Since the early 1970s, criminologists have held the view that only broader social justice will reduce crime, which has largely surrendered criminal justice policy to conservatives. Emerging research shows, however, that early intervention programs prevent crime and are cost-effective. Based on a 1997 survey of Tennessee respondents, the article reports further that the public strongly supports early intervention and prefers it to incarceration as a strategy to reduce offending. The article defends early intervention as a progressive policy on both political and practical grounds because it diverts attention away from the narrow issue of crime per se and onto the offenders and their life circumstances, and it seeks to redistribute resources to children and families that are often struggling and disadvantaged. Tables, figure, note, references