Treatment Retention
The First Track has maintained a 63% to 65% treatment retention rate since 2002, which is remarkable for the fact that it engages participants who have a high chance of recidivism due to criminal history, severity of addiction, homelessness, damaged family bonds, and chronic unemployment. The Second Track has achieved an 85% treatment retention rate in the first two years of operation with participants assessed at moderate risk for recidivism.
Recidivism
The First Track was found to have a 17% recidivism rate among graduates having left the program between 2004 and December 2008, meaning that 2 out of 10 were rearrested. Although there is no clear comparison group in DeKalb, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 65% of drug-involved offenders will be rearrested within three years of release.
For those who might consider incarceration a better option for drug-involved offenders, research yields no empirical relationship between incarceration and sobriety: most drug-involved offenders return to drugs and crime after release from jail or prison.
Cost
The First and Second Tracks, aggregated together, cost approximately $24 per day for each participant. DeKalb County pays roughly 30% of the DCDC operational cost or $8.50 per day for each participant. The cost is projected to drop to $5.74 per day in 2010 as the census climbs toward 190 participants.
Savings
The daily per participant DCDC cost to DeKalb County is $8.50 or $3,102 annually, representing a savings of well over $1,000,000 in 2009 for participants who would otherwise be incarcerated in the DeKalb County Jail at $57 per day.
A common misperception is that offenders who are sentenced to state prisons are not DeKalb’s problem or cost. Increasingly, nonviolent, drug-addicted offenders are being released, well in advance of their sentences, to save state prison bed space and costs. They are typically returned to DeKalb with inadequate treatment and supervision resources. In contrast, the DCDC maintains an intensive two-year model with sound, evidence-based services, and a much higher degree of accountability.
A nationally recognized cost-benefit analysis of Washington State drug courts found that the benefit-to-cost ratio is $1.74. This means that for every dollar invested there was a $1.74 return. Further, $6,779 was saved in criminal justice and victim costs, per participant, owing to reduced recidivism rates. The national drug court research is compelling; DeKalb can pay now, at less than half the cost of incarceration, for an effective approach, or pay “much more” later in ongoing court, victim, and jail costs.
Employment
Approximately 85% of program participants are employed after the first 120 days: a remarkable accomplishment given the economy and the participants’ criminal and work histories.
Looking at a subset of only 50 participants illustrates a dramatic point about employment and savings. Taken together, the group was spending approximately $30,000 per month on addiction, much of it supported by crime, and is now earning over $60,000 per month. Those dollars are going to their families, taxes, local businesses, and the community.
