NCJ Number
243948
Date Published
August 2012
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study compared the cost-effectiveness of New South Wales' Youth Justice Conferences with the cost-effectiveness of children's court.
Abstract
This study, conducted by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, compared the cost-effectiveness of New South Wales' (NSW) Youth Justice Conferences (YJC) with the cost-effectiveness of children's court. The study found that the average cost of conducting a Youth Justice Conference was about 18 percent lower than the average cost of a comparable matter that was dealt with in the children's court, but the per person cost for YJCs was more than the per person cost for the court group. Data for the study were obtained by comparing cases of young people that had received a YJC date set in 2007 to those cases for young people who had a finalized children's court appearance in 2007 but did not have a YJC. The cost analysis was limited to those costs borne solely by government agencies within the NSW criminal justice system. Five main areas of costs were examined: police costs, legal aid costs, children's court costs, juvenile justice YJC administrative costs, and juvenile justice order supervision costs. The study findings indicate that Youth Justice Conferencing in NSW is more cost-effective than children's court when dealing with young people charged with a non-serious offense. The effect of expanding the use of YJC to young people charged with more serious offenses has not been explored. Tables, figures, and references