This book examines the use of "Communities That Care" (CTC) interventions in European countries. It reports results obtained by using the CTC Youth Survey in five European countries covering different parts of Europe - Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, and Cyprus. The main aim of the book is to compare (a) the prevalence of delinquency and substance use, (b) the prevalence of key risk and protective factors, and (c) the strength of relationships between risk and protective factors and delinquency and substance use, in these five European countries. The chapters in this book compare similarities and differences between the countries, possible explanations of these, and the implications of the results for theories and for intervention policy and practice. Additionally, it provides evidence about the replicability over time and place of the strength of relationships between (i) risk and protective factors and (ii) delinquency and substance use. In turn, this increases confidence in the generalizability of criminological theories over time and place. It will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in criminology and criminal justice, particularly those with an interest in developmental and life-course criminology, juvenile delinquency, and substance use, as well as crime prevention and intervention.

This ambitious volume brings together and assesses all major systematic reviews of the effectiveness of criminological interventions, to draw broad conclusions about what works in policing, corrections, developmental prevention, situational prevention, drug abuse treatments, sentencing and deterrence, and communities. Systematic reviews aim to minimize any possible bias in drawing conclusions by stating explicit criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies, by conducting extensive and wide-ranging searches for possibly eligible studies, and by making all stages of the review explicit and transparent so that the methods can be checked and replicated. Over a decade ago, a concerted effort was made by members of the criminology community, including the Editors and contributors of this volume, to bring the practice of systematic reviews to the study of Criminology, providing replicable, evidence-based data to answer key questions about the study of crime causation, detection, and prevention. Now, the pioneers in this effort present a comprehensive stock-taking of what has been learned in the past decade of systematic reviews in criminology. Much has been discovered about the effectiveness of (for example) boot camps, "hot spots" policing, closed-circuit television surveillance, neighborhood watch, anti-bullying programs in schools, early parenting programs, drug treatment programs, and other key topics. This volume will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as in related fields such as public health and forensic science, with important implications for policy-makers and practitioners. Decisively showing that the "nothing works" era is over, this volume takes stock of what we know, and still need to know, to prevent crime. I plan to keep this book close at hand and to use it often! Francis T. Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, University of Cincinnati At a time when there is a broad commitment to bringing science to the front lines of practice, this book should be on the reading list of both policymakers and scholars. Laurie O. Robinson, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law Society, George Mason University and former Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice

The first decade of the new century proved to be a deadly one for many children and young people in the United States. Despite increased policing on the streets, higher rates of incarceration, harsher sentencing, stricter control of illegal drugs, and attempts to reduce access to firearms, FBI reports show that more than 7,300 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were murdered in 2008 alone. It's clear that traditional crime reduction strategies have not stemmed the rising tide of homicides perpetrated by and upon one of society's most vulnerable populations. Innovative, practicable solutions are needed to staunch this lethal trend.

Based on the findings of a unique longitudinal study, "Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood" now provides experts with unprecedented analysis of prospectively collected data on 1,517 boys and young men who grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following these males from childhood into early adulthood, examining their lives and the conditions under which they grew up in a representative mid-sized American city, the study forms the basis of this unique volume designed to stimulate debate on key questions of prevention and intervention as well as dispel popular myths about the childhood and adolescent features of homicide offenders and homicide victims.

Key areas of coverage include: Early childhood risk factors of young homicide offenders and victims.Insights into homicide offenders' lives as told in their own words.The effectiveness of screening for at-risk youth. Risk factor-based prevention and intervention strategies.The impact of interventions on homicide rates.Policy implications at the local, state, and national levels.

"Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood" is essential reading for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers across the fields of juvenile justice and criminology, developmental psychology, sociology, psychiatry, public health, and policy making.

