Unlike most experimental criminologists, he did more than evaluate a crime prevention policy developed by others. He designed his own model of helping parents. His design grew out of his immersion in the context of the problem to be solved: poor infant care by unprepared mothers. Working as a staff member in an US day care centre, he watched mothers interact with their infants and noted important needs for better guidance. Using conclusions derived from psychological research, he worked with paediatric nurses to develop a plan for repeated visits to mothers over the first two years of life. His clinical trial of this strategy, comparing it to similar mothers who had not received the training, followed children well beyond the early years into teen years. His evidence led to many state and national governments adopting his program for newborn infants.

A program with multiple benefits

In early adulthood, the children that had participated in the programme showed lower delinquency, fewer cases of abuse and a better social adaption in general. Many dimensions of their childhoods were compared between treatment and comparison cases. Taken together, the programme not only reduced harm, but paid for itself many times over. Independent analyses of Old’s work estimate that his programme has saved seven times as much money in health and criminal justice costs as the initial cost of its delivery.