Correctional treatment as an economically sound approach to reducing the high costs of recidivism: A review of the research.

BACKGROUND: Prior research indicates that correctional treatment programmes can be highly effective in reducing reoffending. Less studied, however, is whether such programmes are economically efficient. AIMS: To review the research literature on the economic efficiency of correctional treatment programmes. METHODS: A review of cost-benefit analyses of correctional treatment programmes from 2004 to the present was carried out. To be included in the review, studies must have attempted to measure monetary costs and benefits of correctional treatment programmes and be based on experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations. RESULTS: A total of 22 cost-benefit studies of correctional treatment programmes met the criteria for inclusion in the review, 19 of which estimated (or allowed estimation of) benefit-to-cost ratios. All 19 studies yielded a favourable benefit-to-cost ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Correctional treatment programmes appear to be economically efficient, with the monetary benefits produced by such programmes substantially exceeding their monetary costs. This finding appears to hold across a variety of different intervention types, and offers policy-makers and practitioners ample evidence in favour of providing additional resources for correctional treatment programmes.

Cost-benefit analyses of developmental crime prevention programmes.

BACKGROUND: Children and youth who are at risk of becoming early-onset life-course-persistent offenders often slip through the cracks of other systems in society (e.g., health, education, child welfare, substance use and mental health). When they do, they impose an enormous economic burden on society. Developmental crime prevention (DCP) programmes seek to reduce these costs through evidence-based interventions that target individual child and family risk and protective factors for antisocial behaviour. AIM: This study reviewed cost-benefit analysis studies of DCP interventions to identify whether they produced monetary benefits that exceeded programme costs. METHOD: We searched the literature for studies of interventions that were evaluated using high-quality research methods (i.e., experimental or quasi-experimental designs). Key characteristics of these evaluations are summarised and benefit-to-cost ratios (BCRs) are reported. RESULTS: Eleven cost-benefit analysis (CBA) evaluations met study criteria. The programmes varied in terms of who they targeted (e.g., pregnant mothers, at-risk youth), the age of participants (e.g., adults, children, older youth), the intervention duration (e.g., 10 weeks to 4 years), and the follow-up interval (e.g., 6 months to 50 years). Ten of the 11 studies produced favourable BCRs, ranging between 1.35 and 31.77, depending on the type and scope of outcomes that were monetised. CONCLUSION: There is strong evidence in support of DCP from a cost-benefit perspective. However, given the small number of studies for analysis, more prospective longitudinal CBA evaluations are needed, in addition to greater consistency in the scope and methods that are used to monetise outcomes.

Broken (windows) theory: A meta-analysis of the evidence for the pathways from neighborhood disorder to resident health outcomes and behaviors.

The criminological "broken windows" theory (BWT) has inspired public health researchers to test the impact of neighborhood disorder on an array of resident health behaviors and outcomes. This paper identifies and meta-analyzes the evidence for three mechanisms (pathways) by which neighborhood disorder is argued to impact health, accounting for methodological inconsistencies across studies. A search identified 198 studies (152 with sufficient data for meta-analysis) testing any of the three pathways or downstream, general health outcomes. The meta-analysis found that perceived disorder was consistently associated with mental health outcomes, as well as substance abuse, and measures of overall health. This supported the psychosocial model of disadvantage, in which stressful contexts impact mental health and related sequelae. There was no consistent evidence for disorder's impact on physical health or risky behavior. Further examination revealed that support for BWT-related hypotheses has been overstated owing to data censoring and the failure to consistently include critical covariates, like socioeconomic status and collective efficacy. Even where there is evidence that BWT impacts outcomes, it is driven by studies that measured disorder as the perceptions of the focal individual, potentially conflating pessimism about the neighborhood with mental health.

Association of a Crime Prevention Program for Boys With Mortality 72 Years After the Intervention: Follow-up of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Mortality is an important outcome in evaluating crime prevention programs, but little is known about the effects on mortality during the full life course. Objective: To determine the long-term outcomes of a crime prevention program on mortality and whether the iatrogenic effects on mortality observed in middle age persist or change in old age. Design: This longitudinal follow-up was conducted in a cohort of boys included in a matched-pair randomized clinical trial (the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study). Six hundred fifty boys aged 5 to 13 years who lived and attended public and parochial schools in working-class areas of Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, and were identified as at risk for antisocial behavior were matched by age and demographic characteristics. One member of each pair was randomly allocated to the treatment condition. The original trial was performed from June 1, 1939, to December 1945. Follow-up in the present analysis was performed from January 2016 through June 2018. Interventions: Treatment group participants received individual counseling through a range of activities and home visits for an extended duration (mean, 5.5 years). Control group participants received no special services. Main Outcomes and Measures: The 4 outcomes of interest include age at mortality, mortality at latest follow-up, premature mortality (younger than 40 years), and cause of mortality (natural vs unnatural). Results: In the original analysis, 650 participants were matched and randomized to treatment or control conditions, of whom 506 were retained in the analysis (mean [SD] age, 9.8 [1.7] years). Through early 2018, records for 488 participants (96.4%) were located. A total of 446 participants were confirmed dead (88.1%) and 42 alive (8.3%). Matched-pairs analyses showed no significant differences between the treatment and control groups for mortality at latest follow-up (relative risk [RR], 1.05; 95% CI, 0.99-1.11), premature mortality (RR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.55-2.43), or cause of mortality (RR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.65-2.18) (P > .05 for all). Cox proportional hazard regression indicated no difference in time to death between groups (hazard ratio, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.98-1.41; P = .09). Conclusions and Relevance: Iatrogenic effects on mortality were not detected in this long-term follow-up. The longitudinal analysis provides information on the utility of life-long assessments of crime prevention programs and draws attention to the need for quality-of-life assessments of participants and their children.

Implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice in juvenile justice: a case study of a rural state.

US juvenile justice is at the forefront of experimentation with the evidence-based paradigm, whereby the best available research is utilized to help inform more rational and effective practice. Increasingly, state governments are playing a major role in this endeavor. Maine is one of these states and is the focus of this article. Using a case-study design, we set out to develop a fuller understanding of the events and processes that have contributed to the development, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based practice in juvenile justice in the state. Four major themes emerged. First, Maine has benefited from strong and lasting leadership within its corrections department. These leaders paved the way for the implementation and sustainment of programs, including finding innovative ways to use existing resources. Second, the adoption of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model was important in laying the groundwork for the use of evidence-based programming. Third, collaborations within and among state agencies and public and private groups were essential. Finally, buy-in and support from multiple stakeholders was and continues to be essential to Maine's work. Ongoing problems remain with respect to ensuring agencies prioritize fidelity to the model and locating increasingly scarce funding. Implications for other states are discussed.

The spillover effects of focused deterrence on gang violence.

BACKGROUND: Focused deterrence strategies attempt to increase punishment risks faced by violent gangs through the development of new and creative ways of deploying traditional and non-traditional law enforcement tools. In addition to increasing the swiftness and certainty of sanctions, these strategies explicitly communicate incentives and disincentives to deter likely gang offenders from violent behavior. OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to determine whether focused deterrence strategies generate spillover deterrent effects on the gun violence behaviors of vicariously treated gangs that were socially tied to directly treated violent gangs. RESEARCH DESIGN: A nonrandomized quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the gun violence reduction effects of focused deterrence strategies on directly treated gangs and vicariously treated gangs. Propensity score matching techniques were used to identify balanced comparison gangs for the vicariously treated gangs. Growth curve regression models were used to analyze gun violence trends for treated gangs relative to comparison gangs. UNIT OF ANALYSIS: Quarterly counts of fatal and non-fatal shootings involving specific street gangs between 2006 and 2010 served as the units of analysis. MEASURES: Key outcome measures included quarterly shootings committed by specific gangs, shooting victimizations suffered by specific gangs, and the total number of shootings involving specific gangs. RESULTS: The focused deterrence strategy was associated with statistically significant reductions in total shootings by directly treated gangs and vicariously treated gangs. CONCLUSIONS: Our study finds that vicariously treated gangs were deterred by the treatment experiences of their rivals and allies. This suggests that focused deterrence strategies can generate spillover crime reduction effects to gangs that are socially connected to directly treated gangs.

When early crime prevention goes to scale: a new look at the evidence.

It is a widely held view--in both research and policy communities--that desirable effects on delinquency and later offending from early prevention trials will attenuate once they are "scaled-up" or "rolled-out" for wider public use. Some of the main reasons for this include a reduced level of risk, a more heterogeneous population, insufficient service infrastructure, and loss of program fidelity. If attenuation of program effects is not only possible but is highly probable, then the issue for researchers and policymakers should be how to preserve or even enhance effects in moving from efficacy trials to community effectiveness trials to broad-scale dissemination. This paper surveys the knowledge base in an effort to contribute to an improved understanding of the theoretical and empirical dimensions for successfully taking early crime prevention programs to scale. It also outlines some proposals for how future research can make progress on this critical policy issue.

Crime prevention: more evidence-based analysis.

This paper introduces a new section of Psicothema dedicated to the evidence-based approach to crime prevention. Along with an original sexual-offender-treatment programme implemented in Spain, this section presents four systematic reviews of important subjects in the criminological arena, such as sexual offender treatment, the well-known <> programme, the effectiveness of custodial versus non-custodial sanctions in reoffending and the fight against terrorism. We also highlight some of the focal points that scientists, practitioners and governments should take into account in order to support this evidence-based viewpoint of crime prevention.

The importance of an evidence-based approach in the current Spanish policy for crime prevention.

This introductory paper has two objectives. On the one hand, to present the guidelines of the evidence-based perspective on crime prevention as an alternative to the usual criminal policy, which often disregards conclusions based on scientific evidence. On the other hand, to discuss the contemporary situation in Spain regarding crime prevention and particularly the role psychology develops in terms of the utility/effectiveness dichotomy. The evidence-based perspective on crime prevention is guided by the main criteria of collecting the best scientific evidence in relation to 'what works best' in the different areas of crime prevention. In that purpose systematic reviews and meta-analyses are strongly recommended. The Campbell Collaboration in Crime and Justice is a scientific endeavour oriented to prepare rigorous and systematic reviews of high-quality evidence about 'what works'. Regarding crime prevention in Spain it is argued that psychology and other disciplines must make society and its rulers see that intervention based on evidence-based policy is essential for crime prevention.

Effectiveness of family-based programs to prevent delinquency and later offending.

This paper reviews the effectiveness of family-based prevention programs in reducing delinquency and later offending by children and adolescents. Eleven large-scale randomized experiments and eleven other controlled evaluations (smaller-scale experiments or quasi-experiments) are reviewed. Out of 22 evaluations, the experimental group did better than the control group in 19 cases, and the differences were significant (or nearly significant) in 12 of these 19 evaluations. The median decrease in offending in the experimental group compared with the control group was 35%. It is concluded that the best evaluations generally show that family-based programs are effective in reducing later offending.