Citation

Knepper P. Criminol. Public Policy 2003; 2(2): 331-352.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Society of Criminology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1745-9133.2003.tb00130.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent interest on the part of criminologists in the "faith factor" has made possible a contemporary argument for faith-based interventions in crime prevention: if faith "works," then government should support faith-based initiatives because in doing so, government is not endorsing religion, but science. Drawing on the ideas of Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and others, this essay reviews this argument within the framework of the philosophy of social science. The discussion reviews such concepts of falsification, structural causality, objectivity, and evidence-based policy making to affirm the place of both faith and science in public life.

Language: en