In particular, three barriers are considered that may stand in the way of realizing the problem-oriented approach's full potential: problems of responsibility, politics, and identification. The author acknowledges the problem-oriented approach has enormous potential and offers an alternative to the "nothing works" pessimism on which much crime control discourse is based. Given its tenuous position as a relatively new paradigm, however, the problem-oriented approach should not underestimate the strength of the opposition manifested in traditional perspectives and limitations of existing data sources and interpretive frameworks. 27 references