The Oxford Handbook of Crime Prevention

Criminal justice prevention, more commonly called crime control, might be an arrest or a death penalty sentence. These traditional topics of deterrence and incapacitation have been frequently examined and their efficacy just as frequently questioned. Promising new forms of crime prevention--efforts undertaken before an individual comes into contact with the criminal justice system--have grown in recent decades, as has government support for such programs. These initiatives can include preschool intellectual enrichment and parent training, cleaning up abandoned houses and neighborhood watches, or street lighting, steering column locks, and CCTV. The Oxford Handbook of Crime Preventionis the most reliable and the only comprehensive source on research and experience on the prevention of crime in the United States and across the Western world. It focuses on developmental, community, and situational prevention and provides in-depth critical reviews of the main theories supporting crime prevention programs, of the issues that confront prevention programs, and of the evidence and implications of the most important interventions. TheHandbookconcludes with a set of cross-cutting chapters on the implementation and evaluation of programs in a variety of contexts to advance knowledge and build a safer society through a rational and evidence-based approach to crime prevention.

Brandon C. Welsh is Professor of Criminology at Northeastern University and Senior Research Fellow at NSCR.

David P. Farrington is Professor of Psychological Criminology in the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University. He is a former president of the American Society of Criminology, the British Society of Criminology, and the European Association of Psychology and Law.