Introduction: What Works in Crime Prevention?

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, we begin by asking why Martinson's paper had such strong influence on crime prevention and the criminological community. We then turn to a discussion of systematic reviews and how they improve our ability to summarize what works in preventing crime and rehabilitating offenders. After describing systematic reviews, we introduce the work of the Campbell Crime and Justice Group, whose efforts have played a key role in advancing systematic review in the crime and justice arena. Campbell reviews, as we note, are the predominant source for systematic reviews of evidence in our volume. Finally, we briefly describe the focus of each of the chapters in our book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)