Can Nonexperimental Studies Improve the Policy Relevance of Crime Prevention Research? Insights from Public-Area Video Surveillance Interventions

Savannah A. Reid, Eric L. Piza, Brandon C. Welsh and John P. Moylan

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2024, vol. 714, issue 1, 190-207

Abstract: Critics of evidence-based crime prevention argue that extant research lacks insight into aspects of crime control and prevention that are critical to policymakers. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of programs require the use of experimental and quasi-experimental designs, and some scholars argue that relaxing that methodological criterion would result in a larger pool of studies that could better inform policy and practice. We test that proposition by using a comprehensive database of 160 evaluation studies of public-area video surveillance and measuring their policy relevance by looking for four specific factors: causal mechanisms, moderators, implementation, and economic costs. We find that studies incorporating experimental and high-quality quasi-experimental designs scored significantly higher than studies using less rigorous designs on three of the four dimensions. This suggests that adherence to a high standard of methodological rigor does not compromise the practical value of video surveillance research. We then discuss the implications of this finding.

Keywords: evidence-based crime prevention; video surveillance; systematic review; EMMIE; program evaluation; research translation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:714:y:2024:i:1:p:190-207

DOI: 10.1177/00027162251350519

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