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""This book changes the game in violence research ... The ""analysis is masterful, the prose is readable, and the achievement is nothing short of stunning."
"Richard Rosenfeld, Ph.D. / Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis

""This book will stand the test of time as a landmark homicide study."
"James C. Howell, Ph.D. / Senior Research Associate, National Gang Center

""This is a fascinating, pioneering book ...The authors' sophisticated analyses demonstrate convincingly the considerable value of prospective longitudinal data for enhancing our understanding of the etiology and control of lethal violence."
"Steven F. Messner, Ph.D. / Distinguished Teacher Professor, Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY / President, American Society of Criminology"

Crime prevention should be rational and should be based on the best possible evidence. Decision-makers should weigh heavily any available evidence on what works best. How can a program that has produced no discernable evidence of effectiveness, as shown through numerous evaluations, be considered for implementation? Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Evidence-based crime prevention attempts to overcome this and other obstacles by ensuring that the best available evidence is considered in any decision to implement a program designed to prevent crime. This book is about evidence-based crime prevention.

A project of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group, Preventing Crime brings together the leading scientific evidence on what works best for a wide range of interventions organized around four important domains in criminology: at-risk children, offenders, victims, and places. It is the first book to assess the effectiveness of criminological interventions using the most rigorous review methodology of the systematic review. It is an indispensable guide to the leading scientific evidence on what works best to prevent crime.

Over the past decade, forensic psychology has grown rapidly as a subject, with an increasing number of forensic psychologists working in demanding roles in prisons, secure training facilities, and high, medium and low security healthcare facilities as well as other parts of the criminal justice system. This Dictionary is designed to meet the needs of both students and practitioners. It contains approximately 100 entries on key terms and concepts, arranged alphabetically and contributed by leading academic and practicing forensic psychologists.

Ego psychology is the aspect of psychoanalytic theory concerned with how people adapt to the demands and possibilities of their worlds in accordance with their inner requirements. All substantial theories of personality refer to adaptation, but there are several features special to ego psychology. It offers by far the most elaborate picture of the adaptive apparatus and of the varied devices humans have for negotiating among their drives and their life situations. More than any other theory of psychology, it emphasizes the complicated transactions that go on in people's minds, of which many are outside conscious awareness. Norman A. Polansky argues that we must be disciplined enough to commit ourselves to one consistent line of theory if we are to harness reasoning to go beyond what we can directly observe.

Few who are, or aspire to be, caseworkers, therapists or counselors come to this book innocent of all the ideas contained herein. Much will seem familiar from previous training and from experiences with people. Moreover, many Freudian terms have been adopted into the working vocabularies of all educated people. Words like instinctual drive, defense mechanism, anxiety, guilt, conflict, unconscious, and the like, are used all the time in estimating each other. One task of Integrated Ego Psychology is defining such terms with precise meanings, as well as showing the logical connections among them.

Psychoanalytic theory has envolved for about a century, and some "grand simplicities" have finally emerged. This book, for practitioners, indicates the need for a theory to guide work if we are to help people effectively. The theory must be elaborate enough to cover a very wide range of human activity and it must meet certain other standards as well.

This book reviews research on psychology and crime in Japan, and compares the findings with similar research conducted in Western industrialised countries. It examines explanations for crime and antisocial behaviour in Japan using research and theories from a psychological perspective. Topics covered include cultural explanations, developmental and life-course criminology, family violence and family risk factors, youth crime and early prevention, school factors and bullying, mental disorders, biosocial factors, psychopathy and sexual offending. In some parts, it challenges and refines the prevailing belief that Japan is a society characterised by low crime and little antisocial behaviour. This original project is the most up-to-date work on crime in Japan, and advances the important field of psychological criminology.

This book brings together an international group of experts to present the latest psychosocial and developmental criminological research on cyberbullying, cybervictimization and intervention. With contributions from a wide range of European countries, including Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, France, Hungary, Spain, and the United Kingdom, as well as from Canada and the USA, this authoritative volume explores the nature, risk factors, and prevalence of cyberbullying among children and adolescents. A particularly original focus is directed towards the Tabby project (Threat Assessment of online Bullying Behaviour among Youngsters), an intervention programme based on the threat and risk assessment approach which seeks to prevent the occurrence of violence and its recidivism. Presenting cutting-edge research on developmental criminology and legal psychology, International Perspectives on Cyberbullying is a comprehensive resource for practitioners, teachers, parents, and researchers, as well as scholars of criminology, psychology, and education.

