NCJ Number
161085
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Dated: special issue (1995) Pages: 45-51
Date Published
1995
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Manning's concept of the "preventive conceit" of police effectiveness is a useful contribution to the field of criminology, although there are differences in doctrinal approaches to criminological thought.
Abstract
Criminology journals around the world reveal many different approaches to criminology. These approaches derive from legal scholarship, medical research, sociology, economics, and other social sciences. Empirical criminology has at least three major forms: (1) formulation of hypotheses about crime based on a holistic understanding of a wide range of evidence; (2) hypothesis testing; and (3) analysis of flaws in a particular hypothesis that may produce invalid or unreliable conclusions. Manning concludes from his research that policing makes no difference in crime, and other scholars have reached a similar conclusion. The concept of the "preventive conceit" of police effectiveness is applied to domestic violence and to police practices in Australia, and the influence of jurisprudential epistemology on criminology is addressed. 14 references