The Cost-Effectiveness of Crime Prevention Strategies
The following is a
summary of "Diverting Children from a Life of Crime: Measuring Costs
and Benefits," written by Peter W. Greenwood, Karyn E. Model, C.
Peter Rydell, and James Chiesa, and published in 1996 by the RAND Corporation.
The primary purpose
of the study was to determine the benefits of programs that divert youths
who have not yet committed crimes from doing so, and at what cost. The
study compares the crime reduction estimates of four intervention programs
to the California three-strikes program, which is believed to effect a
21 percent reduction in crime worth $5.5 billion a year.
Measuring Costs and Benefits
Four different approaches
to intervening early in the lives of potentially at-risk children were
considered:
- Home visits by child-care
professionals beginning before birth and extending through the first
two years of childhood, followed by four years of day care.
- Training for parents
and therapy for families with young children who have shown aggressive
behavior in school.
- Four years of cash
and other incentives to induce disadvantaged high school students to
graduate.
- Monitoring and supervising
high-school-age youths who have already exhibited delinquent behavior.
An estimate of the
costs and benefits of these approaches suggests that three of the approaches
compare favorably with California's three strikes law in terms of serious
crime averted per dollar expended. The cost of preventing serious crimes
with a well-designed graduation incentive program is estimated
to be approximately $4,000 per crime. The effects of such a program will
be felt within a short period of time because the targeted youth are close
to their most crime-prone years. Graduation incentive programs could reduce
crime by at least 15 percent.
Parent-training
intervention could be relatively cost-effective over the long
run at a cost of approximately $6,500 per serious felony prevented. The
crime prevention effect of this type of intervention usually does not
show any significant consequences for at least 10 years because participating
youths are usually in the seven-to-ten year age range. Convincing parents
of high-risk youth to enroll in such a program is often difficult.
Delinquent supervision
programs cost nearly $14,000 per serious crime prevented. The impact of
such programs is almost immediate because the intervention comes just
prior to the peak age of criminal behavior - 16 to 20 years of age.
Early home visit
and day care intervention is not as cost effective because of
an almost 15-year delay between when the intervention is applied and when
it begins affecting serious street crimes. The cost per crime prevented
is estimated to be $29,400 per child over a period of 5 years. However,
early childhood intervention has been shown to reduce rates of child abuse
by about 50 percent.
Based on current best
estimates of program costs and benefits, investments in some interventions
for high-risk youth may be several times more cost-effective in reducing
serious crime than long mandatory sentences for repeat offenders. Such
cost-effective programs could reduce the financial burden of prisons and
divert youth from a life of crime.
This full text of this
study is available online at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR699/#types
This summary is provided by the Texas Youth Commission. For more information about programs and research relating to children, youth, and family issues, contact us by e-mail at prevention@tyc.state.tx.us or by telephone at (512) 424-6336.
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Prevention Summary
Texas Youth Commission