Meta-Evaluation in Crime Prevention

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy I

Abstract

The emphasis on evidence-based policy in crime prevention has increased the attention to the quality of the evidence that should inform crime prevention policy. This evidence comes in the form of evaluations that test crime-prevention strategies. In this paper we describe three crime prevention meta-evaluation activities undertaken to inform efforts by Canada’s national security department, Public Safety Canada, to promote an evidence-based crime prevention agenda, including the development of a Canada-specific system for rating the validity of crime prevention evaluation studies. First, we conducted a review of four prominent crime-prevention evidence-based registries in the United States to document the criteria each registry uses to evaluate the quality of the evidence to support crime prevention interventions. Next, we systematically reviewed the available methods literature on how evaluations in crime prevention are assessed, including how internal and external validity (and other validity considerations) are considered and rated. Finally, we applied meta-evaluation techniques to a sample of Canadian crime-prevention evaluations to assess the extent to which they address key validity considerations. We discuss these activities in the context of a larger assessment of the issues involved in validly synthesizing and rating evidence derived from a wide range of crime prevention programs and evaluation methodologies within Canada and elsewhere.

Authors

• Claire Morgan, WestEd

• Anthony Petrosino, WestEd