„Evidence Based Crime Prevention" What Works, for Whom, and Which Circumstances

Abstract

Crime prevention should be rational and should be based on the best possible evidence. Crime prevention policy and practice is, on the whole, far from objective. Instead of being based on scientific evidence, the crime policy agenda is seemingly driven by political ideology, anecdotal evidence and programme trends. One would expect that decision makers would weigh heavily any available evidence on what works. How can a program that has produced no discernible evidence of effectiveness, as shown through numerous evaluations, be considered for implementation? Evidence-Based Crime Prevention seeks to change this by comprehensively and rigorously assessing the existing scientific knowledge on the effectiveness of crime prevention programmes internationally. The implementation of 'evidence-based' crime prevention into Criminological practice can be best understood in three stages: Initial Needs Analysis, Specific Project Analysis and Post Program Evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to present new concept of Crime Prevention within Non-Government sector. Paper is based on a literature review and review of SAGE on line Journals.