The monetary cost of criminal trajectories for an Ontario sample of offenders / David M. Day ... [et al.].: PS113-1/2015-11E-PDF

"The past 15 years have seen a growing interest in studies that estimate the costs of crime. In that time, there have been advances in data linkage and methodological procedures that have resulted in better cost estimates of official and unofficial offending. Such information is crucial for cost-benefit analysis which seeks to understand whether the long-term costs of crime can be offset by investments in early intervention. This report presents findings on the longitudinal costs of criminal offending for a sample of 386 male offenders in Ontario whose offence costs were tabulated for a 15-year period, between the ages of 12 and 26 years. Cost estimates were obtained for four components: 1) victim costs; 2) correctional costs; 3) other criminal justice system (CJS) costs, for example, police, court, prosecution, and legal aid expenditures; and 4) costs associated with undetected crimes. The results indicated that the aggregate longitudinal cost of offending for this sample was $2.26 billion, an average of $5.86 million per person. Moreover, costs differed across risk trajectory groups and across developmental periods. Costs were disproportionally higher for the small group of high-rate offenders and disproportionally lower for the large group of low-rate offenders. The most costly period was mid to late adolescence, between the ages of 15 and 17, which accounted for 40% of the total costs. These results suggest that tremendous costs savings can be gained if effective developmental crime prevention programs successfully target high-risk children and youth"--Abstract.

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Publication information
Department/Agency Canada. Public Safety Canada. National Crime Prevention Centre.
Title The monetary cost of criminal trajectories for an Ontario sample of offenders / David M. Day ... [et al.].
Series title Research report2015-11
Publication type Series - View Master Record
Language [English]
Other language editions [French]
Format Electronic
Electronic document
Note(s) Issued also in French under title: Coûts des trajectoires criminelles d’un échantillon de délinquants de l’Ontario.
Includes bibliographical references.
Publishing information [Ottawa] : Public Safety Canada, c2016.
Author / Contributor Day, David M.
Description xiv, 86 p. : ill.
ISBN 978-0-660-01972-7
Catalogue number
  • PS113-1/2015-11E-PDF
Subject terms Crime
Costs
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