Return on Investment

Imagine what we could do if we actually funded treatment..

From the Doug Linkletter newsletter:

Return on investment, ROI, is an unhappy topic for many people these days, given the poor performance of most financial investments. In the crime prevention arena, however, we have some good news: an annual ROI of over 180%!

A recent analysis of the five main programs funded by the Crime Prevention and Control Commission show an average return on funds invested of 181%. For the $2.3 million committed by the Commission to these programs, we are experiencing a savings of approximately $6.3 million per year. This equates to a decline in average daily jail bed needs of 227 beds.

The five programs providing the above results include Drug Court, Pre-Trial Investigation Reports, "Court-to-Community" Mental Health Services, Community Reentry Services and Pretrial Supervision. For the most part, the analysis includes only direct benefits to the judicial system, not the additional benefits to the community of having people who would otherwise be committing more crimes now become productive citizens.