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587 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2003)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0587 and id is 1 raw text is: Preface

6

M uch practice in crime and justice, as in
fields like medicine or education, is based
on long-term traditions and clinical experience
(Chalmers and Altman 1995; Mosteller and
Boruch 2002; Sherman 1998). Although tradi-
tion and experience often provide the only guid-
ance for criminal justice practitioners, there is a
growing consensus among scholars, practitio-
ners, and policy makers that crime control prac-
tices and policies should be rooted as much as
possible in scientific research (Cullen and
Gendreau 2000; MacKenzie 2000; Sherman
1998; Sherman et al. 2002). During the past
decade, there has been a steady growth in inter-
est in the evaluation of criminal justice programs
and practices in the United States and the
United Kingdom, reflected in part by the growth
in criminal justice funding for research during
this period (Visher and Weisburd 1998; http://
www.crimereduction.gov.uk/crimered.htm).
Increasing support for research and evaluation
in criminal justice may be seen as part of a more
general trend toward utilization of scientific
research for establishing rational and effective
practices and policies. This trend is perhaps
most prominent in the health professions where
the idea of evidence-based medicine has gained
strong government and professional support
(Millenson 1997; Zuger 1997), although the
evidence-based paradigm is also developing in
other fields (see Nutley and Davies 1999;
Davies, Nutley, and Smith 2000).
A central component of the movement
toward evidence-based practice and policy is the
reliance on systematic reviews of prior research
and evaluation (Davies 1999). Such reviews-
rigorous and explicit syntheses of scientific stud-
ies-allow policy makers and practitioners to
identify, when possible, which programs and
practices are most effective and in which con-
texts. An important model for the development
of systematic reviews has come from the
Cochrane Collaboration, which seeks to pre-
DOI: 10.1177/0002716202250882
ANNALS, AAPSS, 587, May 2003

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