New South Wales Drug Court Evaluation: Cost-Effectiveness

• NCJ Number: 194619
• Author(s): Bronwyn Lind; Don Weatherburn; Shuling Chen; Marian Shanahan; Emily Lancsar; Marion Haas; Richard De Abreu Lourenco
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 81 pages
• Corporate Author: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Sale Source: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Downloaded March 1, 2002

Annotation

This report examines the cost-effectiveness of the New South Wales, Australia Drug Court, and its impact on reducing drug-related crime rather than using conventional sanctions, i.e., imprisonment.

Abstract

The study used a randomized controlled study design consisting of 309 participants (treated subjects) compared with 191 participants imprisoned for their crimes (control group). Recidivism was measured in terms two ways: time to the first offence and frequency of offenses and investigated both "free time" and "elapsed time." Eligibility for the drug court was predicated on not committing violent offences. Results found that "free time" treated subjects took a longer time to commit shoplifting than the control group, whereas in the "elapsed time" condition, both groups were found to be similar for all offences. A difference was revealed in that treated subjects had a higher incidence of fraud than the control group. A second set of analyses investigated time to the first offence and frequency of offending across three groups: drug court participants, offenders rejected from the program, and control group participants. Results suggest that non-terminated drug court participants performed better on both measures of recidivism than either the control group or treated subjects whose program had ended. It cost $143.87 for an individual to be placed in the drug court program, compared with $151.72 to keep a person incarcerated or for offenders placed in the control group. Very little difference exists between a person in the drug court and a person receiving conventional sanctions relative to the time before they committed the first offence. Future research needs to consider identifying offenders who would benefit from the drug court and match them to treatment programs; terminate unsuitable participants earlier in the program (133 or 43 percent were removed from the drug court because of non-compliance), develop graduation criteria that can be realistically achieved, and improve coordination among agencies. References, appendix