Implicated Ignorance and Culpable Confusion: The Contribution to Implementation Failure of Deficient Knowledge and Articulacy

Abstract

The previous chapter began by revealing implementation failure as a major problem within crime prevention, and ended by implicating knowledge and its management. These now take centre-stage. I identify a range of limitations on knowledge which together constrain the performance of crime prevention. Some limitations relate to practical matters of knowledge management; others are more conceptual. Some are superficial, like coverage of the field; others are deep, like theoretical fragmentation; still others are fundamental, like the understanding of causal mechanisms and the fitness of process models of prevention.