Developmental and life-course criminology aims to provide information about how offending and antisocial behavior develops, about risk and protective factors at different ages, and about the effects of life events on the course of development. This volume advances knowledge about these theories of offender behavior, many of which have been formulated only in the last twenty years. It also integrates knowledge about individual, family, peer, school, neighborhood, community, and situational influences on offender behavior, and combines key elements of earlier theories such as strain, social learning, differential association, and control theory.Contributors Benjamin B. Lahey and Irwin D. Waldman focus on antisocial propensity and the importance of biological and individual factors. Alex R. Piquero and Terrie E. Moffitt distinguish between life-course-persistent and adolescent-limited offenders. David P. Farrington presents the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) theory, which distinguishes between long-term and short-term influences on antisocial potential. Richard F. Catalano, J. David Hawkins, and their colleagues test the Social Development Model (SDM).Marc Le Blanc proposes an integrated multi-layered control theory, in which criminal behavior depends on bonding to society, psychological development, modeling, and constraints. Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub hypothesize that offending is inhibited by the strength of bonding to family, peers, schools, and later adult social institutions such as marriage and jobs. Terence P. Thornberry and Marvin D. Krohn propose an interactional theory, of antisocial behavior. Per-Olof H. Witkstri?1/2m's developmental ecological action theory emphasizes the importance of situational factors: opportunities cause temptation, friction produces provocation, and monitoring and the risk of sanctions have deterrent effects.

Epidemiological surveys have provided key information about the prevalence and degree of seriousness at different ages of a wide array of problem behaviors such as delinquency, substance use, early sexual involvement, and mental health disorders. Knowledge of the extent of these problems and changes in their course over time is important. In its absence, interventions and health planning in general can be difficult. Understanding which risk and protective factors are relevant to which problem behaviors is also essential for the formulation of theories that constitute the basis of intervention. This book draws on the results of the major Pittsburgh Youth Study complemented by follow-up tracking of juvenile court records for more than six years, to address the following questions: *What is the prevalence and age of onset of delinquency, substance use, and early sexual behavior for three samples of boys age 8, 11, and 14? What are the average mental health problems for these ages? How strong are the relationships among these problem behaviors in each of the samples? *Which variables best explain individual differences among the boys in their manifestations of delinquency, substance use, early sexual behavior, and mental health problems? To what extent do explanatory factors vary with age? How accurately can boys with different outcomes be identified by risk scores based on hierarchical multiple regressions? *To what extent are explanatory factors associated with one outcome that are also associated with other outcomes? Are explanatory factors that are especially characteristic of a multiproblem group of boys--who display many different problem behaviors--different from explanatory factors associated with boys with few problems? *Do the results fit a general theory of juvenile problem behaviors, or is a differentiated theory more applicable?

Detailed and comprehensive, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders presents authoritative discussions by a select group of leading scholars on issues surrounding serious and violent juvenile offenders. This population is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of all crime and poses the greatest challenge to juvenile justice policymakers. Under the skillful editorship of Rolf Loeber and David P. Farrington, this unique volume integrates knowledge about risk and protective factors with information about intervention and prevention programs so that conclusions from each area can inform the other. Current literature on these two areas does not, for the most part, apply directly to serious and violent juvenile offenders. This volume contends that serious and violent juvenile offenders tend to start displaying behavior problems and delinquency early in life, warranting early intervention. It is the contributors? thesis that prevention is never too early. They also maintain, however, that interventions for serious and violent juvenile offenders can never be too late in that effective interventions exist for known serious and violent juvenile offenders.

Augmented by charts, tables, graphs, figures, and an extensive bibliography, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders is an excellent reference work and a must read for policy and lawmakers, judges, attorneys, law enforcement personnel, education administrators, researchers, academics, social workers, sociologists, as well as graduate students and interns.

Most criminological theories are not truly scientific, since they do not yield exact quantitative predictions of criminal career features, such as the prevalence and frequency of offending at different ages. This Element aims to make progress towards more scientific criminological theories. A simple theory is described, based on measures of the probability of reoffending and the frequency of offending. Three offender categories are identified: high risk/high rate, high risk/low rate, and low risk/low rate. It is demonstrated that this theory accurately predicts key criminal career features in three datasets: in England the Offenders Index (national data), the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) and in America the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS). The theory is then extended in the CSDD and PYS by identifying early risk factors that predict the three categories. Criminological theorists are encouraged to replicate and build on our research to develop scientific theories that yield quantitative predictions.

