Crime Prevention Research Review No. 6

Pulling levers focused deterrence strategies are increasingly being used by police departments to prevent and control violence, overt drug markets, and individual repeat offenders. Given the growing popularity of pulling levers programs, a careful review of the existing evaluation evidence is needed to determine the crime reduction benefits of the approach. The authors' examination of the effects of pulling levers focused deterrence strategies on crime followed the systematic review protocols and conventions of the Campbell Collaboration. The search identified 10 rigorous evaluations that lead to the conclusion that pulling levers focused deterrence strategies generate significant reduction in crime. While the results of this review are very supportive of deterrence principles, other complementary crime control mechanisms are at work in the focused deterrence strategies described in this publication that need to be highlighted and better understood.