Since Bales' (1950) pioneering work on group dynamics, the tension between process
and product has been seen as central to group functioning. Evaluations of communitylevel
efforts to prevent crime tend to emphasize the product orientation without much regard to process. Bringing process back into the evaluation of community justice efforts is essential to understanding collective actions for crime prevention. Where the ideals of evaluation research conflict with the ideals of community organizing, we are likely to find either unsatisfactory designs with strong results or good designs with weak results.