Obstacles and Opportunities for Evidence-Informed Anti-Violence Policy

• In Event: Policies & Interventions to Reduce Violent Crime

Abstract

Community violence remains a persistent and serious problem around the world, causing immense social and financial harm to affected communities. To combat community violence, a broad range of anti-violence interventions have been deployed. In recent decades, the field of criminology has placed an increasingly greater emphasis on the evaluation of these interventions, resulting in a significant and ever-growing body of research on anti-violence interventions. Nevertheless, significant obstacles continue to hinder the translation of research into policy. Some of the most pressing obstacles include a dearth of timely crime data, a lack of nuance in public discourse about crime, the increasing political polarization of crime policy, and rapid decline in confidence and support for the scientific enterprise generally. We propose responses to these challenges, including a renewed focus on nonpartisan, ideologically neutral research along with greater and more effective attempts to communicate such research to policymakers. We argue that scientific evidence, when available, allows for more accurate and impartial decision-making relative to other bases for decision-making, thereby helping to control crime and violence. Importantly, in an era increasingly defined by political polarization, it may also help to mitigate such polarization and restore confidence in institutions.

Authors

• Thomas Abt, University of Maryland, College Park

• Mark Mills, University of Maryland, College Park