Developmental and life-course criminology aims to provide information about how offending and antisocial behavior develops, about risk and protective factors at different ages, and about the effects of life events on the course of development. The main intent of this volume is to advance knowledge about these theories of offender behavior, many of which have been formulated only in the last twenty years. It also aims to integrate knowledge about individual, family, peer, school, neighborhood, community, and situational influences on offender behavior, and to combine key elements of earlier theories such as strain, social learning, differential association, and control theory. Contributors Benjamin B. Lahey and Irwin D. Waldman focus on antisocial propensity and the importance of biological and individual factors. Alex R. Piquero and Terrie E. Moffitt distinguish between life-course-persistent and adolescent-limited offenders. David P. Farrington presents the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) theory, which distinguishes between long-term and short-term influences on antisocial potential. Richard F. Catalano, J. David Hawkins, and their colleagues present an empirical test of the Social Development Model (SDM). Marc Le Blanc proposes an integrated multilayered control theory, in which criminal behavior depends on bonding to society, psychological development, modeling, and constraints. Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub hypothesize that offending is inhibited by the strength of bonding to family, peers, schools, and later adult social institutions such as marriage and jobs. Terence P. Thornberry and Marvin D. Krohn propose an interactional theory, of antisocial behavior.Per-Olof H. Witkstrom's developmental ecological action theory emphasizes the importance of situational factors: opportunities cause temptation, friction produces provocation, and monitoring and the risk of sanctions have deterrent effects. This latest volume in the distinguished Advances in Criminological Theory series continues to add to the theoretical underpinnings of the field and will be important to all collections of social science research on criminology.

In this volume, top experts in the field of delinquency discuss the implications of the findings of the Pittsburgh Youth Study for current conceptualizations of antisocial behavior. Violence and Serious Theft is unique in that it combines the strengths of three disciplines to explain delinquency in young people: developmental psychopathology, criminology, and public health. The book addresses questions in two main areas: serious offending as an outcome over time and developmental aspects of serious offending; and factors which explain why some young males become violent and/or commit serious crime while others do not. Violence and Serious Theft is a resource for researchers, practitioners and students in developmental, school and counseling psychology; psychopathology, psychiatry, public health and criminology.

This book presents the findings from the Enhancing Positive Outcomes in Youth and the Community (EPYC) study. EPYC is a ground-breaking nationwide 10-year longitudinal study on young offenders in Singapore. It focuses on understanding crime prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of these youths. Data were collected through yearly interviews, external assessments, and linkage of administrative records to provide a comprehensive picture of participants. In addition, a non-offender youth sample was included as a normative comparison sample. The research and findings of this book focus on: Prevalence rates and comorbidity of Emotional and Behavioural Problems (EBPs) in young offenders Drug use and Re-offending Risk and Protective Factors for EBPs As this study represents one of the first in Asia and one of few across the globe with such in-depth investigations, it aims to advance the understanding of youth offending and associated emotional and behavioural issues. This book is best suited for criminal justice and mental health scholars, practitioners, and policy makers who are working with Asian populations or interested in cross-cultural comparisons.

Using citation analysis, this study examines the influence and prestige of scholars, journals, and university departments in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. In the tradition of Marvin E. Wolfgang's "Evaluating Criminology," the authors apply this quantitative method to evaluate the impact of individuals and their research efforts on two fields and to identify interconnections among scholars and their publications. This examination of the most-cited scholars, works, and topics in major American and international journals from 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995 provides valuable and unbiased feedback for researchers and practitioners.

The nine chapters of this book detail a wide range of findings in both criminology and criminal justice. After an introduction to the methodology, chapters two, three, and four divide recent scholarship into two periods, 1986 to 1990 and 1991 to 1995, in order to consider the most-cited scholars, works, and topics. Chapter five provides a longitudinal analysis of scholars in the discipline since 1945. Chapters six and seven provide a system of prestige-ratings for relevant journals as well as page coverage analysis of the most influential scholars. The continuing controversy over whether the two fields are converging or diverging is the subject of chapter eight, and the work concludes with a prescription for further research.

