Abstract
A central tenant of the life course paradigm as applied to criminology is that the causes of the onset and termination of criminal behavior vary over different stages of the life course. Since crime prevention and intervention programs are designed to change these causal characteristics and conditions, it follows that effective crime prevention and intervention programs will likely target different causal factors for interventions involving children, adolescents, and adults. A scientific standard for identifying effective, evidence-based crime prevention programs and practices is proposed and programs meeting this standard are described. The risk and protective factors targeted by these programs and practices designed for children, adolescents, and adults are examined and differences and similarities across these stages of the life course are described.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The review process for the National Repository for Effective Prevention Programs (NREPP), SAMHSA, is one in which programs are submitted to the agency for review and may not include all available evaluations of that program.
- 2.
The Society for Prevention Research has also proposed a standard which is much more complex and difficult to implement than the Federal Collaboration standard reviewed here. See http://www.preventionresearch.org.
- 3.
The Working Group included members from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, SAMSHA; The National Institute of Drug Abuse; The National Center for Education Evaluation, Institute of Education Sciences; the Office of Justice Programs, The National Institute of Justice; and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
- 4.
See http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/220889.pdf. The classification proposed two levels of “effective” which are collapsed into a single category here. The distinction between “effective” and “effective with reservation” is that the replication for the latter need not be independent, i.e., can involve the same research team that conducted the original trial.
- 5.
For this standard, sustainability is not necessarily post-intervention sustainability and independent replication is not required.
- 6.
Program cost is problematic as a criterion for judging the scientific effectiveness of a program. Cost is clearly relevant to the decision to adopt a program, but even here, the issue is more a matter of the cost benefit than the absolute cost.
- 7.
- 8.
The Blueprints review process rates programs on the Federal Collaboration standard as well as the Blueprint standard but does not publish or disseminate these ratings. See http://www.Colorado.edu/cspv/Blueprints.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
The Crime and Justice Group has adopted the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials to standardize the reporting of methodological information.
- 12.
All three targeted antisocial behavior as well as child maltreatment/abuse, but abuse was the only behavioral outcome demonstrated for the Tripple-P Parenting Program.
- 13.
Not counting CTC.
- 14.
See http://www.campbellcollaboration.org; http://www.wsipp.wa.gov; (Lipsey & Wilson, 1998; Lipsey et al., 2007, 2010; Sherman, Farrington, Welsh, & MacKenzie, 2002; Tolan, Bass, Henry, & Schoeny, 2008; Welsh & Farrington, 2006a, 2006b; Wilson et al., 2000, 2001, 2006). Meta-analysis effect sizes of 0.20 and greater are considered significant effects for Table 17.3. Effect sizes of 0.15 and greater on the WSIPP Web site were included when statistically significant, the benefit–cost ratios were substantial and the probability of achieving a positive effect was 90 % or greater.
- 15.
A Meta-analysis of early parent training by Bernazzani and Tremblay (2006) found mixed results and they recommend some caution regarding this practice for very young children.
References
Bernazzani, O., & Tremblay, R. E. (2006). Early parent training. In B. C. Welsh & D. Farrington (Eds.), Preventing crime (pp. 21–32). New York: Springer.
Biglan, A., & Ogden, T. (2008). The evolution of evidence-based practices. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 9, 81–95.
Bishop, D. (2000). Juvenile offenders in the adult criminal justice system. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (pp. 81–168). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Brown, C. H., Berndt, D., Brinales, J., Zong, X., & Bhagwat, D. (2000). Evaluating the evidence of effectiveness for preventive interventions: Using a registry system to influence policy through science. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 955–964.
Elliott, D. S. (1994). Serious violent offenders: Onset, developmental course and termination. Criminology, 32, 1–21.
Elliott, D. S. (Ed.). (1997). Blueprints for violence prevention series. Boulder, CO: Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado.
Elliott, D. S., & Tolan, P. (1998). Youth violence prevention, intervention and social policy. In D. J. Flannery & C. R. Huff (Eds.), Youth violence prevention, intervention and social policy (pp. 3–46). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
Greenwood, P. (2006). Changing lives: Delinquency prevention as crime-control policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2008). Knowing what works in health care: A roadmap for the nation. Washington, DC: National Academic Press.
Lipsey, M. W., & Derzon, J. H. (1998). Predictors of violent or serious delinquency in adolescence and early adulthood. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders (pp. 86–105). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (1998). Effective interventions for serious juvenile offenders: A synthesis of research. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders (pp. 313–345). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Lipsey, M. W., Landenberger, N. A., Wilson, S. J. (2007). Effects of cognitive-behavioral programs for criminal offenders. Campbell Systematic Reviews, http://www.campbellcollabopration.org. Accessed 2 Apr 2012.
Lipsey, M. W., Howell, J. C., Kelly, M. R., Chapman, G., & Carver, D. (2010). Improving the effectiveness of Juvenile Justice Programs. Washington, DC: Center for Juvenile Justice Reform.
Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., & Waschbusch, D. A. (1998). Serious and violent juvenile offenders. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders (pp. 13–29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Losel, F., & Beelman, A. (2003). Effects of child skills training in preventing antisocial behavior: A systematic review of randomized evaluations. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 587, 84–109.
Mihalic, S., Irwin, K., Elliott, D. S., Fagan, A., Hansen, D. (2001). Blueprints for violence prevention. Juvenile Justice Bulletin (July). Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Office of Management and Budget (2002). Presidents Management Agenda. Washington D. C. www.acquistition.gov/sevensteps/library/OMBpres-mgmt-agenda2002.pdf
Petrosino, A., Buehler, J., Turpin-Petrosino, C. (2010). Scared straight and other juvenile awareness programs for preventing juvenile delinquency. Campbell Systematic Reviews, http://www.campbellcollabopration.org. Accessed 2 Apr 2012.
Shadish, W. R., Jr., Cook, T. D., & Levine, L. C. (1991). Foundations of program evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Sherman, L. W., Farrington, D. P., Welsh, B. C., & MacKenzie, D. L. (Eds.). (2002). Evidence-based crime prevention. New York: Routledge.
Taxman, F., & Belenko, S. (2012). Implementing evidence-based practices in community corrections and addiction treatment. New York: Springer
Tolan, P., Bass, A., Henry, D., Schoeny, M. (2008). Mentoring interventions to affect juvenile delinquency and associated problems. Campbell Systematic Reviews, http://www.campbellcollabopration.org. Accessed 4 Apr 2012.
US Surgeon General (2001). Youth violence: A report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office
Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (Eds.). (2006a). Preventing crime. New York: Springer.
Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (2006b). Evidence-based crime prevention. In B. C. Welsh & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Preventing crime (pp. 1–20). New York: Springer.
Wilson, D. B., Gallagher, C. A., & MacKenzie, D. L. (2000). A meta-analysis of corrections-based education, vocation and work programs for adult offenders. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 347–368.
Wilson, D. B., Gottfriedson, D. C., & Najaka, S. S. (2001). School-based prevention of problem behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 17, 247–272.
Wilson, D. B., Mitchell, O., & MacKenzie, D. L. (2006). A systematic review of drug court effects on recidivism. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 2, 459–487.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Elliott, D.S. (2013). Crime Prevention and Intervention Over the Life Course. In: Gibson, C., Krohn, M. (eds) Handbook of Life-Course Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5112-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5113-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)