British Randomized Experiments on Crime and Justice

Abstract

A number of randomized experiments are summarized that were carried out in Great Britain in the 1960s and 1970s to investigate influences on offending and the effectiveness of interventions to reduce offending. Few such experiments have been carried out in the past twenty-five years, partly because of the influence of Ron Clarke and Derek Cornish on Home Office policy. This article reviews Clarke and Cornish's objections to randomized experiments and concludes that experimenters need to demonstrate in which circumstances they are optimal. The Home Office seems more receptive to randomized experiments nowadays.