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. 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. Reviewing more than 600 scientific evaluations of programmes intended to prevent crime in settings such as families, schools, labour markets and communities, this book grades programmes on their scientific validity using the 'scientific methods scale'. This collection, which brings together contributions from leading researchers in the field of crime prevention, will provide policy-makers, researchers and community leaders with an understandable source of information about what works, what does not work and what is promising in preventing crime.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203166698

Epidemiological surveys have provided key information about the prevalence and degree of seriousness at different ages of a wide array of problem behaviors such as delinquency, substance use, early sexual involvement, and mental health disorders. Knowledge of the extent of these problems and changes in their course over time is important. In its absence, interventions and health planning in general can be difficult. Understanding which risk and protective factors are relevant to which problem behaviors is also essential for the formulation of theories that constitute the basis of intervention. This book draws on the results of the major Pittsburgh Youth Study complemented by follow-up tracking of juvenile court records for more than six years, to address the following questions: *What is the prevalence and age of onset of delinquency, substance use, and early sexual behavior for three samples of boys age 8, 11, and 14? What are the average mental health problems for these ages? How strong are the relationships among these problem behaviors in each of the samples? *Which variables best explain individual differences among the boys in their manifestations of delinquency, substance use, early sexual behavior, and mental health problems? To what extent do explanatory factors vary with age? How accurately can boys with different outcomes be identified by risk scores based on hierarchical multiple regressions? *To what extent are explanatory factors associated with one outcome that are also associated with other outcomes? Are explanatory factors that are especially characteristic of a multiproblem group of boys--who display many different problem behaviors--different from explanatory factors associated with boys with few problems? *Do the results fit a general theory of juvenile problem behaviors, or is a differentiated theory more applicable?

This second edition book advances knowledge about criminal careers throughout life. It presents new results from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), which is a unique longitudinal study of the development of offending from age 10 to age 61. Previous results obtained in the CSDD are reviewed, and then new findings from official criminal records up to age 61 are presented: on offending at different ages, continuity in offending, ages of onset, and criminal career duration. The number of offenders and offenses between ages 50 and 61 is noteworthy. The book then presents results on self-reported offending in different age ranges up to 48: on prevalence, frequency, continuity, and comparisons with official records that suggest that official records only capture the tip of the iceberg of offending. It then analyzes different trajectories of official offending up to age 61 and shows to what extent they could be predicted by childhood risk factors. New results from the CSDD in the last 10 years are then presented, followed by a discussion of the relevance of all the findings for criminological theories and public policies such as early intervention. This book should be of great interest not only to academics but also to policy makers and practitioners who are concerned with crime.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  

This latest volume in the Cambridge Criminal Justice Series focuses upon young adults and their treatment in the criminal justice system. The subject is very topical because there is increasing evidence that a rigid distinction between 'youth' and 'adulthood' is not appropriate in modern societies. For example, important developmental tasks such as finishing one's education, finding regular work and the foundation of one's own family are now completed later than in former times; neuropsychological brain functions are still developing beyond age 18; and desistance from criminal offending occurs most rapidly in early adulthood. Despite such evidence, the United Kingdom and other countries have largely neglected policies for young adult offenders in comparison with young people under 18. Although there seems to be no general transnational solution for this problem, there is a clear need for differentiation. This book brings together leading authorities in the field to analyse theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to this neglected group of people, exploring different approaches to both crime prevention and offender treatment. It will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of criminology, criminal justice, prisons, probation, forensic psychology and psychiatry, sociology, education and social work.

