Is the time ripe to scale up developmental intervention programs to prevent offending?

Abstract

The prevention of criminal potential in individuals is of enormous importance given the immense human and financial costs to society of criminal behavior. Consequently, there have been hundreds of studies of various kinds of developmental prevention programs for delinquency, and it has been proposed that the time is now to scale up some of these programs into large-scale national strategies for reducing crime. The author challenges this suggestion by first discussing the standards for judging the efficacy and effectiveness of these programs with a focus on the essential standards of replication and long-term follow-up. Next, the author examines the evidence base supporting the success of these programs and found it insufficient to justify the scale-up of any existing program. The author concludes with a recommendation for a paradigm shift for preventing delinquency.