Experimental criminology and restorative justice: principles of developing and testing innovations in crime policy

Conducting research into crime and criminal justice carries its own unique challenges. The SAGE Handbook of Criminological Research Methods focuses on the application of “methods,” broadly understood, to address the core substantive questions that currently motivate contemporary criminological research. It maps a canon of methods that are more elaborated than in most other fields of social science, and the intellectual terrain of research problems with which criminologists are routinely confronted. Drawing on exemplary studies, chapters in each section will illustrate the techniques (qualitative and quantitative) that are commonly applied in empirical studies, as well as the logic of criminological enquiry - the ways in which the specific nature of research questions dictate the kinds of data and analytic strategies required to effectively answer these questions. Organized into five sections, each of which is prefaced by an editorial introduction, the Handbook covers: Crime and Criminals; Crime's Contexts: Networks, Cultures and Communities; Perceptual Dimensions of Crime; Criminal Justice Systems: Organizations and Institutions; Preventing Crime and Improving Justice