ABSTRACT
Social work practice issues that arise in the criminal justice system were addressed in the previous chapter. In this chapter, we examine the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP), and its applications in both the social work profession and the criminal justice system. Recently, criminal justice practitioners have adopted the use of EBP in an attempt to improve public safety and criminal justice outcomes such as reduced recidivism rates. EBP underscores the use of science. Consequently, the utilization of scientific principles to categorize criminal justice interventions has resulted in three groupings: what works (interventions that are effective), what does not work (interventions that are not effective), and what is promising (tentatively effective but more evidence is needed).
