America spends billions of dollars chasing, catching, convicting and supervising criminals. There have been many programs aimed at cutting the recidivism rate, but few, if any, have any lasting impact. One comprehensive national study of 600 programs found that less than 2% of the programs resulted in sustained behavior change.
Gathering and examining the evidence about what works is critical to successfully reducing recidivism. Using solid evidence to evaluate programs has become critical in allocating funding and resources to help criminals turn from crime. Evidence Based Practices are programs that have solid independently verifiable evidence that their program works. Taxpayers and leaders want proof that something works before they are willing to take a chance.