Can ‘Turning Points’ Be Manufactured? A Randomized Trial of Police Diversion of New Offenders to Voluntary Reformation Plans

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy I

Abstract

A two-year follow up of repeat offending among 416 first or second offenders in a large UK police agency was implemented with over 90% treatment as randomly assigned, half prosecuted as usual and half offered deferred prosecution for agreeing to an immediate reformation plan for desistance from any further offending. A wide range of pathways ensued within both treatment groups, including substantial dismissal of charges in the prosecution group and diverse plans for changing offenders’ lives in the “turning point” group. Prevalence and frequency of repeat offending was slightly lower in the “turning point” group, but the overall seriousness of repeat offending was 56% higher in the prosecution group as measured by the Cambridge Crime Harm Index. The findings suggest substantial reductions in both costs and crime harm can be achieved by scaling up the experiment to cover the entire police agency.

Authors

• Lawrence W. Sherman, University of Cambridge & University of Maryland

• Molly Slothower, University of Maryland

• Peter Neyroud, University of Cambridge

• Barak Ariel, University of Cambridge