Building a Safer Society Begins with Early Developmental Crime Prevention

This article expands on two themes that are central to the translation of relevant developmental and life-course criminological research for crime prevention policy and were a major part of the late David Farrington’s life-work to help build a safer society. The first theme concerns the need to link explanation and prevention, link fundamental and applied research, and link scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners. Farrington recognized that early developmental crime prevention was up to this task and was foundational to advancing crime prevention policy. He also realized that research on early developmental prevention—especially for connecting to policy-makers and politicians—demanded greater attention to evidence-based programs, economic analyses, and public opinion surveys. On each front, our review found that research demonstrates support for early developmental crime prevention. The second theme concerns the need to marshal the full body of research evidence and interrogate it using the highest scientific standards. Farrington was also at the forefront of this effort, and our review found that there is a high degree of consistency in efforts taken to scrutinize scientific studies and assess the research evidence. The article concludes with some observations on the role of the research and scholarly community in communicating the science of early developmental crime prevention for improved policies and practices.