The Problem
Since Martinson’s “Nothing Works” article in 1978, American concepts of public safety, rehabilitation, and corrections have been replaced with a system that is unapologetically punitive. Political rhetoric screams “Tough on Crime,” but delivers policies that are merely tough on criminals. With few exceptions, Psychology has stood by and watched this transformation with little protest. Psychology has decades of empirical evidence on how to change human behavior...
...what if Psychology designed a criminal justice system? To offer an alternative perspective, the American Psychology-Law Society has authorized a Presidential Initiative to distill what behavioral scientists know about changing human behavior into a set of recommendations for criminal and juvenile justice policies that would make America safer and reduce the drain on human and economic resources by ineffective, wasteful, and even counterproductive penal systems. The result, a book titled, “Applying Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending,” consists of a series of practical summaries of how social science can inform more effective criminal and juvenile justice policies.
What people are saying about the book:
"Violent crime is an enormous problem that Americans have been taught they simply have to accept. The evidence marshaled so effectively in this excellent volume suggests otherwise. Data-driven, strategically planned interventions with offenders can make a difference in reducing violence. Finally we have the long-awaited blueprint for revitalizing our criminal justice system."—Paul S. Appelbaum, MD, Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, & Law and Director, Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
"Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending is a survey of practices that have successfully changed human behavior. When this tool is put into practice, the world will be a better and safer place."--Andrew Vachhs, Founder and National Advisory Board Member of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children