Examining the Impact of Case Management in Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court: A Quasi-Experimental Design

Julian M Somers, Akm Moniruzzaman, Stefanie N Rezansoff and Michelle Patterson

PLOS ONE, 2014, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-8

Abstract: Background: Problem solving courts (PSC) have been implemented internationally, with a common objective to prevent reoffending by addressing criminogenic needs and strengthening social determinants of health. There has been no empirical research on the effectiveness of community courts, which are a form of PSC designed to harness community resources and inter-disciplinary expertise to reduce recidivism in a geographic catchment area. Method: We used the propensity score matching method to examine the effectiveness of Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court (DCC). We focused on the subset of DCC participants who were identified as having the highest criminogenic risk and were assigned to a case management team (CMT). A comparison group was derived using one-to-one matching on a large array variables including static and dynamic criminogenic factors, geography, and time. Reductions in offences (one year pre minus one year post) were compared between CMT and comparison groups. Results: Compared to other DCC offenders, those triaged to CMT (9.5% of the DCC population) had significantly higher levels of healthcare, social service use, and justice system involvement over the ten years prior to the index offence. Compared to matched offenders who received traditional court outcomes, those assigned to CMT (n = 249) exhibited significantly greater reductions in overall offending (p

Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0090708

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090708

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