Effectiveness of interventions with adult male violent offenders

A meta-analysis of a number of studies aiming to prevent criminal behaviour.

Interventions to prevent criminal behaviour among offenders are vital in modern societies criminal policies. A number of programs have been implemented and some of them focus on violent offender specifically. But how well do they work?

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What does the research tell us?

Finding one´s bearings in relation to a constantly growing body of research and drawing one´s own conclusions is often difficult. This also applies to research on the effects produced by measures intended to combat crime. Systematic reviews are one means of helping people to pick their way through the jungle of research findings. Systematic reviews combine a number of evaluations that are considered to satisfy a list of empirical criteria for measuring effects as reliably as possible. The results of these evaluations are then used to calculate and produce an overall picture of the effects that a given measure does and does not produce.

Systematic reviews aim to systematically combine the results from a number of studies in order to produce a more reliable overview of the opportunities and limitations associated with a given crime prevention strategy.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) has therefore initiated the publication of a series of systematic reviews, in the context of which internationally renowned researchers are commissioned to perform the studies on our behalf. In this study the authors have carried out a systematic review, including meta-analysis, of 12 evaluations.