The First Delinquency Prevention Experiment: Investigating the Origins and Methodological Rigor of the Experimental Design of the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study

• In Event: Historical Studies in American Criminology, 1860-1940

Abstract

A great deal has been made of the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study (CSYS) as the first randomized controlled experiment of a delinquency prevention program and the first of its kind in criminology. It has also received attention for the experiment being embedded in a prospective longitudinal survey of the development of offending, known as a longitudinal-experimental design. A rich body of research and scholarship—mostly by Joan McCord (1930-2004)—has been generated from the study since its start in 1939. However, much is unknown about the historical origins of the experimental design. For instance, as the founder and first director of the CSYS, what role did Richard Clarke Cabot’s (1868-1939) medical training and advocacy for social work practice play in the use of the randomized experiment? How rigorous were both the random assignment and matching procedures and what prompted the use of matching? Drawing upon archival records of Cabot, published and unpublished works of the CSYS, and the literature on experimental methods, this paper sets out to investigate the origins and methodological rigor of the study’s experimental design. It also explores lessons for evaluations of delinquency prevention programs today.

Authors

• Nicole E. Dill, Northeastern University

• Brandon C. Welsh, Northeastern University and NSCR