Criminal justice reform guided by evidence: social control works—The Academy of Experimental Criminology 2022 Joan McCord Lecture

Abstract

Objective: Joan McCord was an experimental criminologist who advocated for evaluating social programs for efficacy, benefits, and potential harms to guide crime prevention policy. This paper argues that criminal justice reform should be guided by evidence for effective social programs that guard against unintended harms. Programs that focus on social control are consistent with basic facts of crime and guard against the tail risk of surges in serious crime and violence. This paper discusses the evidence from evaluations of social programs which are based on principals of social control in families, schools, neighborhoods, and the criminal justice system. Methods: This paper draws upon the evaluations of social programs that have been published based on at least one high-quality experiment or two rigorous quasi-experiments, that can be scaled to entire populations, and are sustainable over time. Results: A review of experimental and quasi-experimental evidence found that social programs focused on increasing social control (formal or informal) in families, schools, communities, and by the criminal justice system are effective at preventing serious crime. Some of the social programs with rigorous evidence of preventing crime could be scaled to entire populations for prolonged durations with adequate planning and implementation models. Conclusion: Many contemporary criminal justice reforms have little evidence of efficacy, and run the risk of generating unintended adverse outcomes related to the spread of serious crime and violence. Existing evidence suggests that social programs that focus on social control can act as buffers against the tail risk of serious crime. The social programs with evidence of preventing crime should be expanded, monitored for fidelity in implementation, and continuously evaluated to improve their efficacy and sustainability as effective safeguards against the rise in serious crime and violence.