This review highlights the importance of recognizing the possibility for doing harm when intentions are good. It describes several examples showing that well-planned and adequately executed programs provide no guarantee for safety or efficacy. The author concludes with recommendations for scientifically credible evaluations to promote progress in the field of crime prevention.
Allport, Gordon . 1951. Foreword. In An experiment in the prevention of delinquency: The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study, edited by E. Powers and H. Witmer. New York: Columbia University Press.
2.
Begg, Colin B.1994. Publication bias. In The handbook of research synthesis, edited by Harris Cooper and Larry V. Hedges. New York: Russell Sage.
3.
Berger, R. J. , J. E. Crowley, M. Gold, J. Gray, and M. S. Arnold. 1975. Experiment in a juvenile court: A study of a program of volunteers working with juvenile probationers. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
4.
Cunningham, Alison . 2002. One step forward: Lessons learned from a randomized study of multisystemic therapy in Canada. London, Canada: Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System.
5.
Dickersin, Kay , and Y.-I. Min. 1994. Publication bias: The problem that won’t go away. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences703:135-146.
6.
Dishion, Thomas J. , and David W. Andrews. 1995. Preventing escalation in problem behaviors with high-risk young adolescents: Immediate and 1-year outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology63(4): 538-548.
7.
Dishion, Thomas J. , Joan McCord, and François Poulin. 1999. When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior. American Psychologist54(9): 1-10.
8.
Dufty, B. J., and W. Richards. 1978. Evaluation of S.O.F.T.L.Y. Unpublished manuscript, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.
9.
Easterbrook, P. J. , J. A. Berlin, R. Gopalan, and D. R. Matthews. 1991. Publication bias in clinical research. Lancet337:867-872.
10.
Farrington, David P. , and Anthony Petrosino. 2001. The Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science578:35-49.
11.
Gottfredson, Gary D.1987. Peer group interventions to reduce the risk of delinquent behavior: A selective review and a new evaluation. Criminology25(3): 671-714.
12.
Grabosky, Peter N.1996. Unintended consequences of crime prevention. Crime Prevention Studies5:25-56.
13.
Healy, William , and Augusta F. Bronner. 1926. Delinquents and criminals: Their making and unmaking. New York: Macmillan.
14.
Henggeler, Scott W. , Gary B. Melton, and Linda A. Smith. 1992. Family preservation using multisystemic therapy: An effective alternative to incarcerating serious juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology60:953-961.
15.
Henggeler, Scott W. , Gary B. Melton, Linda A. Smith, Sonja K. Schoenwald, and J. H. Hanley. 1993. Family preservation using multisystemic therapy: Longterm follow-up to a clinical trial with serious juvenile offenders. Journal of Child & Family Studies2:283-293.
16.
Lewis, Roy V.1983. Scared Straight—California style. Criminal Justice and Behavior10(2): 284-289.
17.
McCord, Joan . 1978. A thirty-year follow-up of treatment effects. American Psychologist33(3): 284-289.
18.
McCord, Joan . 1981. Consideration of some effects of a counseling program. In New directions in the rehabilitation of criminal offenders, edited by Susan E. Martin, Lee B. Sechrest, and Robin Redner. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
19.
McCord, Joan . 1992. The Cambridge-Somerville Study: A pioneering longitudinal-experimental study of delinquency prevention. In Preventing antisocial behavior: Interventions from birth through adolescence, edited by Joan McCord and Richard E. Tremblay. New York: Guilford.
20.
McCord, Joan . 1997. He did it because he wanted to… In Motivation & delinquency. Vol. 44 of Nebraska symposium on motivation, edited by D. Wayne Osgood. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
21.
McCord, Joan . 1999. Understanding childhood and subsequent crime. Aggressive Behavior25:241-253.
22.
McCord, Joan . 2000. A theory of motivation and the life course. In Social dynamics of crime and control: New theories for a world in transition, edited by Susanne Karstedt and Kai-D Bussmann. Portland, OR: Hart.
23.
Miller, Jerome G. , and Herbert H. Hoelter. 1979. Prepared testimony: Oversight on Scared Straight. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
24.
The New York Times. 2002. 4 April, p. C5-C5.
25.
Petrosino, Anthony , Carolyn Turpin-Petrosino, and John Buehler. 2002. The effects of Scared Straight and other juvenile awareness programs on delinquency. Issue 3 of Cochrane library. Oxford, UK: Update Software.
26.
Powers, Edwin , and Helen Witmer. 1951. An experiment in the prevention of delinquency: The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study. New York: Columbia University Press.
27.
Scherer, Roberta W. , Kay Dickersin, and Patricia Langenberg. 1994. Full publication of results initially presented in abstracts: A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association272:158-162.
28.
Sherman, Lawrence W. , Denise C. Gottfredson, Doris L. MacKenzie, John E. Eck, Peter Reuter, and Shawn D. Bushway. 1997. Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s promising. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
29.
Weisburd, David , and Faye S. Taxman. 2000. Developing a multicenter randomized trial in criminology: The case of HIDTA. Journal of Quantitative Criminology16:315-340.