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587 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2003)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0587 and id is 1 raw text is: Preface 6 M uch practice in crime and justice, as in fields like medicine or education, is based on long-term traditions and clinical experience (Chalmers and Altman 1995; Mosteller and Boruch 2002; Sherman 1998). Although tradi- tion and experience often provide the only guid- ance for criminal justice practitioners, there is a growing consensus among scholars, practitio- ners, and policy makers that crime control prac- tices and policies should be rooted as much as possible in scientific research (Cullen and Gendreau 2000; MacKenzie 2000; Sherman 1998; Sherman et al. 2002). During the past decade, there has been a steady growth in inter- est in the evaluation of criminal justice programs and practices in the United States and the United Kingdom, reflected in part by the growth in criminal justice funding for research during this period (Visher and Weisburd 1998; http:// www.crimereduction.gov.uk/crimered.htm). Increasing support for research and evaluation in criminal justice may be seen as part of a more general trend toward utilization of scientific research for establishing rational and effective practices and policies. This trend is perhaps most prominent in the health professions where the idea of evidence-based medicine has gained strong government and professional support (Millenson 1997; Zuger 1997), although the evidence-based paradigm is also developing in other fields (see Nutley and Davies 1999; Davies, Nutley, and Smith 2000). A central component of the movement toward evidence-based practice and policy is the reliance on systematic reviews of prior research and evaluation (Davies 1999). Such reviews- rigorous and explicit syntheses of scientific stud- ies-allow policy makers and practitioners to identify, when possible, which programs and practices are most effective and in which con- texts. An important model for the development of systematic reviews has come from the Cochrane Collaboration, which seeks to pre- DOI: 10.1177/0002716202250882 ANNALS, AAPSS, 587, May 2003