Iatrogenic Effects and the Myth of the Downfall of Delinquency Prevention: Joan McCord and the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study, 1975–2004

Abstract The mid-life follow-up of the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study, with Joan McCord as study director, represents a rather consequential event in the annals of criminology. The study’s harmful effects were the subject of immediate, intense public discourse and scholarly debate and considerable research and policy interest. This article aims to develop an historical understanding of the scholarly, policy and social contexts in which these results were reported and deliberated. It draws on a wide range of published and unpublished materials. Our historical inquiry grapples with the myth of the downfall of delinquency prevention, explores consequential developments that helped advance developmental crime prevention and experimentation in criminology, and considers professional challenges that confronted McCord in her identity as a woman in academia.