Costs and Benefits
Although literature reviews of early interventions to prevent the development of criminal potential demonstrate that this approach is promising for reducing delinquency and later offending (see Zigler, Taussig, and Black, 1992; Farrington and Welsh, 1999), there has been little discussion of economic costs and benefits. The potential benefits of prevention programs targeting delinquents or high-risk youth are indicated by estimates that a typical, single criminal career encompassing the juvenile and adult years costs society between $1.7 and $2.3 million in 1997 dollars (Cohen, 1998).
Although cost-benefit studies are relatively rare, a few studies have provided important evidence on the economic efficiency of early developmental delinquency prevention programs. For example, the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project—founded in 1962 in Michigan—focused on preschool programs to help children (ages 3–4) in poverty make a better start in their transition from home to school and community, including setting them on paths to becoming economically self-sufficient and socially responsible adults (Schweinhart, Barnes, and Weikart, 1993; Parks, 2000). The most recent followup data, collected when these children were 27, revealed several differences in outcomes between the children who received treatment and those who did not (the controls). Among children who received treatment, there was less delinquency, a lower rate of absenteeism from school, less need for remedial and supportive school services, and less likelihood of aggressive, predelinquent behavior. A cost-benefit analysis of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project (Barnett, 1993) found that for every dollar spent on the project, taxpayers and crime victims were saved more than $7. The total costs of the program were estimated at $12,356 per participant; total benefits, when adjusted for inflation and a 3-percent discount rate, were estimated at $88,433 per participant (Welsh, 2001).
In addition to showing promise as economically efficient approaches to reducing delinquency, several intervention programs have revealed other important spinoff benefits, such as improved outcomes in educational achievement, health, and parent-child relationships. A cost-benefit analysis of the Elmira Prenatal/Early Infancy Project in New York, NY, for example, showed a reduction in welfare and health costs and a higher tax base because of increased employment (Karoly et al., 1998).
Although many programs claim cost savings based on overall effectiveness, more economic evaluation is needed to assess the monetary value of programs and to help answer important questions facing policymakers.
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