This latest volume in the Cambridge Criminal Justice Series focuses upon young adults and their treatment in the criminal justice system. The subject is very topical because there is increasing evidence that a rigid distinction between 'youth' and 'adulthood' is not appropriate in modern societies. For example, important developmental tasks such as finishing one's education, finding regular work and the foundation of one's own family are now completed later than in former times; neuropsychological brain functions are still developing beyond age 18; and desistance from criminal offending occurs most rapidly in early adulthood. Despite such evidence, the United Kingdom and other countries have largely neglected policies for young adult offenders in comparison with young people under 18. Although there seems to be no general transnational solution for this problem, there is a clear need for differentiation. This book brings together leading authorities in the field to analyse theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to this neglected group of people, exploring different approaches to both crime prevention and offender treatment. It will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of criminology, criminal justice, prisons, probation, forensic psychology and psychiatry, sociology, education and social work.

Over the past decade, forensic psychology has grown rapidly as a subject, with an increasing number of forensic psychologists working in demanding roles in prisons, secure training facilities, and high, medium and low security healthcare facilities as well as other parts of the criminal justice system. This Dictionary is designed to meet the needs of both students and practitioners. It contains approximately 100 entries on key terms and concepts, arranged alphabetically and contributed by leading academic and practicing forensic psychologists.

Produced in response to the growing international demand for information, this book details the latest research in understanding and controlling violent and sexual offences. Increasing numbers of psychologists are now studying and working with offenders to the advancement of forensic psychology.
Chapters cover contributions from ten different countries and are grouped into three sections dealing with risk assessment, sex offenders and offences and violent offenders and offences. The first section discusses the progress that has been made towards making accurate decisions about the risk that an individual poses to the community and emphasises the need to draw on both clinical experience and research.
The second section explores understandings and investigations of sexual offences including discussion on: American commitment laws for sexually violent predators; the status of "recovered memories" in criminal trials; factors influencing delays in reporting sexual abuse; a model of rapists' accounts of their offences; and situational factors in sexual offending.
The final section on violent offenders and offences includes discussion on: criminal careers; domestic violence; mutiliation-murder in Japan; offender profiling; and sentencing of homicide cases.
This book will be of interest to scholars in criminology, psychology and forensic psychiatry and to policy-makers and practitioners who deal with sexual and violent offences.

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This book examines the use of "Communities That Care" (CTC) interventions in European countries. It reports results obtained by using the CTC Youth Survey in five European countries covering different parts of Europe - Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, and Cyprus. The main aim of the book is to compare (a) the prevalence of delinquency and substance use, (b) the prevalence of key risk and protective factors, and (c) the strength of relationships between risk and protective factors and delinquency and substance use, in these five European countries. The chapters in this book compare similarities and differences between the countries, possible explanations of these, and the implications of the results for theories and for intervention policy and practice. Additionally, it provides evidence about the replicability over time and place of the strength of relationships between (i) risk and protective factors and (ii) delinquency and substance use. In turn, this increases confidence in the generalizability of criminological theories over time and place. It will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in criminology and criminal justice, particularly those with an interest in developmental and life-course criminology, juvenile delinquency, and substance use, as well as crime prevention and intervention.

How can a society prevent-not deter, not punish-but prevent crime? Criminal justice prevention, commonly called crime control, aims to prevent crime after an initial offence has been commited through anything from an arrest to a death penalty sentence. These traditional means have been frequently examined and their efficacy just as frequently questioned. Promising new forms of crime prevention have emerged and expanded as important components of an overall strategy to reduce crime. Crime prevention today has developed along three lines: interventions to improve the life chances of children and prevent them from embarking on a life of crime; programs and policies designed to ameliorate the social conditions and institutions that influence offending; and the modification or manipulation of the physical environment, products, or systems to reduce everyday opportunities for crime. Each strategy aims at preventing crime or criminal offending in the first instance - before the act has been committed. Each, importantly, takes place outside of the formal criminal justice system, representing an alternative, perhaps even socially progressive way to reduce crime. The Oxford Handbook of Crime Prevention is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative review of research on crime prevention. Bringing together top scholars in criminology, public policy, psychology, and sociology, this Handbook includes critical reviews of the main theories that form the basis of crime prevention, evidence-based assessments of the effectiveness of the most important interventions, and cross-cutting essays that examine implementation, evaluation methodology, and public policy. Covering the three major crime prevention strategies active today-developmental, community, and situational-this definitive volume addresses seriously and critically the ways in which the United States and the Western world have attempted, and should continue to strive for the prevention of crime.