| Summary: | In this report we examine an issue central to the creation of the NSW Drug Court: namely its cost-effectiveness, compared with conventional sanctions, in reducing drug-related crime. We were particularly fortunate in undertaking this evaluation, to receive the support and cooperation of the Drug Court and the Attorney General in evaluating the Drug Court using a randomised controlled trial. Randomised controlled trials, in which individuals are randomly allocated to ?treatment? and ?control? groups are recognised as being the ?gold standard? when it comes to outcome evaluation. They provide more assurance of control over extraneous factors which might otherwise bias an evaluation than any other form of research design. To our knowledge, this is the first occasion on which a criminal justice program in Australia has been evaluated using a randomised control design. The evaluation is a first in one other way as well. Very few evaluations of criminal justice or crime prevention programs (either in Australia or overseas) pay much heed to the cost of the program. This greatly hampers the capacity of Government to make rational decisions about the allocation of scarce resources across competing programs. Of course, decisions on programs which affect the liberty of citizens cannot, and should not, be made on the grounds of cost-effectiveness alone. Nevertheless it is to be hoped that our efforts will convince others of the feasibility and value of introducing cost-effectiveness analyses into criminal justice evaluation.Economic evaluation, treatment programs
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