The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy

The need for and the threats to improved public policy are equally acute. Crime policy agenda continues to be driven by anecdotal evidence and political ideology, resulting in a patchwork of programs, policies, and practices. All-too-frequently, the need for them is uncertain, they rest on unclear theoretical foundations, they are implemented poorly, and their effectiveness in preventing or controlling crime, or furthering justice, is unknown. Putting research evidence at center-stage in political and policy decisions can go a long way to addressing this state of affairs by ensuring that the best available data informs decisions that affect the public good.

Situated within this wider context, The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy showcases much of what is right with evidence-based crime and justice policy as well as confronts the challenges that it faces today and looking forward. Bringing together leading scholars and researchers in criminology, criminal justice, sociology, psychology, education, health, and the law, this handbook promotes new and productive ways to think about evidence-based policy, shows how research can contribute to and guide evidence-based policy in juvenile justice, criminal justice, and alternatives to system responses, and identifies strategies that can increase reliance on evidence-based policy. It is the most authoritative and scholarly source on research and experience on evidence-based policy as it applies to crime and justice in the United States and across the Western world.

Brandon C. Welsh is a Professor of Criminology at Northeastern University, the Visiting Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the Director of the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study. His research focuses on the prevention of delinquency, crime, and violence and evidence-based social policy. He has written extensively on these topics and is the author or editor of 12 books. Dr. Welsh is an elected member of the Campbell Collaboration's Crime and Justice Group and the 2021 recipient of the Academy of Experimental Criminology's Joan McCord Award.

Steven N. Zane is an Assistant Professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. His research interests focus on juvenile justice and evidence-based social policy. He is the author of The Context of Juvenile Punishment: Exploring Variation in Juvenile Court Outcomes Across Communities and Systems (Routledge Press, 2022), as well as an author of more than 30 scientific journal articles and book chapters. He received his Ph.D. from Northeastern University and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Daniel P. Mears is a Distinguished Research Professor and the Mark C. Stafford Professor of Criminology in Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, and recipient of the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' most prestigious honor, for outstanding contributions to knowledge in criminal justice. He conducts research on crime, criminal and juvenile justice, and policy. He has been ranked as one of the top lead or sole-author publishers in criminology and a top-10 most influential criminologist.