NCJ Number
173029
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 24 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1997 Pages: 52-54
Date Published
1997
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article presents the findings of "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising," a report that examined the effectiveness of various types of corrections and crime prevention programs.
Abstract
The report was sponsored by the Justice Department and prepared by a team of criminal justice researchers at the University of Maryland. The report concludes that some of the Federal Government's highly touted anti-crime efforts are having little impact on the Nation's crime rate. The study questions the wisdom of the Nation's multi-billion-dollar prison construction program. The researchers found that it is virtually impossible to determine how much crime is prevented by confining offenders to longer prison sentences. Moreover, the study suggests that locking up large numbers of young males may actually be more detrimental in the long run, because it leaves children without role models in a single-parent family where supervision is often lax. Other Federal programs that fail to show an impact on crime are military-style boot camps, "Scared Straight" programs, recreational programs for inner city youth, and the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. The study cites several examples of innovative programs that are making remarkable progress in substantially reducing and preventing crime. These include high-intensity police patrols in high-crime areas, police crackdowns on quality-of-life crimes, prison-based drug treatment programs, and home visits by health care and social service providers for at-risk families and children. The study recommends that Congress set aside 10 percent of all anti-crime and prevention funds for scientific evaluation.