Benefit-Cost Analysis of Crime Prevention Programs

Welsh, Brandon C.; Farrington, David P.; Gowar, B. Raffan

doi:10.1086/681556

Cited by 47 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…It was often argued that the best predictor of (criminal) behavior is previous (criminal) behavior, and adult offenders are thought to have a long history of delinquent behavior. Therefore, intervention strategies are mainly aimed at early prevention of juveniles (for a review, see e.g., [67]) and are regarded the most cost effective [24]. The substantial amount of adult-onset offenders found in this study suggests that early prevention strategies should be complemented by a focus on those with a late onset, especially to reduce the total number of offenders.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Criminal Career Dimensions of Juvenile- and Adult-Onset Offenders

Köppen

2018

J Dev Life Course Criminology

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Purpose Earlier studies tried to predict and explain adult-onset offending, most often by comparing risk factors for juvenile and adult onset of criminal behavior. Little is known, however, about how criminal careers of adult-onset offenders develop. The aim of this study is to describe and compare juvenile-and adult-onset criminal careers of both men and women in terms of frequency, intensity, duration, recidivism, crime mix, seriousness, and specialization. Methods Using a sample of 43,338 offenders who all had a criminal record in 2013, criminal careers are reconstructed retrospectively up to age 12 and prospectively up to the 1st of July, 2014. Male and female juvenile-and adult-onset offenders are identified and compared on the abovementioned parameters of their criminal careers. Results Compared to all other groups, female adult-onset offenders commit fewer crimes, offend at a lower rate, desist from crime earlier, have lower recidivism risks at least up to the tenth crime, commit different types of offenses, commit more minor and less serious crimes, and are more specialized in the types of crime they commit. Male juvenile-onset offenders have the most serious career in terms of these career dimensions. Conclusions Criminal careers of adult-onset offenders, both men and women, develop differently on all dimensions. Implications for life-course criminological theories and prevention strategies are discussed.Keywords Adult-onset offending . Criminal career dimensions J Dev Life Course Criminology (2018) 4:92-119 https://doi

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Criminal Career Dimensions of Juvenile- and Adult-Onset Offenders

Köppen

2018

J Dev Life Course Criminology

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“…From a public policy perspective, developmental prevention programs can be quite effective and efficient, as their initial costs are often much less than the costs of later serious offending and they have monetary benefits beyond crimes reduced. Indeed, recent benefit–cost analyses of developmental prevention programs have revealed developmental prevention as a valuable strategy to save money and improve long‐term positive gains (Welsh, Farrington, & Raffan Gowar, ). For future work, this focus calls for more replication of existing developmental intervention efforts, roll out and dissemination, and the adoption of a developmentally informed public health approach to SYV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Severe Youth Violence: Developmental Perspectives Introduction to the Special Section

Malti

Averdijk

2017

Child Development

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In this article, the authors introduce the special section on severe youth violence (SYV). As severe violence has significant negative consequences and youth commit more violence than other age groups, a developmental science approach is important to (a) understand pathways to SYV, (b) guide attempts to screen and assess SYV risk, and (c) inform novel, developmentally sensitive practices and policies to prevent and reduce SYV. The authors establish the theoretical and empirical contexts for the articles in this special section and explain how this developmental research on SYV can inform new lines of theoretical and empirical inquiry and innovative approaches to detect and respond to the risk of SYV.

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“…For example, Welsh and Farrington (2000a) reviewed 26 BCAs and concluded that the monetary benefits outweighed the monetary costs for three of the four principal crime‐prevention strategies (developmental, situational, and correctional intervention). More recently, Welsh, Farrington, and Raffan Gowar () updated the earlier reviews of BCAs of developmental, situational, and community prevention, and once again, they found that the monetary benefits usually outweighed the monetary costs.…”

Section: How Careful Rigorous Benefit–cost Analyses Made the Case Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Monetary Value of Early Developmental Crime Prevention and Its Policy Significance

Welsh

Farrington

2015

Criminology & Public Policy

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N o r t h e a s t e r n U n i v e r s i t y N e t h e r l a n d s I n s t i t u t e f o r t h e S t u d y o f C r i m e a n d L a w E n f o r c e m e n t David P. FarringtonC a m b r i d g e U n i v e r s i t y I t does not seem so long ago that, while one of us (Welsh) was working on his doctoral dissertation at Cambridge University, we were invited to go to London to brief senior Treasury officials on new research on the benefit-cost analysis (BCA) of crime-prevention programs. This was 1997 and the doctoral research had only just begun, amounting to several literature reviews on the costs of crime and the costs and benefits of some crime-prevention strategies (i.e., developmental and situational). 1 It seemed that this was enough to pique their interest. Under the new British government, the Treasury was spearheading an ambitious plan to review public expenditure across all areas of government activity (Dhiri, Goldblatt, Brand, and Price, 2001). The Treasury's involvement was a major factor in launching the British government's ambitious Crime Reduction Programme, which had an unprecedented level of funding of £250 million (US$400 million) up to its demise in 2002 (Maguire, 2004).Of course, we were neither the first nor the only researchers who were investigating the costs and benefits of crime prevention at that time. The RAND Corporation was engaged in pioneering modeling research on the cost-effectiveness of California's three-strikes law and alternative approaches (Greenwood, Model, Rydell, and Chiesa, 1996) as well as research on the monetary value of early childhood intervention programs (Karoly et al., 1998); Donohue and Siegelman (1998) published their influential thought experiment on the economics of imprisonment versus social programs; the Dutch Ministry of Justice had also begun some simulation modeling on the costs of various crime prevention strategies

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Benefit-Cost Analysis of Crime Prevention Programs

Cited by 47 publications

References 106 publications

Criminal Career Dimensions of Juvenile- and Adult-Onset Offenders

Criminal Career Dimensions of Juvenile- and Adult-Onset Offenders

Severe Youth Violence: Developmental Perspectives Introduction to the Special Section

Monetary Value of Early Developmental Crime Prevention and Its Policy Significance

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