Randomized Controlled Trial in Criminology

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) in criminology evaluates a justice intervention — such as hot-spots policing, a deterrence message, or a reentry program — by randomly assigning units (places, people, or cases) to receive the intervention or to serve as controls. Because assignment is by chance, treatment and control groups are statistically equivalent at baseline, so any later difference in crime or reoffending can be attributed to the intervention rather than to selection. Sherman and Weisburd's 1995 Minneapolis hot-spots patrol experiment helped establish the design as the gold standard of experimental criminology.