P. Farrington

  • Department of Criminology, Law & Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, USA

    Charlotte Gill

About the editors

David Weisburd is Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University and Executive Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. He is also the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Chief Science Adviser at the Police Foundation in Washington DC. Professor He is the 2010 recipient of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology and received the Sutherland Award for contributions to criminology from the American Society of Criminology in 2014. In 2014 he also received he Robert Boruch Award for distinctive contributions to research that influences public policy of the Campbell Collaboration.

David P. Farrington is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology in the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University. He received the Stockholm Prize in Criminology in 2013. He is Chair of the American Society of Criminology Division of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.

His major research interest is in developmental criminology, and he is Director of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a prospective longitudinal survey of over 400 London males from age 8 to age 56. In addition to over 650 published journal articles and book chapters on criminological and psychological topics, he has published nearly 100 books, monographs and government reports.

Charlotte Gill is assistant professor of criminology, law and society and deputy director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University. Her research interests include community-based crime prevention, community policing, place-based criminology, program evaluation, and research synthesis. She has been involved in randomized controlled trials


of restorative justice and low-intensity probation and is the coeditor and former managing editor of the CampbellCollaboration Crime and Justice Group. In 2012, she received the Academy of Experimental Criminology’s Outstanding Young Scholar award.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation

  • Book Subtitle: Lessons from Systematic Reviews

  • Editors: David Weisburd, David P. Farrington, Charlotte Gill

  • Series Title: Springer Series on Evidence-Based Crime Policy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3477-5

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-3475-1Published: 15 April 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-7488-7Published: 11 October 2017

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4939-3477-5Published: 14 April 2016

  • Series ISSN: 2197-5809

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-5817

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 331

  • Number of Illustrations: 12 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Criminology and Criminal Justice, general, Social Policy, Public Health

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access